transformers in disguise!One of the more excel­lent things we’ve seen land in the Welling­ton­ista’s intray that allows har­ried par­ents to enter­tain their kids for FREE these hol­i­days, is the Film Fes­ti­val tak­ing place down at the Film Archive. So if you’ve got a loved one at home look­ing after some house­bound kid­dy-win­kles, give ’em a call and tell them to head along…

Clas­sic Car­toons for Kids includes the world’s first Mick­ey Mouse car­toon Steam­boat Willie (1928), Walt Dis­ney clas­sics To Itch His Own (1958) and Fer­di­nand the Bull (1938), plus a 1933 pup­pet ani­ma­tion by New Zealand’s own Len Lye. Also on the pro­gramme is Mau­rice Sendak’s clas­sic chil­drens tale Where The Wild Things Are (1973). This pro­gramme is for chil­dren aged 5–12.

Ani­ma­tion Nation — New Zealand Ani­ma­tion 1936–2006 col­lects New Zealand ani­ma­tions from the past 70 years for an audi­ence of kids aged 10–13+. The pro­gramme takes in clas­sic stop-motion, clay­ma­tion and 3D ani­ma­tion. One of the high­lights of Ani­ma­tion Nation is Mr Stinky’s World of Trash (2006), a 3D film made by local ani­ma­tor Mike Heynes. Vis­i­tors to the screen­ing will be giv­en a spe­cial pair of glass­es to enhance the effect of char­ac­ters leap­ing out from the screen and mov­ing in space! Also on the entire­ly New Zealand bill are two films by Len Lye includ­ing The Birth of the Robot (1936), and James Cun­ning­ham’s award win­ning dig­i­tal ani­ma­tion Delf (1997). This pro­gramme is for chil­dren aged 10–13+.

Both pro­grammes run for approx­i­mate­ly 45 min­utes are guar­an­teed to enter­tain kids and their par­ents. The Archive will sell­ing it’s usu­al range of cof­fee, tea and refresh­ments to hun­gry Kids Film Fes­ti­val goers.

Loca­tion: New Zealand Film Archive Mediathe­atre
Time: 11am

  • Wednes­day 4th July
    Clas­sic Car­toons for Kids (Ages 5–12)
  • Mon­day 9th July
    Stop Motion, Clay­ma­tion & 3D (Ages 10–13+)
  • Tues­day 10th July
    Clas­sic Car­toons for Kids (Ages 5–12)
  • Wednes­day 11th July
    Stop Motion, Clay­ma­tion & 3D (Ages 10–13+)

[pho­to: frame enlarge­ment from The Birth of the Robot (1936) by Len Lye. cour­tesy of the Len Lye Foun­da­tion Col­lec­tion; New Zealand Film Archive / Nga Kaiti­a­ki O Nga Taon­ga Whiti­ahua]