Showing quality films to children.
One passion: Sharing films.
Many film festivals are dedicated to children, feature film festivals, short film festivals, animated film festivals, competitive or non-competitive.
Some are very big like Chicago or New York with more than 30,000 spectators per year, others are much smaller with just a few hundred spectators, but they all share the same great vocation: showing quality films to children.
In order to keep abreast of international children's film festivals, we have created a
This is very useful for the directors and festival directors with whom we are in contact. It allows us to understand the editorial line of each festival, and of course to find new masterpieces.
List of children's film festivals
Here is a non-exhaustive list of French-language film festivalsList in alphabetical order
Annecy
Place and date of the festivalDépartement de la Haute-Savoie, juin Creation of the festival
1960. Une section jeune public a été créée en 2017. Number of visitors
120 000 visitors Festival prizes
Cristal for feature film, short film and graduation film.
Jury prize, Audience Prize and numerous special prizes.
Since 2017, young Audience Prize and junior jury prize. Description of the festival
The Annecy festival, a world reference for animated films, was born from the meeting of a film club in Haute-Savoie and the JICA (Journées internationales du cinéma d'Animation), which had been held since 1956 on the fringe of the Cannes festival.
The JICA moved to Annecy in 1960 and later became the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
The MIFA (Marché International du film d'animation), created in 1986 with the aim of promoting partnerships, co-productions, acquisitions and financing of animated film programmes, takes place during the festival week.
Citia (Cité de l'image en mouvement d'Annecy), organiser of the Festival, has announced the creation in October 2018 of a festival in Los Angeles, "Animation is Film", but also of the "Annecy Asia Festival" in Seoul in September 2019.
Cabrioles
Place and date of the festivalDépartement des Alpes-Maritimes, octobre
Creation of the festival
2018
Number of visitors
Non communiqué
Description of the festival
The Cabrioles festival in the Alpes-Maritimes, organised by the Ciné-Cabris association, offers children from 3 to 10 years old animated films for young audiences, workshops, exhibitions and ciné-gôuters.
Ciné Jeune
Place and date of the festivalDépartement de l'Aisne, mars, avril
Creation of the festival
1983
Number of visitors
40 000 visitors
Festival prizes
Grand Prix Ciné Junior, Prix CICAE, Prix du Grain à démoudre, Prix des Collégiens, Prix du public
Description of the festival
The Ciné-Jeune de l'Aisne festival, the first film festival for young audiences to be created in France, takes place in Saint-Quentin and in 25 other locations in the Aisne department. The Cine-Jeune association, whose objective is to promote quality cinema for children, organises image education activities in schools and other structures welcoming young people.
Cine Junior
Place and date of the festivalDépartement du Val-de-Marne, février
Creation of the festival
1990
Number of visitors
25 000 visitors
Festival prizes
Grand Prix Ciné Junior, Prix CICAE, Prix du Grain à démoudre, Prix des Collégiens, Audience Prize
Description of the festival
The Cinéma Junior festival, organised by the Cinéma Public association, allows children and teenagers in the Val-de-Marne department to discover quality French and foreign films with the aim of being a tool for the artistic awakening of young audiences. For educational purposes, the festival publishes dossiers offering teachers food for thought.
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film festival
Creation of the festival1979. Une section enfants a été créée en 2015.
Place and date of the festival
Février
Number of visitors
100 000 visitors dont 35 000 enfants
Festival prizes
Best Short Film, Audience Award
Description of the festival
The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival is the largest film festival in the world dedicated to short films. In terms of audience and professional presence, it is the second largest French film festival after the
Du grain à démoudre
Place and date of the festivalNormandie, novembre
Creation of the festival
2000
Description of the festival
The NPO's main mission is image education for young people. The grain à démoudre film festival, whose programming is entrusted to 30 young volunteers between the ages of 12 and 25, takes place in Gonfreville l'Orcher, Le Havre and Harfleur.
Jeunes Bobines
Place and date of the festivalLans-en-Vercors, décembre
Creation of the festival
1987
Description of the festival
Jeunes Bobines is a cinema event for young audiences and offers a selection of films with characters played by children.
L'enfant et le 7e art
Place and date of the festivalSeine-et-Marne, de janvier à mai
Creation of the festival
1993
Number of visitors
30 000 visitors
Description of the festival
The festival, aimed at schoolchildren, offers a selection of animation, fiction and documentary films, accompanied by educational packs.
Mon Premier festival
Place and date of the festivalParis, octobre
Creation of the festival
2002
Number of visitors
16 000 visitors
Festival prizes
Jury Class Prize, Professional Jury Prize, Audience Prize, Special Mention
Description of the festival
Initiated by the Paris City Council and produced by the association
Plein la Bobine
Place and date of the festivalLa Bourboule, juin
Creation of the festival
2002
Number of visitors
16 000 visitors
Festival prizes
Prix des Classes Jury, Prix du Jury Professionnel, Audience Prize, Special Mention
Description of the festival
The objective of the Plein la bobine association, on the occasion of the festival but also throughout the school year, is to promote quality films in order to awaken the artistic curiosity of children and young adults. During the festival, educational documents for teachers allow for fun work with children after the screenings.
Txiki Festival
Place and date of the festivalBiarritz, octobre
Creation of the festival
2013
Description of the festival
The festival's commitment, like an educational and pedagogical platform, is to accompany children in the production and reception of images, to teach them to speak and read this specific but universal language.
Takorama festival
Place and date of the festivalEn ligne, mars-juin Creation of the festival
2020
Number of visitors
350 000 visitors Festival prizes
Prix des enfants Description of the festival
Under the patronage of UNESCO, the association Films pour enfants created the Takorama festival in the context of the 2020 confinement to allow children to stay in contact with teachers and to discover cultural diversities around universal messages like humanism, ecology and poetry.
The large turnout in 2020 led to the transformation of this one-off event into an annual event.
The festival for teachers and their students is completely free.
Each teacher registers his or her class and proposes educational activities to his or her pupils following the viewing of the films. In a positive dimension, each child votes for his or her favourite film, gives his or her opinion and shares it with the others.
Are you a children's film festival organiser? Do you know of any other film festivals for young audiences?
Share your festival information!
