Festival at USC Offers Films for Children

At the 16th International Children’s Film and Television Festival this weekend and next, animated and live-action shorts and features--from 1 minute to 1 1/2 hours long--will be screened.

The programs will be at the Norris Cinema Theater at USC, 900 Exposition Blvd., at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Each is preceded by half an hour of clowns, mimes, musicians and folk dancers performing in the theater or outside.

Each film is shown only once during the festival, so families who attend all three programs on any day will not see repeats. Today’s films are from Sweden. Almost all the foreign films in the festival have been dubbed rather than subtitled for the largely non-reading audience. Most of the films have been made in the last year, including “Huskies Never Freeze” and “The Wild Baby.”

On Sunday and next weekend, different screenings will be playing in two theaters at all three show times. One theater will screen films for children 3 and older, while the other caters to children 7 and older.

‘Broccoli,’ ‘Cinderella’

Sunday’s program includes “Bach and Broccoli,” a 90-minute live-action feature from Canada about a little girl and her pet skunk. The movie, which has won many film festival prizes, will be shown at 2 p.m. Next Saturday the only Soviet film, an animated version of “Cinderella,” screens at 10 a.m. The noon program that day includes a claymation short from Hungary, and the 2 p.m. show is devoted to films made by children.

Tickets ($3 per show or $7 per day) may be purchased at the Norris box office, just before show time. Signs posted around campus will direct families to the parking lot ($3.75) and theater. Hot dogs and soft drinks will be sold. Information: (213) 743-8632.