Mark Cousins and Filmhouse tour the UK with Cinema of Childhood season

Edinburgh's Filmhouse and filmmaker Mark Cousins present a very special season exploring the history of children in film, touring the UK from April

Article by Film News | 06 Feb 2014

At last year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, Mark Cousins presented his documentary A Story of Children and Film, which had premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival. A tour de force exploring the history of children in film, and featuring analysis of films from all over the world from China and Japan to Denmark, Iran, France, Poland and beyond, Cousins' documentary offered a unique insight into the way directors portray children in their work, the way children interact the camera, and the ways in which these aspects of filmmaking have evolved over the years. It gets a general release in April courtesy of Dogwoof.

Now, Cousins and Edinburgh's Filmhouse are taking a season of films featured in the documentary on tour, visiting cinemas in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Nottingham, Glasgow, Brighton, Bristol, Sheffield and other cities between April and June this year. The Filmhouse will also be offering titles from the Cinema of Childhood season via their video-on-demand service. The season begins on 11 April at The Filmhouse, BFI Southbank and other venues across the UK – find out more here.

Speaking to the Filmhouse, Cousins comments: "These are some of the best films you’ve never had a chance to see. Films about childhood take us on fantastic voyages. E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial was a magical bike ride across the moon. The Jungle Book showed us the bare necessities. A boy in The Red Balloon stole our hearts. But beyond these mainstream and arthouse classics, there’s a world of great cinema about kids which is hardly known, but just as brilliant. Welcome to that world. Jump into it.”

The films featured in the season are Willow and Wind, The Boot, and Bag of Rice by Mohammad-Ali Talebi (Iran), The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun by Djibril Diop Mambéty (Senegal), Hugo and Josephine by Kjell Grede (Sweden), The King of Masks by Wu Tianming (China), The White Balloon by Jafar Panahi (Iran), Tomka and his Friends by Xhanfize Keko (Albania), Palle Alone in the World by Astrid Henning-Jensen (Denmark), Ten Minutes Older by Herz Frank (Latvia), Long Live the Republic by Karel Kachyňa (Czechoslovakia), Moving by Shinji Sômai (Japan), Forbidden Games by René Clément (France), Crows by Dorota Kędzierzawska (Poland), Little Fugitive by Morris Engel (USA), Children in the Wind by Hiroshi Shimizu (Japan) and The Unseen by Miroslav Janek (Czech Republic).

From the archive

INTERVIEWS

 
Mark Cousins on The Story of Film: An Odyssey

Mark Cousins on The First Movie

http://filmhousecinema.com/news/view/413/welcome-to-the-cinema-of-childhood