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Library to Host French Film Festival for Children

Written By: Talk of the Sound News

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The New Rochelle Public Library will be one of the host venues for the fourth annual Festinema Junior, a French Film Festival for Children organized by the Alliance Française of Westchester, on Sunday, March 19, 2017. The Festival’s award-winning French-speaking films that have been selected for English-speaking audiences tend to transcend language barriers, allowing all audience members the ability to understand and enjoy the stories. The free films will be shown on the big screen in the library’s Ossie Davis Theater.

From 1:30 pm – 2:20 pm, Neige & les Arbres Magiques (Snow and the Magic Trees,) will be shown.  Four animated shorts directed by Antoine Lanciaux and Sophie Roze, the movie is suitable for children ages four and older. The story involves an incredible snowstorm and the astonishing discovery of an Inuit family that has settled near the small French village. The meeting of the two worlds makes a wonderful adventure.

From 3:00 pm – 4:20 pm, Ernest & Celestine will be shown. Directed by Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, the movie is the story of an unlikely friendship between a bear, Ernest, and a young mouse named Celestine. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year in 2014. Rated PG, it is appropriate for children seven years and older.

Now in its fourth year, Festinema Junior was inspired by a program developed in France by the Ministry of Education in order to discover, understand and promote the cinema amongst young people. Besides the Francophonie celebration, Festinema Junior also aspires to make cinema an educational option, familiarize young audiences to French speaking independent cinema, and teach young people to develop critical thinking by film analysis.  The Alliance Française de Westchester is part of a worldwide organization that encourages an appreciation for all aspects of the French language and Francophone cultures.