KIDS FIRST! Radio

KIDS FIRST! has partnered with the Santa Fe Film Festival for children’s programming year around and its annual film festival, which is Dec. 3-7. November kicks off a new partnership with a local sponsor, Los Alamos National Bank. The bank sponsors weekly free screenings at the Film Center. The new Emma Watson film, Ballet Shoes is screening November 1st. Free tickets are available at both Los Alamos National Bank lobbies. Free kid films are every Saturday morning at 10am at the Film Center on St. Michaels Drive. www.santafefilmfestival.com

Favorites for Halloween are the R.L. Stine Goosebumps stories, One Day at Horrorland, Monster Blood and A Night in Terror Tower. As Jon Bowman, Executive Director of the Santa Fe Film Festival says, “If you are going to scare kids, this is the time of year!” The Goosebumps series has been in the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival for several years and will play this coming weekend at the Key West Film Society, the Film Center at Cinema Cafe, the Denver Film Society and the Austin Public Library. For the younger set, KIDS FIRST! has Fat Alberts Halloween Special. Be safe and have fun!

Get Involved in the Voting Process! Play “Road to the Capital”

It is five days before the national election and all of the media are at national election headquarters for the National Student/Parent Mock Election, watching as the results come in from all 50 states and 14 countries/territories around the world where Americans reside. The voices of millions of young Americans are about to be heard.
The students have studied the candidates and their positions, held issue forums and debates, mock press conferences, cable call-in programs, and get-out-the-vote campaigns. They have been preparing for weeks and months for this event. At many of the state election headquarters, governors, senators, congress members and candidates are joining the young voters as they cast their ballots. Tonight is their night.
Which party will win control of the Senate? The House? Will the incumbent or the newcomer be on their way to Washington, D.C.? Who will be the next governor? What issues matter most to other students in their state? In the nation?
   
 Millions of students, and sometimes their parents, are voting in classrooms, schools, community centers, state capitals, even hospital rooms, all across the nation today and reporting their vote totals to their state election headquarters. Each state is tallying its results and sending them in to national election headquarters. The media are flashing the results across the country.
Millions of students, and sometimes their parents, are voting in classrooms, schools, community centers, state capitals, even hospital rooms, all across the nation today and reporting their vote totals to their state election headquarters. Each state is tallying its results and sending them in to national election headquarters. The media are flashing the results across the country.
Mock Election Day is the culmination of months of learning the power of participation in our democracy.
www.nationalmockelection.org

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII KIDS FIRST! FILM FESTIVAL PARTNERS WITH MAUI COMMUNITY COLLEGE-VITEC “COLLEGE FOR KIDS” PROGRAM TO PRESENT A FREE EVENING OF FAMILY FILM AND FUN UNDER THE STARS ON MAUI
College for Kids, offered through the Maui Community College-VITEC program, joins with the University of HawaiŒi at Manoa KIDS FIRST! Film Festival to present an evening of free family fun under the stars on Maui. The festivities include, a screening of the feature film, Alice Upside Down, and a new Wubbzy episode from Starz. In addition, there will be door prizes and information on future programs. The event has been scheduled for August 22nd and begins at 6:30 pm on the Great Lawn located at the center of the Maui Community College campus. Plenty of parking is available. Bring lawn chairs, mats and a picnic dinner. Snacks will be available for purchase from the Valley Isle Girlz 4-H club. Alice Upside Down is appropriate for children ages 8 and above.
Alice Upside Down was developed from the award-winning popular series of books by Newbery Medalist, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Alice McKinley (played with great charm by Alyson Stoner) is an endearing, 11-year-old heroine growing up without a mother. Through a series of incidents both hilarious and poignant, Alice grows from tweenship into teenship in an all male household, with her father, Ben (Luke Perry) and 17-year-old brother, Lester (Lucas Grabeel). Her mother died six years ago and her father has moved the family to a new town for a new beginning. But as the new girl in school, Alice¹s life is full of anxiety, awkward moments and overwhelming challenges. With the support of her father, a special teacher (Penny Marshall) and her new friends, Alice charges forward through the chaos and embarrassment with imagination, humor and heart.
College for Kids, offered through the Maui Community College-VITEC program, introduces children to the college environment by providing an enriching, project-oriented, interdisciplinary curriculum and a positive learning experience that is safe, creative and interactive. The University of HawaiŒi
KIDS FIRST! Film Festival is presented by UH-Manoa Outreach College, and is supported in part by the Sidney Stern Memorial Trust and Starwood Hotels & Resorts HawaiŒi.
For more information, call (808) 984-3231 on Maui.
http://maui.hawaii.edu/

