For immediate release: EDINBURGH, Filmhouse 3rd February 2014
WELCOME TO THE CINEMA OF CHILDHOOD
MARK COUSINS AND FILMHOUSE PRESENT A SEASON OF 17 RARE
MASTERPIECES ABOUT KIDS FROM ALL ROUND THE WORLD
SOME OF THE BEST FILMS YOU’VE NEVER SEEN
CINEMA OF CHILDHOOD SEASON TO TAKE FILMGOERS OF ALL AGES ON A
GLOBAL VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY TO RECONNECT WITH THEIR INNER
CHILD
EDINBURGH, 31st January 2014: Filmhouse, Edinburgh is delighted to announce a UKwide film season, Cinema of Childhood, curated by filmmaker Mark Cousins and inspired
by his latest feature documentary, A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM, released in
cinemas April 4th (Dogwoof).
The Cinema Of Childhood season will launch April 11th at Filmhouse, BFI Southbank, and
other key venues across the UK. The season, which will tour the UK for a year, includes 17
brilliant films from 12 countries, spanning 7 decades. Most have rarely been seen in the UK
– some are totally new to UK audiences.
“These are some of the best films you’ve never had a chance to see,” Cousins says. “Films
about childhood take us on fantastic voyages. E.T.: THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL was a
magical bike ride across the moon. THE JUNGLE BOOK showed us the bare necessities.
A boy in THE RED BALLOON stole our hearts. But beyond these mainstream and arthouse
classics, there’s a world of great cinema about kids which is hardly known, but just as
brilliant. Welcome to that world. Jump into it.”
“Fly to the moon on gossamer wings with the little boy in Astrid Henning-Jensen’s PALLE
ALONE IN THE WORLD from 1949. Get close to the flame of life with Renko, in Shinji
Somai’s 1993 masterpiece, MOVING. Body-swerve the bullies in Karel Kachyna’s Czech
cinematic wonder, LONG LIVE THE REPUBLIC, from 1965. See LITTLE FUGITIVE, the
American film from 1953 which helped inspire the French New Wave. Discover the work of
one of the world’s greatest movie-makers, Mohammad-Ali Talebi from Iran with three of his
best films – THE BOOT, BAG OF RICE, and his poetic masterpiece WILLOW AND WIND.”
Mohammad-Ali Talebi will visit the UK for the first time in April, as a guest of the British
Council to launch the season with Mark Cousins at BFI Southbank, Filmhouse and other
venues to be announced.
Rod White, Head of Programming at Filmhouse, adds: "When I saw Mark Cousins'
groundbreaking documentary A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM, I immediately wanted to
watch the films that feature in it. But many of them simply weren't available in any form until now! And now that I've seen them, they are even better than I expected. We are
completely delighted to be working on this project with Mark, and to be playing our part in
breathing new life into these great and deserving films, both in terms of this UK-wide project
and, in the case of many of the films, by creating modern digital screening materials that will
ensure their availability to cinemas around the world in the years to come.”
Most of the titles in the season are featured in Mark’s documentary A STORY OF
CHILDREN AND FILM, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year to 5-star
reviews, and has since been acclaimed at many other major festivals worldwide, including
Edinburgh, Karlovy Vary, Telluride, Toronto, Stockholm and Dubai.
The season opens up a world of wonder for audiences of all ages who are keen to explore
beyond Hollywood’s idea of childhood. The films are both specific to their own time and
culture, but also universal in their depiction of childhood emotions, hopes and fears.
Children everywhere have so much in common - only the worlds they inhabit are different.
Emotionally engaging with audiences from 8 to 80, Cinema of Childhood invites filmgoers
to go on a global adventure with Mark, to discover previously unknown movie masterpieces
and to see the world anew through young eyes. Uplifting and exhilarating, these are films to
brighten your day.
