Island kids won’t have to complain about being banished to the children’s table for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Two days later, they’re invited to be the guests of honor at a feast of their own — the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival’s Family Film Feast event at the Chilmark Community Center.

The newest children’s programming component of the festival, the foodie film series for kids kicks off this Saturday at 5 p.m. with Frogs and Toads, a Dutch film about a small boy on a quest to collect enough frog eggs to save his brother’s voice after a tonsillectomy. The film is part adventure-tale, embedded with musical elements.

If it sounds a bit far-fetched, not to worry. All films in this series have gone through an extensive screening process to make sure they are suitable not only for younger family members, but for their parents, too. “We’re trying to make the atmosphere as welcome to the whole family as possible,” said Lindsey Scott, the director of children’s programming for the festival. She said that Frogs and Toads is geared towards the five- to ten-year age bracket, but will be appropriate for younger kids and enjoyable for adults.

The process of finding these films begins with Nicole Dreiske, who has earned a name for herself in the world of children’s cinema as the director of the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, the largest and longest running kids’ film fest in America, and perhaps the world. Ms. Dreiske was hired as a curator by the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival last year to try to enhance the children’s programming for the festival.

The kids’ screenings began in the Chilmark library as a way to occupy children while their parents enjoyed regular March weekend film festival selections next door at the community center. In the five years since, it has expanded into nearly year-round activities for kids, with as much planning and investment involved as the regular film fest.

Ms. Dreiske’s expertise translated into a better selection of film options for children’s programming.

“Because she’s already programming her own festival, she has her hands on amazing world-class international shorts and features,” said Ms. Scott. “She puts together a program that makes sense in terms of length, age-appropriateness, and a balance of live-action and animation.”

When her recommendations are submitted, an Island screening committee made up of five parents and film professionals decides which films would be best received by the Vineyard community.

Family Film Feast is taking the event a step farther than a typical movie night. Zephrus restaurant chef Robert Lionette will make a guest appearance to whip up a hearty winter meal to precede the screening. With veggies donated by Morning Glory Farm and chicken from Cleveland and Pasture Hill farms, Mr. Lionette will offer a menu of either chicken stew or chicken pot pie, while baker Amy Miller prepares the dessert. And free popcorn will be provided for the movie.

“Our concept was to make this a really well balanced evening for these families where they have to do nothing,” said Ms. Scott. “The idea is that families will come out all together.”

The film will be subtitled in English, but adult and child actors will recite the dialogue along with the film for those viewers too young to read the captions. In today’s Gazette, a kid critic gives other moviegoers a sneak peak at Saturday’s selection, and some of the kids who will read the subtitles performed a skit this week for a radio spot on WMVY to promote the film series.

“We’re just trying to engage the kids in any way possible in this whole thing,” said Ms. Scott. “In the event, in the production of it, in the promotion of it.”

They are also trying to make the event as affordable as possible. Dinner costs $10 for adults and $5 for kids, and movie tickets are $6 apiece.

But the money they will earn on the dinner and ticket sales does little to cover the expense of putting on the event. Mostly funded through private donations, the nonprofit is struggling in the current economy as much as anyone else. “We’re working really hard to bring fantastic films to this Island community that would otherwise never come here, that would be very difficult to get your hands on, but there is a large price tag attached,” said Ms. Scott. “We are absolutely dependent on the generous support of this community to produce these events.”

The Family Film Feast series will continue on the last Saturdays in December and January with a program of assorted short films, and the film festival staff hopes it will prove to be as big a hit as their other seasonal children’s programming: the series that accompanies the regular winter film festival in March and the Cinema Circus summer film series.

“This is work we’re doing for our community, to strengthen the fabric of our community and enrich us all with great, playful, fun, thoughtful, provocative events for kids and adults that we’ll all enjoy,” said Ms. Scott. “We hope that [Family Film Feast] is a great success and something that the community would really enjoy doing in the winter, and together.”