This compilation of four films has multiple, thought-provoking topics to think about, and hopefully after, talk about. They include the struggles of young, Afghani women being musicians in a time when it looks like the Taliban will be coming back to power. Other films from the Netherlands and Argentina follow families who are dealing with children on gender journeys unfamiliar to them. The last film, 2nd Class, is quite relevant to what is happening here in our own country when it comes to reacting to white supremacists. The reel includes the following films…

SOMETHING ABOUT ALEX – A young teenager develops a close friendship with his older sister’s boyfriend, and must confront the depth of his feelings when the couple announces that they will be moving away. (2017 / 18 mins / Netherlands / dir Reinout Hellenthal / live-action / Dutch w/English subtitles)

ORCHESTRA FROM THE LAND OF SILENCE – You’ll defeat the beast with the power of music. Zohra – the first female orchestra of Afghanistan. Girls are preparing for their journey to play a concert in Europe. We see their everyday reality in contemporary Afghanistan through the eyes of 16-year-old girl Marzia. After arriving in Europe unexpected thing happens and four members of the orchestra decide to run away… (2020 / 30 mins / Afghanistan, Slovakia / dir Lucia Kasova / documentary / English, Persian and Slovak w/English subtitles)

THE NAME OF THE SON (El Nombre del Hijo) Lucho, a 13-year-old trans boy, doesn’t usually share much time with his father. When he goes on vacation with him and his younger sister, the new closeness puts their relationship to the test. (2020 / 13 mins / Argentina / dir Martina Matzkin / live-action / Spanish w/English subtitles)

2ND CLASS (2ND CLASS – 2021 Special Jury Award Best Short Live-Action Film!) This is a story about an elementary school teacher who is violently attacked one night by a neo-Nazi. After healing enough to return to the classroom she finds out that the man who attacked her is one of her student’s fathers. What does she do? And why? This film demands a conversation after viewing. WARNING: Graphic scene with profanity. Recommended age 13+ (2018 / 13 mins / Sweden / dir Martina Matzkin / live-action / Swedish w/English subtitles)

 

Demolishing stereotypes without wrecking their cars, the Speed Sisters are the Middle East’s first all-female car racing team. With high-octane talent and the marketing savvy to draw attention to their camera-friendly lineup, this diverse, engaging, real-life group competes throughout the West Bank in Palestine’s makeshift motor sports circuit. They navigate Israeli checkpoints and restrictive societal expectations to evolve into potential role models for a new generation of young Arab women.

 

Reading the title might make you clap hands with your neighbor in time to the well-known chant. This wonderful documentary explores this rhythmic rite of passage, usually between young girls, in the US and around the world. Contemporary and historical footage are intertwined creating what some admiringly refer to as “hand graffiti,” “jazz of the streets” and “percussive poetry.”   As it swings between games and interviews with young girls, LET’S GET THE RHYTHM has a beat; its incandescent musicality brings this hand-clapping universe to life!

Divercine International Children’s Festival 2007 Children’s Jury Award; Ene and Tõnis Kask Foundation of the Estonian National Culture Foundation 2006, Best Film; Latvian Film Festival 2007, Best Feature Length Animation;\Mill Valley Children’s Film Fest 2008, Audience Award; TINDIRINDIS International Animated Film Festival 2007, Best Feature-Length Animation

This feature-length animated film from Estonia is a gentle, spirited film full of wacky contraptions, silly/happy songs, and a warm and refreshingly un-cynical sense of humor. Lotte is a cheerful girl dog who lives in Gadgetville, a village crazy about inventing Rube Goldberg-esque machines. The town is abuzz about the Japanese bee Susumu, who introduces Gadgetville to the concept of judo. After the town becomes obsessed with the sport, Lotte and her three friends try to help Susumu get back to Japan to test their new skills in an international judo contest.

Lotte, the irrepressible canine heroine and her invention-loving relatives are back! PCFF premiered this film in Providence in 2013, and now a new generation can enjoy her antics.

It’s not often that a sequel far outshines the original, but” Lotte and the Moonstone Secret” is that movie! The irrepressible canine heroine of “Lotte in Gadgetland” (PCFF 2012) and her invention-loving relatives are back. Lotte takes us on a wonderful journey where you will visit with lunar rabbits, ballroom-dancing cats, fitness-mad cows and singing penguins in pants. Light but not lightweight, charming but not silly, genuinely funny both in visuals and dialogue, “Lotte” is a breath of animated fresh air.

Bored and all alone in the sky, the Moon Man hitches a ride to Earth on a passing comet. His arrival is mistaken as an attack from outer space by the Earth’s arrogant president. Meanwhile, the world’s children are unable to sleep without seeing the Moon Man in the night sky, leading our protagonist to enlist a sympathetic scientist to help with his return to his rightful place. The quirkiness and slower pace set “Moon Man” apart from the frenetic energy of so many other animated films. With nods to Rube Goldberg, Picasso and Escher, and delightful set pieces that use recordings by Louis Armstrong and Iron Butterfly, the picture unfolds with a sense of discovery that will draw young and old alike into the earthbound adventures of its unlikely lunar hero.

REVIEWS:
“Dazzling. The movie’s offbeat charm sets it apart.” -Sherri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

Played at 2014 PCFF to celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of Japan’s masterpieces of animation.

One of the most endearing and internationally renowned films of all time, a film that Roger Ebert called “one of the five best movies” ever made for children, “My Neighbor Totoro” is a deceptively simple tale of Satsuki and Mei, two young girls who move with their father to the countryside while their mother convalesces in a nearby hospital. They soon discover that the surrounding forests are home to a family of Totoros, gentle but powerful creatures who live in a huge and ancient camphor tree and are seen only by children. Based on Miyazaki’s own childhood imaginings, Totoros look like oversized pandas with bunny ears, the largest of which takes the girls on spinning-top rides through the tree tops, introduces them to a furry, multi-pawed Catbus—a nod to Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat—and ultimately brings the two much closer together as sisters.

Beneath the film’s playfulness and narrative simplicity lie depths of wisdom. As with much of Miyazaki’s work, at its core “My Neighbor Totoro” is about humankind’s relationship to the Earth. The film is infused with an almost spiritual reverence for the power of nature (a philosophy tied to the ancient Shinto belief that every object in nature has a soul). Everything that surrounds us, from light-dappled tree groves, to the marvelous clouds, echoes the density and lusciousness of life. Protected by the Totoros, we know no harm will come to our two heroines in the forest’s sunlit glades and mysterious shadows. The girls may be awed by the power and majesty around them, but they understand instinctively that nature has no malice. The viewer is left with a sense of wonder at the beauty, mystery and preciousness of the world all around us.

Lola lives on a houseboat called “The Pea” with her mother, but life isn’t exactly smooth sailing. She misses her long-gone Dad and doesn’t care much for her Mom’s new boyfriend. Things change when she befriends a Turkish schoolmate with problems of his own. Despite the tough subjects in this film LOLA ON THE PEA is also musical, funny, and fast-paced with a believable story that will provide much to talk about after the show.