The season is managed by Filmhouse, which has licensed the films for a year, and is
creating new digital materials where necessary to make the films available to the widest
possible range of cinema venues. Filmhouse has also licensed the VoD rights for many of
the titles, enabling audiences to watch these titles at their own convenience from home or
on the move via Filmhouse Player (www.filmhousecinema.com/player).
The project is backed by the BFI’s Programming Development Fund, awarding funds from
the National Lottery. The producer of the season is Adam Dawtrey, who also produced (with
Mary Bell) A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM.
Filmhouse (Edinburgh) and BFI Southbank (London) will programme the entire season from
April to June. Other venues already confirmed to host Cinema of Childhood include
Queen’s Theatre (Belfast), Chapter Arts Centre (Cardiff), Broadway (Nottingham), Dundee
Contemporary Arts, Glasgow Film Theatre, Eden Court Theatre (Inverness), the Roses
Theatre (Tewkesbury), Duke of York’s (Brighton), Watershed (Bristol), Cornerhouse
(Manchester) and Showroom (Sheffield), along with selected Picturehouse and Curzon
cinemas nationwide. Films from the season will also screen at special festival events,
including the Glasgow Youth Film Festival screening of The White Balloon on 9th February,
Zoom International Youth Film Festival and WoW Festival in March, and the Brighton
Festival in May.
Further venues will be announced in due course.
In addition there are plans to screen films from Cinema of Childhood in partnership with
several organisations concerned with child welfare. These screenings, which will be
targeted at a mixed audience of childcare experts and the general public, will explore
representations of childhood from a professional perspective, looking at issues from
different cultural and global viewpoints.
The full list of titles screening in the Cinema of Childhood season are:
• “Willow and Wind” (Bid-o Baad). Iran, Japan, 1999. D. Mohammad-Ali Talebi. 77 mins. A boy
breaks a school window, and must mend it himself before he’s allowed back in class.
• “Bag of Rice” (Kiseye Berendje). Iran, Japan, 1998. D. Mohammad-Ali Talebi. 80 mins. A little girl
and an old blind lady decide to carry a sack of rice across Tehran.
• “The Boot” (Chakmeh). Iran 1993. D. Mohammad-Ali Talebi. 60 mins. A little girl craves a new pair
of red wellies – but then loses one.
• “The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun” (La petite vendeuse de soleil). Senegal, Switzerland, France,
Germany 1999. D. Djibril Diop Mambety. 45 min. A feisty crippled girl tries to improve her life by
selling newspapers on the streets of Dakar.
• “Hugo and Josephine” (Hugo och Josefin). Sweden, 1967. D. Kjell Grede. 82 mins. The lonely
daughter of a rural pastor makes friends with a wild boy who lives in the woods.
• “The King of Masks” (Bian Lian) China, Hong Kong, 1997. D. Wu Tian-Ming. 91 mins. An old
illusionist buys a young boy to become his apprentice – but the boy isn’t quite what he seems.
• “The White Balloon” (Badkonake sefid) Iran 1995. D. Jafar Panahi. 85 mins. A stubborn little girl
wants a new goldfish, and won’t let anything get in her way.
• “Tomka and his Friends” (Tomka dhe shokët e tij) Albania, 1977. D. Xhanfise Keko. 78 mins. A
gang of Albanian boys in WW2 become secret agents for the Resistance when German troops
occupy their village.
• “Palle Alone in the World” (Palle alene i verden). Denmark 1949. D. Astrid Henning-Jensen. 25 min.
A boy wakes up to find Copenhagen deserted, and it becomes his giant playground.
• “Ten Minutes Older”. (Par desmit minutem vecaks). Latvia 1978. D. Herz Frank. 10 mins. One
close-up, 10 minutes long, of a small boy’s face as he watches a thrilling puppet show.
• “Long Live the Republic” (At’ zije republika) Czechoslovakia, 1965. D. Karel Kachyna, 134 mins. A
bullied boy tries to survive in a Czech village as the Germans retreat and the Russians advance.
• “Moving” (Ohikkoshi) Japan, 1993. D. Shinji Sômai. 124 mins. A girl struggles to come to terms
with her parents’ divorce.
