Belmont World Film's 11th Annual Family Festival Jan. 17-20

The Family Film Festival opens with a screening Friday night, Jan.
17 at the Regent Theatre of  “Our
Mockingbird,” Watertown filmmaker (and Alabama native) Sandy Jaffe’s
documentary that follows two groups of students—one black, one white--at two
different high schools just outside of Birmingham,who collaborate on a life-changing theatrical production of To Kill A
Mockingbird. Through interviews with such individuals as Mary Badham and Phillip Alford (who played Scout and Jem, respectively, in the original filmversion), Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, Pulitzer Prize winning
writers and journalists Diane McWhorter and Rick Bragg, Congressman and influential civil rights activist John Lewis, and judges, teachers, and students, “Our
Mockingbird” illustrates how this story about racial injustice in small townAlabama serves as a wider lens for looking at past and current issues of race,
class, gender, and justice. Filmmaker Jaffe will answer questions after the
screening (recommended for teens and adults).

The Family Film Festival’s Saturday, Sunday and Monday events take place at the Studio Cinema, Belmont. All three days include programs featuring a selection of animated best loved children’s books from Weston Woods Studios (ages 3-10):  including a Mo Willems retrospective (Jan. 18); a collection of picture book classics from including Where the Wild Things Are, Strega Nona, and Doctor DeSoto (Sun., January 19); and a group of films honoring the work and message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Mon., January 20). Other special programs include:

The New England premiere of My Mommy Is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill. Six-year-old Jean, lives with his little brother, busy father, and kind nanny, but one thing is missing: where is his Mommy? Based on the award-winning graphic novel from France by Jean Regnaud and Emile Bravo and in French with English subtitles.
The New England premiere of Felix, a heartwarming coming-of-age story about Felix Xaba, a 13-year-old from a poor township in South Africa who dreams of becoming a saxophonist like his late father, despite his mother’s protestations. When he leaves his friends in Cape Town after receiving a scholarship at an elitist private school, he defies his mother and turns to two aging members of his father’s old band to help him prepare for the school jazz concert.The film addresses serious issues, such as racism and family conflicts, in a humorous and age-appropriate way. Received Best Film honors at numerous children’s film festivals throughout the world, including the Durban International Film Festival where it had its world premiere (Sat., January 18, 1:30 PM; age 7 and up).


Big Top Without Borders by Boston Globe reporter Linda Matchan about two dynamic men—one from a tiny Inuit community in the Canadian Arctic called Igloolik (“Place of One Igloo”) and the other from Conakry, Guinea, West Africa—who meet as acrobats in Montreal’s acclaimed Cirque Eloize. They come together and discover they share a common dream: to help their struggling communities the only way they know how: by creating a circus. Director Linda Matchan and producer Susan Gray will answer questions after the film (Sun., January 19, 12:00 PM; age 8 and up).


An encore screening of the Dutch film The Zigzag Kid starring Isabella Rossellini. In this coming of age story, we follow a 12 year-old boy during his bar mitzvah year on a trip that turns into an amazing adventure. The boy not only finds himself befriending a notorious criminal and a great actress, but also confronts the great mystery of his own identity. Co-presented by the Boston Jewish Film Festival. In Dutch, French, and English (Sun., January 19, 1:30 PM; age 7 and up).







It’s Easy Being Green: Animated Shorts about Animals and the Environment, shorts program co-presented by “E” Inc.’s Environmental Film Festival. The highlight of the program is Lost and Found from the UK, winner of more than 40 international awards. It tells the story of a little boy who finds a penguin on the doorstep of his house one morning. Although at first he is unsure about what to do, the boy becomes determined to help the penguin find his way back home, even if that means rowing a small boat all the way to the South Pole (Mon., January 20, 12:00 PM; age 4 and up).

Focus on Quebec: Animated Shorts from the National Film Board of Canada sponsored by the Quebec Delegation
of Boston and featuring a selection of exciting new, as well
as classic animated short films from Quebec and other parts of Canada,
including the east coast premieres of It's a Dog's Life, an urban fable about a dog on a human scale,
and The Fox and the Chickadee, a clever

battle of wits between two wild animals told in the style of Aesop’s fables (Mon., January 20, 1:30 PM; age 4 and up).

Festival sponsors include the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the International School of Boston, Belmont Day School, the Quebec Delegation of Boston, and Cambridge Reprographics.

Individual tickets are $5 for shorts programs and $8 for feature


length films. Full festival passes are $40, and day passes (Saturday and Sunday only) are $15. They are available in advance at www.mktix.com/bwf-festival or in person at the Studio Cinema or Arlington Regent box office.




For full film descriptions and additional information visit www.belmontworldfilm.org or call 617-484-3980.