SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The 12th annual Bay Area International Children's Film Festival kicked off Saturday to inspire creativity and engagement of children in public affairs.
The two-day festival, hosted at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, Northern California, is offering kids and families dozens of short animated films and feature movies reflecting diverse cultures and traditions across the world. It also features workshops on movie production, film education programs, and hands-on discussions about animation production experience.
"We're trying to basically tell kids that they can inspire other people by their behavior, and there are things that they can to do help other kids or things that they can do to help the planet," Allen White, the festival's project manager, told Xinhua.
The movies screened Saturday include many that were shot and produced by the kids themselves, which aimed to inspire kids to be creative, think differently and have them open up to international or cross-cultural dialogue, White said.
"The heart of our mission is to demonstrate to children that there are other voices and other ideas and other people out there, and that they are worth talking to and experiencing those cultures in some fashion," he added.
