PCFF partners with Rhode Island Libraries: On Your Mark, Get Set…PRESS PLAY!

To complement the 2016 Summer Reading theme: On Your Mark, Get Set…Read!, PCFF offers a selection of films to delight, enrich, and inspire.

Films discovered by Providence Children’s Film Festival

OKEE DOKEE BROTHERS: Through the Woods – An Appalachian Adventure / USA, 2014 / Dir. Jed Anderson / 50 min / Documentary

In May 2013, the Okee Dokee Brothers embarked on a month-long trek on the Appalachian Trail. They hiked, camped, met mountain musicians, and wrote the songs that make up their second adventure album, THROUGH THE WOODS. As a follow-up to their Grammy Award-winning album, this documentary invites viewers and listeners along for a journey full of camping, old-time mountain music, miles of hiking—and a few shenanigans. Recommended for All Ages

CIRCUS DREAMS / United States, 2010 / Dir. Signe Taylor / 82 min / Documentary

Some kids are natural entertainers who have discovered a passion for the circus arts. This passion comes alive at Circus Smirkus, the only traveling youth circus in the US, annually assembling the finest young circus performers for its summer tour (including a stop in Rhode Island!). This film captures it all, from the grueling auditions to the successful tears of joy in being part of an extraordinary experience. Truly inspiring! Recommended for ages 8+

I BELIEVE I CAN FLY / France (French w/ English subtitles), 2011 / Dir. Seb Montaz / 41 min / Documentary

Tancrède and Julien are two friends on an incredible exploration into the world of free flight. They are pioneers in “highlining” – a vertiginous combination of climbing, slackline and tightrope walking. Using their fearless skills and experience as climbers, the pair push the boundaries of possibility as they embark on a new evolution of their sport. Follow their travels from the Verdon gorge to the skyscrapers of Paris and finally to the spectacular cliffs and fjords of Norway, where the pair put weeks into training for their ultimate test. (It’s hard not to think of Philippe Petit.) Recommended for ages 8+

DRAGON GIRLS / Germany (Chinese w/ English subtitles), 2012 / Dir. Inigo Westmeier / 71 min / Documentary

This documentary follows three girls and their lives at Shaolin Tagou, China’s largest Kung Fu School with 26,000 female martial arts students. Far from their families, they fight an everyday battle of discipline, rules and hard physical training. Kung Fu provides them a chance to provide for their parents in the future and lead a better life—but at what cost? Recommended for ages 10+ 

PEOPLE IN MOTION / United States, 2012 / Dir. Cedric Dahl / 56 min / Documentary

Parkour is a movement discipline based on French military obstacle-course training. This film follows five American parkour practitioners who share this passion for movement. Characterized as a physical “type of freedom,” “kind of expression,” and “state of mind,” parkour has influenced the stunts in action films from Bond to Bourne. But there’s much more to it than chasing the bad guy with acrobatic moves. As one practitioner comments, “If you listen to the movement it teaches us to touch the world and interact with it rather than be sheltered by it.” Recommended for ages 10+ 

SALAAM DUNK / United States (In English, Kurdish w/ English subtitles), 2012 / Dir. David Fine / 81 min / Documentary

This film takes a sport (basketball) many American youths are familiar with and moves us on a true-life journey to a land many of us are unfamiliar with (Iraq). The result is extraordinary. An insightful look into young Iraqi life as experienced by a current women’s college basketball team. The players are a fascinating and genuinely inspiring bunch, and the squad’s mere existence provides a stirring example of the possibilities for young Iraqis outside the country’s war zones. Recommended for ages 10+

For more film selections, visit the PCFF FILM HUB.