Children’s Film Festival Gears Up in Burbank

Parents hungry for movies they want their children to see will have dozens to choose from at the first Burbank International Children’s Film Festival, which opens Friday and continues through Oct. 20.

According to executive director Chris Shoemaker, the weeklong festival is a celebration of quality programming for children in film, video and other media. Meant to be lively as well as high-minded, it is the first such recurring festival to be held in Burbank, home of Disney, Warner Bros., the Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and scores of other businesses that produce and distribute youth-oriented entertainment.

“The idea seems like such a natural,” said Shoemaker, who is also executive director of the family-oriented Santa Clarita International Film Festival, now in its seventh year. His wife, Suzanne, serves as director of business affairs for both festivals.

“Here we are in Burbank--it’s a factory for children’s entertainment--and yet there’s no showcase or forum for celebrating that,” Shoemaker said. “It seemed only fitting to have a children’s film festival here.”

Describing the festival as “part Sundance for kids, part American Film Market for kids,” Shoemaker said the program will include 12 world premieres of child-friendly films, screenings of films made by children for children, workshops, tours and demonstrations. Other events include a panel featuring child actors and their parents and a “producer’s master class” on how to get film financing and distribution.

Screenings will be held daily at the AMC 8 in Burbank. Most other events will take place in and around the Media City Center. Shoemaker credited Dan Millman, general manager of the Burbank mall, with coming up with the idea for the nonprofit festival. Millman is chairman of its board, which includes individuals from Warner Bros., NBC, Nickelodeon and other players in children’s entertainment.

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Festival organizers sent out more than 10,000 requests for submissions earlier this year, asking for features, shorts, animated films, documentaries, educational films and movies and videos made for children by filmmakers 18 and under. All submissions had to be appropriate either for children 12 and under or for audiences between the ages of 12 and 18.

Seventy films were submitted, from Australia, Canada, China, England and Ethiopia as well as the United States, Shoemaker said. Sixty-nine original screenplays also were submitted, 10 of which have been chosen to be read by professional actors during the festival. About 30 films and videos by children also will be screened.

Opening day will feature an evening appearance by Berkeley Breathed, Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the comic strips “Bloom County” and “Outland.” Among the festival’s keynote speakers: Robin Swicord, author of “Matilda” and other children’s books, who will speak Monday on the responsibilities of those who write for young readers.

Psychologist David Walsh, founder and president of the National Institute on Media and the Family in Minneapolis, will speak Wednesday on the hot-button topic of the power of the media and how it affects children. He also will conduct a workshop for parents on helping children find appropriate entertainment.

At its closing gala Oct. 20, the festival will honor superhero creator Stan Lee and Warner Bros. animation executive Jean MacCurdy.

Co-creator of the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk and other larger-than-life characters for Marvel Comics, Lee will receive one of the festival’s inaugural lifetime achievement awards for “excellence in the art of animation.”

In addition to Lee’s contributions to the comic book, he has also had a significant impact on television for children, Shoemaker pointed out. Lee recently made the leap to creating content for the Internet with “The 7th Portal.”

MacCurdy will receive the lifetime award for outstanding achievement in children’s entertainment. As president of Warner Bros. animation, she is responsible for animated features and TV animation. MacCurdy is credited with revitalizing Warner Bros.’ animated TV shows, which have received 28 Emmys since she became president in 1992.

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Both honorees said they believe people who create product for children have special obligations. “For the most part, people who work in children’s programming take that responsibility very seriously,” MacCurdy said.

Lee said his awareness of how much children are influenced by the media affects what he writes.

“I have always tried to write stories so the good guys were the most empathetic, the most seemingly glamorous--the ones youngsters would want to emulate rather than the bad guys,” he said.

Asked if the Internet is different from other media he has worked in, Lee said all media differ technically but share one great commonality.

“The one rule that applies, no matter what the medium, is that you have to have characters the audience cares about,” he said. “You have to have a situation that’s interesting and provocative, and there has to be enough suspense to keep your audience with you to the end.”

Lee makes it sound easy.

* Burbank International Children’s Film Festival runs Friday through Oct. 20. Many festival events are free. Screenings are $5 for adults, $4 for children 12 and under and for seniors. For more information, call (818) 841-3901.