ErinLaing.com

I got back from the Lucas International Children’s Film Festival last week and had an unbelievable time. What an amazing festival. This was my first children’s film festival so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was blown away by the selection of films and the activities organized for the children. Every day, group discussions took place so that the kids could talk with all the filmmakers present and ask them questions about filmmaking or their particular film.

I never intended Birthday Girl to be geared towards children, but after speaking with some of the programmers I learned that it was one of the reasons why they chose it.

None of the films screened at the festival (at least the ones that I saw) were specifically geared towards children. They all dealt with very mature subject matter. The only similarities were that they happened to feature children in the lead roles. I think it’s amazing that the festival is encouraging kids, even as young as six, to watch relatively mature content. And why not?

Some of the hardest questions I got after my film screened came from the kids. For instance, a young jury member asked me why I would write a scene where a father allows his eight year old daughter to smoke. Kids pick up a lot of details that we take for granted so it was a great experience seeing my film from their perspective and hearing what they had to say about it.

The festival organizes a live German dubbing of each film while the film is screening. I have to admit this takes a little getting used to (watching a film in French, reading English subtitles and listening to a woman speak in German on the loud speaker). Your brain goes on overdrive until it figures out what’s going on.

Overall this worked out well for Birthday Girl. I was glad most of the jokes came through - even the subtle ones - and that the reading was done in the same tone as the actor’s performance.

I’m off to Strasbourg this week for the Strasbourg Intl Film Fest…