About the Fest
About the Fest

There are many ways to measure 25 years.

Twenty-five years is 30,000 films submitted, or the 162 countries they came from. It’s 38 Oscar awards and nominations, and 47 states reached by our virtual Festival last year. It’s 42 filmmakers, actors, and industry leaders who have served on our jury. Or 170 unique, individually curated film programs.

But the most significant achievement of the past 25 years—the evidence of which can be found at each and every NYICFF event—is a little harder to pin down (and we're not talking about the number of ballots and pencils we’ve lost below theater seats). The true value of our work sometimes appears much smaller, but it lives in the immeasurable.

It’s in the conversations that start as credits roll and continue around the dinner table. You’ll find it in the look on a young person’s face the first time they see someone like them on the screen. You hear it in the voice of an audience member using their native language to ask a visiting filmmaker a question, or the stunned silence of the filmmaker who hadn’t expected such insight from a kid. It’s the surprise endings, the innovative animation, or discovering your new favorite movie at a Festival for kids. It’s collective laughter. It’s the teacher finding a way into complex topics by sharing films in class. It’s watching the rest of the industry start to catch on and move the needle, however slightly, toward inclusive storytelling for all ages, on all sides of the camera.

Thank you for helping us redefine "film for kids" for the last 25 years. Here's to 25 more.

JUMP TO

sponsors and partners

team
team

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Nina Guralnick

PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR

Maria-Christina Villaseñor

STAFF

Rebecca Linde, Communications Director
Martine McDonald, Education Director
Taylor Freimund, Development Manager
Gabrielle Gonzalez, Festival Assistant

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

K. Heather McRay, President
Guy Story, Vice President
Maureen Hayes, Treasurer
Kennedy Cogan, Secretary
Deepak Arya
Scott Cohen
Jeanine Conley Daves
Priya Giri Desai
Camilla Gale
Shruti Ganguly
Kate McClure
Elif Ongoren
Dorie Lederfajn Paparo
Jane Royal
Jo Anne Schlesinger

DIRECTORS EMERITUS

Eric Beckman
Emily Shapiro

OFFICE INTERNS

Leah Gross
Julia Gutterman
Franziska Winter Nace

SCREENING AND PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE

Ara Butler
Sara Echaniz
Corrine Ellingson
Drew Feldman
Delassie Gadzanku
Tristian Goik
Jada Henry
Stephen Kuster
Nic Marshall
Jessica Polaniecki
Emerald Wright-Collie
Tatiana Youpa

DESIGN

Kiss Me I'm Polish
Car of Tomorrow

Jury
Jury

Peilin Chou

Producer (Over the Moon, Abominable)

Melissa Cobb

Vice President, Kids and Family, Netflix

Geena Davis

Academy Award^®-winning actor and founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

Madeline DiNonno

CEO, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media; Chair, Board of Directors of the Television Academy Foundation

Amy Friedman

Head of Kids and Family Programming, Warner Bros.

Elizabeth Ito

NYICFF Award-winning director (Welcome to My Life), creator of Netflix's City of Ghosts

Kyle MacLahlan

Award-winning actor (Twin Peaks, Dune, Inside Out)

Guillermo Martinez

Head of Story, Sony Pictures Animation (The Mitchells vs The Machines), Story Artist, Laika Studios (Kubo and the Two Strings, Missing Link)

Matthew Modine

Award-winning actor and filmmaker (Stranger Things, Full Metal Jacket)

Ramsey Naito

President, Nickelodeon Animation; President, Paramount Animation; Academy Award^®-nominated producer (The Boss Baby)

Mark Osborne

Academy Award^®-nominated director, writer, producer, and animator (Kung Fu Panda, The Little Prince)

Peter Ramsey

Academy Award^®-winning director (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Rise of the Guardians)

Ira Sachs

Award-winning filmmaker (Little Men, Love is Strange); founder and Executive Director, Queer/Art

Uma Thurman

Academy Award^®-nominated actor (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill vol. 1 & 2); Board of Directors, Room to Grow

Nora Twomey

Academy Award^®-nominated director (The Breadwinner, The Secret of Kells); co-founder, Cartoon Saloon

special thanks
special thanks

Jasmine Abghari
Vidya Alexander
Erin Amaty
ArtSmart
Jennifer Becker
Vincent Burich
Garth Burkhart
Francesca Campanella
Leslie Castañeda
Nathalie Charles
Alison Chavez
Carina Christmas
Christian Cole
Amy Davila
Andrea Davis
Davis, Polk, and Wardell
Paul DeSilva
Dave Jeastadt
Russ Gage
Agnieszka Gasparska
William Hohauser
Chance Husky
Ariana Inness-Brown
Amaris Jones
Karen Kelso
Anastasia Leahy
Frances Leahy
Adeline Monzier
Moxie Bookkeeping
Erik Mund
Adam Natale
Amanda Nguyen
Jessica Ortega
Gabriela Prado
Kyle Reinhart
Eric Rosset
Peter Russo
Arin Sang-urai
Melanie Scharler
Catherine Scheinman
Min Jin Shin
Brian Sierra
Marleen Slot
Christine Tasto
Aya Taveras
Julie Tustin
Rodney Uhler
Sharleen Valentin
Dennis Vermeulen
Joaquin Vermeulen
Wagner, Ferber, Fine & Ackerman
Jeremy Wine

press
press

IN THE NEWS

March 4, 2022 - At New York International Children's Film Festival, Films Come First, The New York Times
March 8, 2022 - Programming Director Maria-Christina Villaseñor talks to Alison Stewart on WNYC's "All of It."

PRESS RELEASES

February 10, 2022 — NYICFF to Launch 25th Anniversary Festival in Person
February 14, 2022 — NYICFF Announces 25th Anniversary Features Slate

PRESS ASSETS

For assets, click here

PRESS CONTACT

Jennifer Becker / nyicff@ctand.co

our supporters
our supporters

$5,000+

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