Red Junior and the Wolf
In a fairytale world, Red Riding Hood’s granddaughter is best friends with Wolfie, a young wolf. Can Granny Red put aside her past experience and come to know Wolfie on his own merit?
Film Tag: Animation
The Cat in the Art Park
Even small cats are known for causing chaos, so imagine the hijinks that ensue when this art- park-dwelling cat suddenly grows to the size of a house.
META
Interconnection, form, function, flow: all these big ideas about change and growth sprout in playful ways when creatures shape shift and dance to the rhythm of discovery.
Star Bound
When six-year-old Jerry gets together with his uncle Joey, a Mission Operations Engineer at NASA, they have so much—a galaxy’s amount—to talk about.
How I Got My Wrinkles
Stop motion can’t stop time in this charming live-action and animated reflection on life, art, film, family, and all that makes the world go round.
Sanctuary
With a mindful animal rescuer, an ideal match is never far: even French Bulldogs on wheels and skittish puppies can all find their perfect human companions.
Lola’s Work
After years in the Philippines, Grandma Lola came to the US to help raise her grandchildren. Her grandson shares the greatest lesson Lola taught him.
Poum Poum!
Poum Poum! is a musical film that celebrates the simple joy of hitting drums, scribbling on paper, splashing paint, or making cymbals screech.
A Bite of Bone
Vividly-rendered animation relays this story of a little girl’s last summer with her father.
Damn It!
The classic struggle between good and evil is not always black and white in this hilarious short.
Charlotte
A pop song cover transforms the lives of an enigmatic folk singer and her family in this brilliantly crafted stop-motion short.
Gen Tree
In a town where the adults live on ground level and children refuse to come down from the treetops, a series of interviews sets out to discover what the generations misunderstand about each other.
6 Paws Under
A cemetary-dwelling cat is haunted by the ghost of its last mouse victim.
Franzy’s Soup Kitchen
Lonely alien Chef Franzy discovers that her special pink soup is not just delicious, but also magical when she shares it with hungry creatures living on a strange planet.
Superworm
Featuring a terrific voice cast that includes Olivia Colman, Rob Brydon, and more, Superworm is the story of super-long, super-strong hero always ready to help others, including his best friend, Butterfly. But the tables turn one day when Butterfly must help Superworm in when the Wizard Lizard and his sidekick Crow hatch a tricky plan.
Step By Step
A little rain boot wakes up on a river’s edge, lost from her owner with the big wild forest to trek through and overcome obstacles to make her way back home.
Best Birthday Ever
Little Charlie is a small rabbit who lives with his loving family and pets in a house at the edge of town. Like many five-year-olds, he goes to a kindergarten and plays with his friends in the neighborhood, basking in the delight of his parents’ complete attention. But all of that changes with the arrival of his baby sister, Clara. When the chance for adventure with his best friend, Monica, arises, Little Charlie—eager to make his own mark and maybe a little jealous—hops to it.
Best Birthday Ever
Little Charlie is a small rabbit who lives with his loving family and pets in a house at the edge of town. Like many five-year-olds, he goes to a kindergarten and plays with his friends in the neighborhood, basking in the delight of his parents’ complete attention. But all of that changes with the arrival of his baby sister, Clara. When the chance for adventure with his best friend, Monica, arises, Little Charlie—eager to make his own mark and maybe a little jealous—hops to it.
Charlotte
Charlotte is a testament to the power of art to endure, affront, and thrive, even in the face of impossible circumstances. This beautifully animated saga is based on the life of Charlotte Salomon, an aspiring painter living in Germany during the Nazi rise to power. As hard as it is to gain acceptance to the art academy as a girl, Charlotte’s Jewish background makes achieving her dream even harder, and soon her entire community’s existence is threatened. Eventually she is forced into exile with her difficult, emotionally distant grandparents before finding safe, loving harbor in the South of France. Charlotte’s new host wholeheartedly encourages her artmaking. The result is a decades-spanning, boldly ambitious visual autobiography that confronts the perils of war, a family legacy of mental illness, and dashed dreams. Featuring the voice of Keira Knightley, Charlotte paints the legacy of a little-known artist whose impact lasts long beyond her brief life.