Leonard Cheshire Disability campaigns to change the way people think about, and respond to, disability. Since the campaign launched last November, thousands of people have expressed their desire to change their attitudes. The Creature Discomforts commercials were specially commissioned by Leonard Cheshire Disability from award-winning studio Aardman Animations.
Leonard Cheshire Disability supports over 21,000 disabled people in the UK and works in 52 countries. They campaign for change and provide innovative services that give disabled people the opportunity to live life their way.
Working Globally for Inclusive Development
Leonard Cheshire Disability works with over 250 independently managed disability organizations in 54 countries. The programs support people with disabilities and push disability up political and development agendas.
Education
Leonard Cheshire Disability supports access to a good quality education that meets the needs of every child with disabilities
Livelihoods
Economic independence for people with disabilities is a goal.
Health and rehabilitation
Programs build local capacity among both families and community service providers 
Support for everyday living
Mobility, transport, social activities, accessible accommodation, respite care and day services: all are included in the ongoing support programs.
Policy and campaigns
Campaigns promote the human rights of people with disabilities and push for disability to be higher on the international agenda 
Research
Run jointly with UCL, the Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre provides an evidence base for our programs
www.creaturediscomforts.org Share the commercials and messages with others!

KIDS FIRST! is thrilled to announce the DVD launch of The First of May. This movie was one of the first indie titles in the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival. Through KIDS FIRST! introductions, the wonderful indie film was picked and licensed this year. 

Review By Buzz McClain — Video Business, 6/2/2008 Cast of legends led by Joe DiMaggio puts this family film over the top. 

If there is a market for films grandparents can watch with their school-age grandchildren, this one from 1999 will be at the top of the chart. Despite a mind-bending drop-in by Joe DiMaggio as a baseball sage, The First of May starts off at a creaky pace. But gentle magic happens once the principals—young Dan Byrd as an 11-year-old foster-home runaway who befriends neglected senior citizen Julie Harris—get to the circus owned by Mickey Rooney (with Charles Nelson Reilly on hand as a clown). The overarching theme of family is inescapable but conveyed carefully. The title, by the way, refers to a circus rookie. 

Shelf Talk: Compelling live-action family films without a single moment of questionable behavior are few and far between, but this one can be recommended with confidence. Legends Harris, Rooney, Reilly and the Yankee Clipper himself (in his last film appearance) will appeal to an underserviced age demographic, and Byrd recently ended a run in CW sitcom Aliens in America. The worthy 20-minute bonus “A Tribute to Joe DiMaggio” details how the baseball player became involved in the film and spent months learning his lines. Questar boosted May with a viral marketing campaign via YouTube and is developing retailer-specific promos. 

Family drama, color, G (nothing offensive), 111 min., DVD $14.99 

Extras: Joe DiMaggio tribute Director: Paul Sirmons 

First Run: DVD premiere 

Six Weekends of Film Festival fun include screenings at the Sheraton Waikiki with the new festival partner, Starwood Hotel & Resorts Hawai’i
The University of Hawai‘i KIDS FIRST! Film Festival, presented by UH-Manoa Outreach College, returns with another six weeks of FREE summer family fun! The 3pm Sunday screenings kick off June 8^th with Moondance Alexander at the UH-Manoa Art Auditorium. 

This year, the new festival partner, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Hawai‘i at the Sheraton Waikiki, will host two additional film screenings: June 29^th, Moondance Alexander and July 6^th, Alice Upside Down. Screenings at the Sheraton are at 7pm. 

All of the films are FREE with door prizes given at many of the screenings.  For complete information, visit http://www.outreach.hawaii.edu/summer. For details on screenings at the Sheraton Waikiki, visit www.sheraton-waikiki.com.  Additional plans are in the works with Maui Community College-VITEC, College for Kids Program, as well as Starwood Hotels & Resorts, for screenings on Maui.  Details TBA.

The KIDS FIRST! FIlm Festival, a project of the Coalition for Quality Children’s Media, travels to more than 100 locations nationwide each year, making it the largest kid’s film festival in the world.  In its ninth year, the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival offers sneak peeks at new films from major studios, classic films, independents and shorts in a variety of styles including animation and live action.  The films are evaluated by juries of adults and kids and must meet the KIDS FIRST! criteria of: no gratuitous violence, no racial or cultural bias, no inappropriate content, and no condescension towards children.

Supported in part by the Sidney Stern Memorial Trust.

