In case you needed a reason to see the BAMkids Film Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music next weekend, here are three: Babar, Vincent van Gogh and Pele.
And those are just some of the bigger stars in a pantheon of movies more magical than any you’ll find at the multiplex.
There’ll be live action and claymation shorts and features, and all kinds of animation drawn (literally and figuratively) from around the world. Eighteen countries will be represented in all, including Kyrgyztan (hint: it’s near Mongolia). Actors will read the subtitles aloud for many of the foreign films, and after each program, the audience will vote on which movie it liked best.
Move over, Oscar – meet the BAMmies.
Then again, contends film curator Nicole Dreiske, all of the movies are winners.
“I’ve had a huge body of work to draw on,” says Dreiske of the 700 or so films she screened as founder and artistic director of the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, which helped coordinate the BAM fest.
“The animated films give children a chance to see characters interacting in different and unpredictable ways, and find new things to laugh about.”
Take “Tempera,” one of the shorts in the “Animal Crackers” program for kids ages 3-7 (April 15 and 16, noon). In this 8-minute, wordless short from the Netherlands, paint colors come alive in an inventor’s workshop, changing shapes and playing with all kinds of Rube Goldberg-like contraptions.
In another wordless, animated short, “At the Ends of the Earth” (April 15 at 2:10 p.m. and April 16 at 2:40 p.m.), a house teeter-totters at the top of a mountain. “There’s no storyline per se,” says Drieske, “but it’s a visual delight, with a series of images that have people laughing in the aisles.”
Another of her favorites is “Bunny,” a 1998 Academy Award-winning short about a lonely old bunny who tries to bake at night, only to be pestered by a moth. Just seven minutes long, it’s “truly amazing, tender and very humorous,” Drieske says. Director Chris Wedge will answer questions from the audience after the Saturday show; his senior animator, Seeve Talkowski, will do the honors Sunday.
Other highlights:
A 19-minute short called “A Soccer Story” follows a boy as he struggles to master a difficult soccer kick. Only at the end do we find out we’ve been watching the young Pele, the undisputed master of the world’s game. (Part of “The Ends of the Earth” program, screening April 15 at 2:10 p.m. and April 16 at 2:40 p.m., for ages 6-13).
In “Vincent & Me,” a live-action feature from Canada, a young girl is befriended by Vincent van Gogh, who guides her through art school and helps her solve a mystery. (April 16, 12 p.m., ages 8-13)
“Babar: King of the Elephants” is “the definitive Babar,” Drieske says, “with songs the kids will be able to relate to, songs they’ll remember, and a style of animation that remains true to the original book.” (April 15 and 16, 2:20 p.m., ages 4-9)
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The second annual BAMkids Film Festival will be held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn. Tickets are $5 kids, $8.50 adults. For more information, visit http://www.bam.org or call (718) 636-4100.