Note: film contains intense moments depicting the reality of World War II Europe, suicide, and sexual content
Note: film contains intense moments depicting the reality of World War II Europe, suicide, and sexual content
Oink
Fabulously bespectacled 9-year-old Babs seemingly has the perfect life, with parents who see to it that she has a lovely home and only the healthiest vegetarian meals on her plate. And she and her best friend tool around their idyllic Dutch neighborhood on their bikes without a care. But, what Babs really, really wants, she can’t have: a dog to call her own. So when Babs’ grandfather, an American with a curious rootin’-tootin’ cowboy accent, suddenly appears on the scene, he just may make her dream come true. And he almost does, in the form of Oink, a lovable if constantly, er, digesting, pig, whom he gifts to Babs, much to her mother’s dismay. There’s only one problem, or two… One: Oink stays only on the condition he passes a rigorous puppy training program. Two: Babs’ grandfather secretly maintains a nefarious connection to the Sausage King competition organized by The Society for Meat Products from Fresh Pigs. Full of cheeky humor, porcines behaving badly and people even worse, all in uncannily realistic and genius stop-motion animation, this charmer will have you snorting and cheering for the right to be piggy ‘n pink!
Pompo The Cinephile
If you’re reading this, chances are you like movies. You’ll feel right at home with Pompo, the talented and gutsy producer whose love of cinema is unflinching and unapologetic. One day, Pompo turns her uncanny eye for talent to her movie-loving but apprehensive assistant Gene, selecting him to make his directorial debut with her latest script. But gene has his work cut out for him with a young starlet looking for her first big break and a legendary, aging, Brando-like superstar in front of the camera. It’s not an action movie, but Pompo’s breakneck pace combined with the high stakes of creative fulfillment pack in as much excitement as standard superhero fare. Add to that a slew of insider movie references and countless winks and nods to the filmmaking process, this hilarious and heartful dramedy has what it takes to fulfill even your wildest celluloid dreams.
Poupelle of Chimney Town
Our wide-eyed, top-hatted, scruffily charming young protagonist Lubbichi—such a big name for a little boy—has a very big job to do: serving as a busy chimney sweep in his enormous and gritty post-industrial town. With all the factory soot in the air, Lubbichi and the townspeople haven’t seen the sky in years, but that won’t stop this plucky boy from dreaming of the stars. His dreams get even closer to reach when he befriends Poupelle, a gentle giant robot made of trash whose heart beats as true as any human one. Based on the beloved Japanese manga and filled with amazingly detailed CG worlds of complex, inventive devices and fantastical landscapes, this ragtag buddy movie brushes, clanks, and sweeps its way through the debris to dazzle eyes, hearts and minds. Chim, chim, cher-ee, indeed.
Moominvalley
Tove Jansson’s delightful universe is back, premiering exclusively at NYICFF with all the Moomincapers you could ever wish for in three new episodes. It’s a battle to decide who’s in charge in Brisk and Breezy when camper and notorious mischief-maker Little My runs Mr. Brisk through a series of tests to prove his mettle. Next, leave it to Moomintroll to get into a muddle inadvertently following valley rogue Stinky down a foul path to thievery, only getting into more rot when trying to make things right. Finally, the Moominfamily must postpone their winter hibernation while Moominmomma (voiced by Rosamund Pike) keeps something under wraps in Winter Secrets.
To the Bright Side
Hop on this delightful omnibus of a film, composed of seven stunningly animated short films, and you’ll travel to China past and present, urban and rural, in realistic contemporary settings or fantastic mythical realms. Though the protagonists range from a family of rabbits, a boy doing his homework at his parents’ restaurant, or a child and his grandmother in the countryside, all tell a unique stories of love, challenges, and maturing to the beat of your own drum. The distinctive styles of each short equally captivate, beautifully hand illustrated through rich colors, ink painting, paper-cutting, watercolor, collages, and more to create affectionate interpretations of life, love and growth as seen through these gifted Chinese filmmakers’ viewpoints.