• “Forbidden Games” (Jeux interdits). France, 1952. D. René Clément. 86 mins. A boy and a girl
retreat into a fantasy world to escape the horrors of WW2.
• “Crows” (Wrony). Poland, 1994. D. Dorota Kędzierzawska. 63 mins. A neglected girl steals a
younger girl to become her surrogate mother.
• “Little Fugitive”. USA 1953. Dir Morris Engel, Ray Ashley, Ruth Orkin. 80 mins. A 7-year-old boy
runs away to Coney Island when he thinks he’s killed his older brother.
• “Children in the Wind” (Kaze no naka no kodomo) Japan, 1937. D. Hiroshi Shimizu. 88 mins. The
idyllic village life of a Japanese boy falls apart when his father is falsely imprisoned.
• “The Unseen” (Nespatřené). Czech Republic, 1997. D. Miroslav Janek. 53 mins. Documentary
about Czech blind kids with remarkable talents, including taking photos.
Notes to Editors:
1.
Mark Cousins is a Northern Irish filmmaker, writer and curator who lives in Scotland. In the mid 1990s,
he was director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and co-founded the charity Scottish Kids
are Making Movies. He presented BBC2’s Moviedrome, co-edited Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of
Documentary with Kevin Macdonald, and directed and presented BBC2’s Scene by Scene. He turned
his 2004 book The Story of Film into a 930 minute film, THE STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY, which
won the Stanley Kubrick Award from Michael Moore.
He was Co-Artistic Director of Cinema China, The Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams and A
Pilgrimage, the last two being parts of Cousins’ ongoing collaboration with Tilda Swinton. Swinton and
Cousins launched the 8 ½ Foundation (www.eightandahalf.org) in Scotland in 2009, to introduce kids
aged 8 to world cinema. His films for the big screen include THE FIRST MOVIE, WHAT IS THIS FILM
CALLED LOVE?, A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM and HERE BE DRAGONS. He is currently
working on new feature projects about DH Lawrence, Belfast and Stockholm.
2.
For further information and updates on the Cinema of Childhood season www.cinemaofchildhood.com
3.
Filmhouse was opened in 1979 and has established itself as one of the leading independent cinemas in
the UK. Filmhouse showcases the best cinema from across the world, including new feature films, rereleases, retrospectives, and a variety of mini-seasons and festivals, as well as playing host to its sister
organisation the Edinburgh International Film Festival each June. It also runs a wide range of audience
development, education and learning and talent development programmes year round. Filmhouse is
run by the registered charity, The Centre for the Moving Image. Filmhouse’s year round programme is
supported by Creative Scotland, City of Edinburgh Council and Europa Cinemas.
www.filmhousecinema.com
4.
The BFI is the lead organisation for film in the UK with the ambition to create a flourishing film
environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive by: Connecting audiences to the
widest choice of British and World cinema Preserving and restoring the most significant film collection
in the world for today and future generations Championing emerging and world class film makers in the
UK - investing in creative, distinctive and entertaining work Promoting British film and talent to the world
Growing the next generation of film makers and audiences
The BFI is a Government arm’s-length body and distributor of Lottery funds for film. The BFI serves a
public role which covers the cultural, creative and economic aspects of film in the UK. It delivers this
role: As the UK-wide organisation for film, a charity core funded by Government By providing Lottery
and Government funds for film across the UK By working with partners to advance the position of film in
the UK Founded in 1933, the BFI is a registered charity governed by Royal Charter. The BFI Board of
Governors is chaired by Greg Dyke.
5.
Mark Cousins’s A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM is released by Dogwoof, in Cinemas 4th April. For
further information www.dogwoof.com/films/a-story-of-children-and-film and
www.astoryofchildrenandfilm.com
FOR FURTHER PRESS INFORMATION please contact Margaret_
T: 020 7923 2861 sarah@margaretlondon.com / Hilary@margaretlondon.com