Santa Fe, NM. (May 5, 2008). KIDS FIRST! proudly announces the opening of the polls for the 2008 KIDS FIRST! Top 100 Kid Films on May 5, 2008. The public is invited to vote for their favorite children’s films of all time from the online list of more than 175 feature films and to write in their favorites.

With open voting, everyone gets a voice in the creating of this list! To vote, go on line to www.kidsfirst.org and click on the VOTE button. Enter your top five children’s film titles with comments about why you selected them, then select your favorite 100 from the list of 175 titles that include The Lion King, Wizard of Oz, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Shrek. The 2008 KIDS FIRST! Top 100 Kid Films will be announced later this summer.

The KIDS FIRST! Top 100 Kid Films will encompass films suitable for kids between the ages of 2 and 18 that have universal appeal, exhibit outstanding attributes in terms of their production values and portray values and have qualities that make them as applicable today as the day they were first released.  This list is unique because it takes into consideration not just what films adults think kids should watch but also what kids like to and will watch. Because media has the power to influence children, negatively or positively, the films on this list portray the values and ethics that we, as a culture wish to instill in our children. This list will provide as much information as possible about age appropriateness of each film, a brief synopsis, the key artists involved and any special audience issues it may address.

KIDS FIRST! is uniquely positioned to create this list because of its 17-year history evaluating and promoting quality children’s films. Any film that KIDS FIRST! endorses must meet or exceed the baseline criteria of: no gratuitous violence or abuse; no inappropriate sexual behavior; no bias in terms of race, gender, culture or religion; no condescension toward children; no replicable unsafe behavior. Additionally, any film on this list has been compared with others and found to be exceptional among its peers.

KIDS FIRST! employs a unique community jury system that involves more than 3000 children and professional adults with backgrounds in education, child development and other child-service professions. Using a set of standardized criteria, created by leading children’s media experts, KIDS FIRST! evaluations are credible and consistent evaluations. More than 10,000 films, DVDs, TV shows, and other media have been evaluated by KIDS FIRST! since 1991.
KIDS FIRST! is a program of the Coalition for Quality Children’s Media,  a national, nonprofit organization founded in 1991 whose mission is to teach children critical viewing skills and to increase the visibility and availability of quality children’s media. The Coalition is a voluntary collaboration comprising more than 10,000 media professionals, lobbyists, policymakers, child advocates, educators, parents and families nationwide. For more information, visit www.kidsfirst.org
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ann Church
Senior Vice President of Marketing
KIDS FIRST! / Coalition for Quality Children’s Media
505-989-8076
[email protected]

The 2008 Newport Beach Film Festival hosted the Orange County Premier of Alice Upside Down featuring Alyson Stoner, Lucas Grabeel, Penny Marshall and Luke Perry will make its Orange County Premiere at the Festival. Alice Upside Down and the appearance of Alyson Stoner were courtesy of KIDS FIRST!
 

Actress Alyson Stoner, the lead in Alice Upside Down is appeared at Build-A-Bear Workshop® in Fashion Island for a one hour long autograph signing session on Saturday, April 26. Stoner is best known for her roles in Cheaper by the Dozen, Mike’s Super Short Show, Phineas & Ferb and the new upcoming Disney TV movie Camp Rock, with The Jonas Brothers.
 

The Newport Beach Film Festival 2008 Family Film series showcases a collection of innovative and entertaining family films that capture the refreshing independent spirit of filmmaking. The Festival’s family friendly slate includes feature length narratives, documentaries, short, animated and student produced films crafted to entertain and inspire festival-goers of all ages, from kindergartners to teens. Billed as Orange County’s largest celebration of independent family films, the two-day event featured film screenings, question and answer sessions with cast and crew, interactive workshops and autograph signings.
 

This is the fifth year that KIDS FIRST! has collaborated with the Newport Beach Film Festival, providing studio, independent and student films and talent for the festival.

Special Sneak Peek of Sesame Street: Dinosaurs! PHOENIX — Children and families have enjoyed a full month of screening of KIDS FIRST! films across Maricopa County during the month of April. 

The closing event is this Saturday, April 26th at the Arizona Science Center from 10am – 2pm and features the sneak peek at the new Sesame Street: Dinosaurs (for the young ones) and the incredibly realistic Prehistoric Park for the older crowd. The CGI animated dinosaurs are so life like in Prehistoric Park, that it may be too intense for the under 5 crowd. The first family film festival in the region was being held at a variety of arts and cultural organizations to give families the opportunity to expand their cultural literacy and enjoy some of the highest quality films available to children.  www.mpacarts.org