I Am What I Am
Prepare yourself for the hallmarks of all the classic genres: I Am What I Am is a buddy film, a road movie, an underdog heartstring-puller, and even a little bit of a romcom. Our hero Gyun is a hard working kid with even harder working parents. While his parents toil away in the big city of Guangzhou, Gyun is left to his own devices in his small village, where he stumbles upon the transfixing Lion Dance Competition. Beneath the extraordinary costume is a powerful girl who gifts him with her stunning headdress and encourages him to pursue his newfound aspirations. Soon, Gyun and his buddies are traversing the enormity of the vast Chinese countryside as their own ragtag troupe. With hard work, athleticism, and a reluctant dance-champ-turned-fishmonger Sifu to coach them, they begin to outwit their competitors by harnessing their perceived weaknesses. The eye-poppingly bold and realistic CG animation that breathes fierce light into this rags to riches story will have you bouncing to the beat of the Lion’s drum.
SWOP
Based on the beloved, Emmy and NYICFF award-winning short Heads Together, this new series follows three wacky friends Sef, Wesley, and Marjory. One day, they discover an abandoned washing machine with mysterious powers: it lets you swap heads with someone else! This presents the three BFFs with a range of amazing possibilities…and side-splitting challenges. As they take turns trying on each other’s heads, they literally see the world through new eyes. Will their new perspectives help them discover a whole new world of possibilities, or get them into a mess? Well, the sayings tell us there are many sides to every story and two heads are better than one. Run, don’t walk (but please hold onto your head) to the slapstick silliness of SWOP.
Where is Anne Frank
One night Kitty, the most famous imaginary friend in history, suddenly materializes as a fully fledged girl from the ink-filled pages of Anne Frank’s diary. She doesn’t understand where her old friend has gone (or why, for that matter, their former home has become a tourist attraction). Kitty leaves behind her 1940s dress and dons jeans and sneakers, all the better to set out to solve the mystery. Aided by a resourceful pickpocket and befriending a group of young refugees seeking safe homes and community like anyone else, Kitty criss-crosses through time and takes us from the streets of contemporary, colorful Amsterdam through to gray war-era Germany and back. While Anne’s now ever-present name has been reverently affixed to bridges and schools and hospitals, Kitty fears her friend’s true legacy is being forgotten. An urgent and poignant detective story and anthem for social justice from award-winning filmmaker Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir), Where Is Anne Frank is imbued with fantastical animated sequences (‘40s era Clark Gable on horseback!) and a modern punk sensibility (complete with glorious Karen O soundtrack) and is an essential history for audiences of all ages.
Turning Red
Disney and Pixar’s “Turning Red” introduces Mei Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang), a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. Her protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming (voice of Sandra Oh), is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager. And as if changes to her interests, relationships and body weren’t enough, whenever she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS), she “poofs” into a giant red panda! Directed by Academy Award® winner Domee Shi (Pixar short “Bao”) and produced by Lindsey Collins “Turning Red releases on March 11, 2022.
APOLLO 10½: A Space Age Childhood
Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood tells the story of the first moon landing in the summer of 1969 from two interwoven perspectives – the astronaut and mission control view of the triumphant moment, and through the eyes of a kid growing up in Houston, Texas who has intergalactic dreams of his own. Taking inspiration from Academy Award-nominated® filmmaker Richard Linklater’s own life, Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood is a snapshot of American life in the 1960s that is part coming of age, part societal commentary, and part out-of-this-world adventure.
Note: this film is rated PG-13 by the MPAA
Angakusajaujuq – The Shaman’s Apprentice
A young shaman must face her first test—a trip underground to visit Kannaaluk, The One Below, who holds the answers to why a community member has become ill. Facing dark spirits and physical challenges, she must trust her mentor and grandmother’s teachings and learn to control her fear.