This looks great! I’m going. Next weekend, November 1 to 3, if you are reasonably close to Somerville or Medford outside Boston, this looks like the place to be for kids 10 and over.
Kathryn Dietz, Executive Director of Filmmakers Collaborative and one of the BIKFF directors, says the event will help give children the tools to decipher the digital media world they are growing up in.
“Besides showcasing great films, our goal with the Boston International Kids Film Festival is to give children and their caregivers the skills to use the media so that it doesn’t use them.”
Love that!
Here are some featured workshops:
DECONSTRUCTING ADS, AGES 12 AND OVER
Advertisements are the backbone of the commercial television industry, and their sole purpose is to sell you something. They are short and powerful, offering overt and subliminal messages about gender, identity and power. In this workshop you will learn how to hack into them using a great tool from The LAMP – the Media Breaker – “breaking” up short ads and smacking back with your own critical commentary.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOOTCAMP, FOR PARENTS (Be there! -ed.)
The kids know it all: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and whatever is the next thing to come down the electronic pike. This workshop will help parents and caregivers learn the conventions and uses of social media, and offer advice on how to help your children navigate this ever-changing world.
SMARTPHONE SHORTS, AGES 10 AND OVER
Learn how to use your phone to make a short film! In this workshop you will get tips on how to storyboard, shoot and edit a movie on your smartphone.
ADVOCACY FILMMAKING, HIGH SHOOL AGE AND OVER
Advocacy isn’t just petitions and t-shirts anymore. Technology has made high quality filmmaking affordable and accessible, and social media makes small scale distribution doable. In this session you will see two different examples of how young people can change the way we see the world through their films.
Marketing, Media and Childhood 