The 5th Tel Aviv International Children\u2019s Film Festival closed this evening after four days of fun at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, but an important part of the fun is the message of hope and empowerment it conveys by focusing on children in different situations, facing challenges with intelligence and courage, and joy. Joy and spirit in abundance could be found in the movie \u201cReady? OK!\u201d written and directed by James Vasquez, which centers on Josh, an eleven year old boy who wants to join his school\u2019s cheerleading squad.
\nPlayed by Lurie Poston, the appealing protagonist of this movie is unfailingly cheerful despite all setbacks \u2013 and there are many. Josh is raised by a single mother who struggles to keep it all together and bring him up \u201cproperly\u201d despite her own dysfunctional family background, sending Josh to a Catholic school and making sure he follows through with his commitment to the wrestling team. Teetering on the edge of puberty, Josh pursues his goals with a sweet naivet\u00e9 and indefatigable determination.<\/p>\n
Seemingly unaware of how different he is from his classmates and the implications of that difference, he wears a pin with the photo of his favorite member of the wrestling team \u2013 Mike, happily on his shirt for all to see. Saying, \u201cI\u2019m not trying to break the rules, I\u2019m just trying to change them,\u201d Josh never gives up. Ultimately, even his mother, who can\u2019t quite bring herself to even say the word \u201cgay\u201d (the gay next door neighbor helpfully suggests the term \u2018artistic\u2019), realizes that the best thing she can do for her son is to accept him as he is.<\/p>\n
Curious to hear reactions from the audience, I spoke to two girls as they walked out of the movie. Both agreed that it was funny that he wanted to be a cheerleader, but said that \u201cit\u2019s ok if that is what he wants to do.\u201d Despite the late hour (midnight) they offered insights from the perspective of Josh\u2019s contemporaries (they were aged 11 & 12) in Israel.<\/p>\n
One said that she enjoyed the funny parts of the movie and the cheerleading segments (I agree \u2013 they were cool) but thought that the conversations between adults were boring and could have been shorter. I tend to concur. I felt that the movie tried to work with too many themes at once \u2013 homosexuality, single parenthood and dysfunctional individuals (Josh’s uncle) and families \u2013 and would have benefited from a tighter focus on one theme. The girls both commented that it is somehow more accepted for girls to do things that are traditionally considered \u201cboy\u2019s\u201d activities but harder for boys who want to participate in activities associated with girls. One said, \u201cBoys have to be macho, otherwise they\u2019re called queer.\u201d The other girl said, perhaps in jest, perhaps seriously, \u201cI think it would be good if boys took an example from girls.\u201d<\/p>\n
The\u00a0festival, directed\u00a0by Michal Matus,\u00a0is certainly setting a good example by offering such a wide selection of movies on topics timely, heartwarming and even controversial.<\/p>\n
First prize in the International Competition was awarded to the movie \u201cIt\u2019s Not Me, I Swear!\u201d written and directed by Phillippe Falardeau (Canada 2008). The decision was reached by jury members\u00a0 Jerzy Moszkowicz (Poland), Cristiano Bortone (Italy), Tamara Bos (The Netherlands), Mia Pecina (Croatia) and Yehuda Atlas (Israel), saying: \u201cIt is a brave and exceptional movie that dares deal with a problem that affects not only a particular country, but today is more and more a world problem: the difficult, sometimes nightmarish world of children from broken homes. The movie is a mirror that reflects our lives: the lives of other people and teaches about the less pleasant aspects of life. Perhaps if we understand and feel these aspects of life, we will become better people. This movie is a must, not only for children, but for their parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Children were the focus of the festival in all areas \u2013 with a children\u2019s jury selecting their own first place in the festival: \u201cThe Crocodiles\u201d (Germany 2009) written and directed by Christian Ditter. The 9 young jury members explained their decision, \u201cThe movie raises the painful subject of children whom society denies their right to equality and equal participation because of their disabilities. The special thing about the movie is it\u2019s inclusion of a disabled boy who feels lonely and alienated until he meets a group of children and finally comes to feel that he belongs.<\/p>\n
In addition to the movies, which included programs of movies created by children, workshops were offered on topics from \u201cOpera in the Movies\u201d to \u201cSpecial Effects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Image: from the movie “It’s Not Me, I Swear”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 5th Tel Aviv International Children\u2019s Film Festival closed this evening after four days of fun at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, but an important part of the fun is the message of hope and empowerment it conveys by focusing on children in different situations, facing challenges with intelligence and courage, and joy. Joy and spirit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}