Family : Sharing the ‘Big World’ of Children’s TV

A farmer on a lunch break animates classic fairy tales--in his yogurt . . . a child-made film about going fishing finds the squirmy bait more fascinating than the catch of the day . . . animated rats on a sailing adventure down a gutter: This eclectic sampling is part of “Big World, Little Viewers,” a series of prize-winning children’s TV programs from European and Scandinavian countries, Australia, South Africa and the Philippines that will be screened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Bing Theatre on Saturday for all ages in an all-day event organized by the Goethe-Institut of Los Angeles.

The films, drawn from winners of the venerable, Munich-based Prix Jeunesse international competition for excellence in children’s programming, were compiled by David Kleeman, director of the American Center for Children’s Television/Chicago.

“We’ve gone out of our way to bring programs that don’t look like American children’s television,” Kleeman said, “so people can get new views and ideas of what people around the world consider to be kids’ TV.”

“Rinnsteinpiraten” (Pirates of the Gutter) from Germany, for example, “is an exceptional animation, where animated rats (are merged) with a live-action gutter. All along the way, during the rats’ trip down the gutter, they face environmental hazards . . . a pile of smoldering cigarettes that burns a hole in their rafts, dog droppings . . . “

The yogurt-animating farmer is the star of “Hagelback’s Meal Break” from Denmark. “He sits down and pours himself a tray of yogurt and puts in blueberry syrup and animates stories in it,” Kleeman said, including an update of “Three Billy Goats Gruff” in which the troll “monitors the goats with a video system.”

The “very funny, fast-paced” live-action “Close Up--A Tragedy--With a Happy Ending,” a 15-minute mix of documentary and drama, was created “with the intent of getting kids thinking about the motivations behind racism and to help them rethink their own views or, more often, those that adults press on them. It packs more into 15 minutes than many shows get in an hour or two.”

Prix Jeunesse, which has been around for more than 30 years, is “not only a way of honoring great children’s TV,” Kleeman said, “it really does bring together the world of children’s television. The winners are chosen and a weeklong screening is held where people from around the world watch the programs and then discuss what they’ve seen, and while they’re together they trade ideas. It’s called a market of new ideas and nobody cares if you steal--in fact, it’s encouraged.”

The event is open to children’s television professionals and the general public and Kleeman hopes that “people will bring kids--we’ll have a survey about what they’ve seen that they like and don’t like and what they watch at home.”

Programs for younger children will be shown from 10 a.m. to noon; offerings for older children and teens will be screened from 1:15 to 6 p.m. Tickets are $2 per child; $4 for adults. Reservations: (213) 857-6010.

Community Outreach: The Young Playwrights L.A. program, a series of staged readings of short plays written by L.A. teen-agers and performed by adult theater professionals, will be presented at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood today and Sunday.

This showcase of works written by teen-age members of the Dream Lab writing group and presented by the San Diego-based Playwright’s Project, marks the beginning of Young Playwrights L.A.’s participation in the Fountain Theatre’s community outreach programs. The plays will also go on tour to 10 L.A.-area junior and senior high schools, another first for the group.

The play readings will be performed at the Fountain at 8 p.m. today and Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7. Information: (310) 392-9814; reservations: (213) 663-1525.