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]