Young Artist Promotes Films for Children

Eleven-year-old Danielle Schaeffer had the thrill of watching her first poster design roll off the presses Monday at Graphic Reproductions in Newbury Park.

The Agoura Hills girl was the winner of a poster-making contest to promote the first Thousand Oaks Children’s Film Festival on Oct. 11 and 12.

Schoolchildren from all over Ventura County and neighboring Los Angeles County communities are invited to take part in the festival.

Educational films from around the world will be shown during the two-day event.

A committee of parenting experts will also select a “best film for children” from five Hollywood films produced in the last year: “Babe,” “Little Women,” “Pocahontas,” “The Indian in the Cupboard” and “The Little Princess.”

The highlight of the event will be a showing of the 1939 classic “The Red Balloon,” which was the subject of the poster contest.

Danielle’s design shows a bright red balloon sailing out a window and into a sky filled with fluffy, white clouds.

Organizer Nancy Frawley said the sponsoring Alliance for the Arts hopes the festival will become an annual event.

It is designed for kindergartners through eighth-graders.