January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
BIFF Kids fest looks to educate local students
The screenings will take place at Liberty Theatre on October 14. Primary students will begin the day with screenings at 10am and 11.15am.
The primary students will first hear three books read aloud, with images from the books projected on screen and then they will watch films adapted from the three books. The featured books/films are I Lost My Bear, Where the Wild Things Are, and The Dot, all of which are produced by Scholastic, the largest publisher and distributor of children’s books in the United States.
Once the films are finished, Christian Zabriskie, assistant youth librarian at the Bermuda National Library, Youth Division, will lead a discussion with the students comparing the stories in book and film form.
Middle and high schools students will have a slightly heavier topic to watch and learn from. Their films, screened at 1pm, will have themes of peace studies and the issues that young people face. The first film will be Old Enough to Know Better, an award-winning short film that documents the mass school walkouts by thousands of students in the United Kingdom in protest of the Iraq war.
The feature film for the older students will be Teaching Peace in a Time of War, in which a Canadian mother whose son died as the result of bullying seeks to teach young people how to resolve conflicts in a more peaceful manner. In doing this the mother, Hetty Van Gurp, travels to Vasa Pelagic School in Belgrade, Serbia, where she meets a group of students and teachers who have known only war and whose language reflects that reality. Educators, and students, are won over by Hetty’s brand of conflict prevention and resolution, where the ultimate goal is to empower children to shape their destinies more positively.
BIFF Kids organisers have high hopes for the school screening.
“The positive response to our first school screening programme has been very gratifying,” said Zabriskie. “We are pleased to have such great support from teachers in the community, and we are delighted to communicate such positive messages to students in Bermuda.”
BIFF Kids jurors
Three juries of talented young film buffs will judge the winning films for the festival.
The Ages 5 and Up category will be judged by Mary Glass, a nine-year old student at Bermuda High School (BHS), seven-year-old Alexander McCallum of Harrington Sound Primary, and Caroline Skinner, seven, also a student at BHS.
In the films suitable for Ages 10 and Up category, the jury members will be 11-year-olds Pierre Basden of Clearwater Middle School, and Signe Constable, who is home-schooled.
The winning films in the Ages 13 and Up category will be selected by Saltus Grammar School students, Nicholas Rinehimer, 15, and Christopher Frith, 14, as well as Cynthia Bean, 15, of Mount St. Agnes Academy and 14-year-old Jordan Hames, a student at BHS.
The jurors were chosen after entering a contest in which they submitted film reviews. n
BIFF Kids Film Festival will be held at Liberty Theatre from October 14-16. Tickets to the BIFF Kids Film Festival are available online at www.biff.bm until 2pm today, October 14. The walk-up box office is open today at the Logic Internet Café, 10-12 Burnaby Street, Hamilton from 10am until 2pm. Tickets will also be available at the Liberty Theatre on Friday October 14 from 5-7pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 10am until 5pm.[[In-content Ad]]
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