Taking boisterous children to the movies is among life's great humiliations. It's also part of the reason Winnie Tsang and Edmon Chung co-founded the Hong Kong Kids International Film Festival (KIFF), which kicks off its third edition on July 28.

"I love movies and as a parent, you wish to share the excitement with your kids, but you're just not sure when they're'ready'to really enjoy the movie-going experience," explains Chung, who is also founder of the non-profit 3Space which helps kids engage with media. "Will they be scared? Will they have enough attention span? KIFF provides parents that peace of mind, knowing that the audience in the theater will be understanding if you need to attend to a tantrum or nagging in the middle of the show."

Safe space aside, KIFF's aims are also to broaden the horizons of Hong Kong's youngest audiences beyond Hollywood franchises that are as focused on merchandizing as on art. "We want to provide options that are not commercially and easily available for the audience," explains Tsang, managing director of local producer-distributor Golden Scene. "We thought it would be a great opportunity to reach out to the children of Hong Kong and allow them to watch children's films from all around the world, and get to know the culture, history, religion and so on of different countries through films."

Despite an under-the-radar first year, KIFF has gained traction with parents keen to take kids to films other than sequel retreads (Toy Story 4) or remakes (The Lion King). Chung assures KIFF isn't anti-blockbuster - the festival closes with a sneak peek of Dora and the Lost City of Gold - but is careful to select the ones that fit its mandate. "The concept of KIFF is to inspire and nurture creative and free minds for Hong Kong's future generation The diversity of genres and styles and film language is what KIFF believes in bringing about." Alongside the films is Carnival, a series of complementary arts and storytelling workshops that Tsang and Chung believe will provide children with a more complete experience that extends beyond the cinema, and one that is designed to pivot on the creative mind and the parent-child relationship.

This year's line-up includes films from as far afield as Serbia (The Witch Hunters) and Latvia (Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs) as well as Hong Kong. Among the highlights are a rare big-screen presentation of Victor Fleming's 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz and the local animated feature The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes - The Greatest Jail-breaker, based on Lai Ho's popular book series. Brightly colored and quickly paced, The Great Detective pulls in references from around the world, but remains distinctly Hong Kong in its broad worldview and visual style.

Also notable are the USA/Brazil co-production Abe, starring Stranger Things' Noah Schnapp, about a budding chef of mixed heritage trying to unite his fractious family through food; Steven Wouterlood's My Extraordinary Summer with Tess (Netherlands), a sunny, summertime existential coming-of-age tale that somehow remains breezy and optimistic; Okko's Inn from Japan, in which a young girl moves in with her grandmother following the death of her parents, with director Kosaka Kitaro gently navigating grief and acceptance; and Tito and the Birds (Brazil) by Gustavo Steinberg, Gabriel Bitar and Andre Catoto, which fuses painting and digital images for a timely adventure about intolerance and fear-mongering.

If all goes well, the founders hope Hong Kong kids will continue their exploration of cinema beyond major studio fare.

"It's the driver for our work," says Chung. "Having the chance to talk to them and understand how they were inspired at KIFF by very different textures of film from what they see on TV or YouTube every day gives us the energy to work harder."

(HK Edition 07/26/2019 page8)