The East Lansing Childrenâ€™s Film Festival

by MovieMaker Staff | Published February 5, 2007

Location: East Lansing, MI
Dates: February 23 - March 1, 2007

Itâ€™s common knowledge that the younger you are when you start learning a language, the easier it is to gain fluency. This same principle should be applied to the language of film, something which the East Lansing Childrenâ€™s Film Festival (ELCFF) understands better than most. For the past 10 years, the festival has brought the young people of East Lansing, Michigan together to appreciate the world of film, exposing them to international cinema and shining a spotlight on the young moviemakers in their midst. â€œI believe it is important to expose kids to independent film because it allows them to view into worlds and experiences that they normally do not have a chance to experience,â€ says festival director Michelle Carlson. â€œIt is equally important to expose them to filmmaking, [which] allows kids to express themselves and have a voice in other ways than they normally do.â€

The 2007 festival, which marks the ELCFFâ€™s tenth, will include more than 100 feature and short films from around the world. Additionally, the festival will feature acting, animation and moviemaking workshops, a special slate of films geared toward the teenaged members of the audience and a presentation of the winning films from the previous yearâ€™s Youth Film Competition. In addition to the yearly festival, the ELCFF also offers a Junior Film Critics Club and a Young Directors Workshop, geared toward burgeoning moviemakers in fourth through sixth grades. Over the past decade the ELCFF has proved, with its diverse and continually expanding programs, that it is never too early to start learning the language of film.

For more information on the 2007 festival, visit www.elcff.com.

Sound Off: For many film buffs, love of the medium began in childhood. What is the first film you remember seeing? What is the first film that made you want to become a moviemaker? Reminisce in the comments section!