** USA PREMIERE** 

While attending a super-cool summer camp where campers compete to build the highest multi-story, self-standing structure possible using scrap wood, a best friendship between two adolescent boys is greatly tested. A series of misunderstandings and hurtful slights, some intentional and some not, creates a building tension that grips the viewer’s attention—and empathy—to the end. Director Marien Rogaar has constructed a film with an amazingly caring hand. Don’t miss this USA PREMIERE!

Many films have been made about kids going to extraordinary lengths to avoid school. This stunningly shot documentary (Cesar Award Winner 2014) captures the stories of four children (Kenya, Patagonia, Morocco and India) and their herculean efforts to get TO school. Instinctively, they know that their well-being, and in many ways survival, depend on knowledge and education. This is a film parents might cite the next time their children complain about getting up for school on a Monday morning.

Jackson crosses the Kenyan savannah on foot, heeding his father’s advice, “If the elephants see you, they will kill you! Run away!”; Carlito rides horseback across rocky, scrub-covered plains and rushing rivers; Zahira treks over treacherous Atlas Mountain passes in Morocco with her classmates supporting one another; Samuel depends on his brothers to push his wheelchair over sand dunes and through swamps of southern Bengal. While the breathtaking cinematography reveals the splendor of their homelands, the dangers of these voyages keep you on the edge of your seat. At the heart of this unforgettable film are the children’s resilience and their unstoppable yearning to learn and improve their lives.

GET LOCAL: Family Services Rhode Island: The Walking School Bus
Family Service of Rhode Island’s Walking School Bus provides routes to and from school. The initiative ensures that each child living within a mile of the school, who needs to walk arrives on time and returns home safely, even when a family member is unable to walk with him or her.  The Walking School Bus serves Bailey and Fogarty elementary schools in Providence’s South Side neighborhood.To learn more about this program and/or to become a volunteer, click here.

There is perhaps no cinematic bond stronger than that of the friendship between a boy and his dog. For this reason, the novel “Belle et Sébastien” by actress and author Cécile Aubry has endured since the 1960s, inspiring several films, television series, and even the name of a Scottish indie music ensemble.

In this latest film adaptation by Nicolas Vanier, the setting has shifted to World War II on the French/Swiss border. Sébastien (Félix Bossuet) lives with his grizzled grandfather in a vertiginous mountain village and crosses paths with a giant, filthy Pyrenean mountain dog the locals call “The Beast” for allegedly killing livestock. Sébastien, however, sees something good in the misunderstood canine and eventually befriends the animal, naming her “Belle.” Their budding friendship is put to the test when Nazi occupiers march into town looking for members of the French Resistance who are guiding Jewish refugees to neighboring Switzerland. With their intimate knowledge of the nooks and crannies of the alpine valleys, Belle and Sébastien help point the way to safety, with the merciless SS officer, Lieutenant Peter, tracking them every step of the way.

Using 35mm film and jaw-dropping scenery from the Haute Maurienne-Vanoise region of France, Belle et Sébastien is a charming homage to the beloved live-action nature films of Disney, but with a pulse-pounding World War II subplot that will enthrall audiences of all ages.

In a world of children’s films largely dominated by action-packed 3D animation, Ernest and Celestine’s old-fashioned charm, simple message about the value of friendship, and magical watercolors stand out. Little mice are taught to be afraid of bears, but when Celestine’s dream of meeting one is realized, the lumbering, grumbling Ernest proves to be the best friend an open-minded mouse could ask for. From the creators of Triplets of Belleville and The Secret of Kells.