Teaneck International Film Festival to Present Special Film Shorts Program For Children During Spring ’09 Recess

The Teaneck International Film Festival will present “Party Mix,” a 75-minute program of a dozen outstanding live action and animated short films from around the globe, for children aged 8 to 13, at the Puffin Cultural Forum 20 Puffin Way, at 2 pm on April 28 and April 30. Admission is free for children, thanks to a Target grant, and $5 for adults. Children must be accompanied by an adult. To reserve tickets, call 1-800-811-2909.

Like the popular “Kid Flix Mix” shown during the third Teaneck International Film Festival in Nov. 2008, “Party Mix” is a collaboration with the New York International Children’s Film Festival (NYICFF). The films to be shown in April will be culled from audience and jury favorites selected from the past several years of programming at the NYICFF. Established in 1997, NYICFF is North America’s largest film festival for children and teens, with annual attendance of more than 25,000. The Village Voice calls the “Party Mix” selections an “overflowing toy box of finely crafted small pleasures.”

The films come from Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico and the United Kingdom and range from 1.5 to 14 minutes in length. Parental advisory: “New Boy,” an Oscar-nominated festival favorite, captures the experience of being the new kid in school through the eyes of Joseph, a nine-ear-old African boy. It features some swearing and sensitive content. Two of the films, “Lapsus” from Argentina and “Post!” from Germany, have implied sexual content.

Funding has been made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, through grant funds administered by the Bergen County Department of Parks, Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs.

For more information about the Teaneck International Film Festival, a project of the Puffin Foundation, visit www.teaneckfilmfestival.org.