|
At Sprockets:
- See the best children's films from around the world
- Enjoy free on-site film-craft activities
- Meet directors and other special guests in attendance
|
|
SPROCKETS
For over a decade, Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children, a division of TIFF, has offered children and youth the opportunity to learn about cultural perspectives from around the world through the power of the moving image.
The festival launched in 1998 with an attendance of 2,300, and has grown at a phenomenal pace, increasing its audience to over 13,000 in 2009. Visit the website at sprockets.ca for more information. Sprockets runs April 17 to 23, 2010.
SPROCKETS TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOR CHILDREN
Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children provides programming for children ages three and up, and presents a high-quality slate of screenings designed to provide families and school groups with a rich film experience.
Featuring the best of Canadian and international cinema for children and youth, Sprockets offers a compelling selection of features and shorts on diverse subjects in a variety of genres and styles. Jump Cuts Young Filmmakers Showcase offers young Ontario filmmakers in grades 3 to 12 a chance to have their short film shown on the big screen. Sprockets Young People’s Juries select their favourite film from the festival within their age range. The winners are announced at the end of the festival. Sprockets regularly invites filmmakers and special guests to introduce their films and answer questions from the audience following the screening. There are also hands-on film-craft activities throughout the weekend, so that youth can learn more about the process of filmmaking through enjoyable drop-in activities.
SCHOOL PROGRAMME
Sprockets includes a week-long School Programme for students in grades 1 to 12. Students can engage in post-screening discussions with filmmakers and special guests to further explore the films’ ideas, themes, storytelling techniques and much more. Each film shown during the week has a teacher resource to extend the Sprockets experience into the classroom, connecting the films to many aspects of the Ontario curriculum.
Future Frames is a programme for high-school students, which screens thought-provoking and entertaining cinema produced by post-secondary film students. Students are provided an opportunity to discuss the films with the filmmakers and are encouraged to ask questions about filmmaking and film education programmes that they may be interested in pursuing.
AWARDS
Sprockets bestows awards in the following categories:
• Golden Sprockets Awards: There are two feature film juries representing two different age groups: Jury 1 for ages 8 through 10, Jury 2 for ages 11 and 12. Each jury selects a winning feature film. Additionally, one jury for ages 9 through 12 selects a winning short film.
• Audience Choice Awards: Sprockets audience members choose winning films in both a feature film category and animated film category.
• Student Choice Award: Students in grades 9 through 12 choose their favourite film from the Sprockets School
Programme.
• Jump Cuts Young Filmmakers Showcase: Three Jump Cuts awards are decided by a jury of film industry
professionals. They are: the Frederick Simpson Award for Best Film Grades 3 to 6, the Veronica Herman Award for Best Film Grades 7 to 9, the Gertrude Löwengren Award for Best Film Grades 10 to 12
PAST SPROCKETS HIGHLIGHTS
Highlights have included Yves-Christian Fournier’s Everything Is Fine (Tout est Parfait), Issei Oda’s Kung Fu Kid, Cathy Randall’s Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger, Ole Bornedal’s The Substitute, Hella Joof’s Bitter Sweetheart, Michel Ocelot's Azur et Asmar; Don McBrearty’s Luna: Spirit of the Whale; Charles Sturridge’s Lassie; Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern’s Emmanuel’s Gift; Takahiko Akiyama’s Hinokio; Eric Zala’s Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation; Stefan Scaini’s Spirit Bear: The Simon Jackson Story; Lalita Krishna’s Jambo Kenya!; Rob Thompson’s Journey to Little Rock: The Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey; the Wallace and Gromit shorts Cracking Contraptions; Jeff Blitz’s Spellbound; and John Tatoulis’s The Silver Brumby.
SPROCKETS FAMILY ZONE
The Sprockets Family Zone programme was created in 2006 to give young people and families an opportunity to attend the Toronto International Film Festival. Featuring the best in contemporary international children’s cinema, screenings in the Sprockets Family Zone have included Vic Sarin’s A Shine of Rainbows (Canada/Ireland), Nick Stringer’s Turtle: The Incredible Journey (United Kingdom/Austria/Germany), Thomas Borch Nielsen’s Sunshine Barry & the Disco Worms (Denmark/Germany), Gabor Csupo’s The Secret of Moonacre (United Kingdom/Hungary/France), Aristomenis Tsirbas’s Terra (USA), Samuel Guillaume and Frédéric Guillaume’s Max & Co. (Switzerland/UK/Belgium/France), Pantham Thongsang and Somkiat Vithuranich’s Mid Road Gang (Thailand), Adrià GarcJa and Victor Maldonado’s Nocturna (Spain), and Juan Pablo Buscarini’s The Hairy Tooth Fairy (Argentina/Spain).
Sprockets is generously supported by Bell, RBC, Cineplex Entertainment LP and the Ontario Arts Council.
