American film festival acknowledges work by 8-10 year old students from Porto

The Belmont World Film (BWF), a nonprofit corporation that aims to create cross-cultural understanding through the screening of top international films, acknowledged short animated films created and narrated by 8-10 year old students from Porto. The 2020 edition was pushed forward, to 2021 and it took the online format, between 15th and 24th January, due to the pandemic.

The BWF included Portugal, Portoamong the top international cinema directors, in the framework of children’s films, namely the “Made in Portugal: Short Animated Films By and For Kids: A collection of award-winning, short animated films created and narrated by 8-10 year old students at the ANILUPA Animation Centre (CLIA Anilupa), an educational and cultural center created by Associação de Ludotecas do Porto (ALP), a professional animation studio in Porto”, as stated by the BWF website. The website also furthers that “the films tell stories about Portuguese culture, daily life, and festivals”.

The festival’s 15 film programs include circa 50 animated, live action and documentary feature-length and short films in foreign languages with subtitles and in English. Many are making their U.S. premieres and were made in Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, the UK. There are also films made in the USA.

All films are presented in their language of origin, with subtitles, as stated by Ellen Gitelman, Belmont World Film Executive Director, in a press release, especially because “we all could do with more understanding about our shared humanity, especially now in the midst of a pandemic that is affecting the entire world as one”. Gitelman furthered that “In an increasingly multicultural world, parents also recognize the importance of fluency in more than one language, and the Family Festival offers children the opportunity to hear and understand languages in a fun and natural way.”

The BWF was founded in 2001 by Naomi Ellenberg-Dukas and it is targeted at raising awareness on cross-cultural understanding through the screening of the top international films, which will lead to a better acquaintance of diverse cultural performances and traditions.