Truth comes from the mouths of babes — or rather kids, or young adults, or the future of humanity. Whatever you label them, these pulse-takers of youth culture are back this summer with their own reviews of movies for young viewers screening every Wednesday at the Chilmark Community Center.
The organizers of the Summer Film Series at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival teamed up with the Gazette to bring you reviews by Island kids, here for the summer or year-round, each Tuesday, before each Wednesday film presentation. This week concludes the summer series.
Today, Anna Hughes reviews De Poetsprins, which screens tomorrow evening at 5:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center. Admission is $10, or $7 for center members; $5 for festival members.
De Poetsprins is a collection of nine children’s shorts that were gathered from around the world. Music, scene transition, and art style express and tell the story instead of words. All of the shorts are unique both in art style and storytelling. Each of the shorts can be interpreted differently depending on the viewer because the stories feel so freestyle and loose yet fun. Each of the shorts shines in its own way but here are some that appealed to me the most:
Mechaniek focuses on white balls and their journey through a system of crazy twists and turns. The background music fits the balls and their interactions with other objects perfectly. Mechaniek has a surprising yet fun ending that will change your view on the entire short.
Mr. Jones is a humorous story about a man trying to find a treasure. The film appears to be 3-D animation. This film reminded me of the internal questions with no direct answer that all of us at some point in life are trying to find.
Bonhommes, a touching story about a boy and his snowman, the story is expounded by expressing the scenes into numerous shapes and sizes on the screen which help to emphasize and focus on certain fragments of the story.
Sientje, this film is only in the colors red, black, and white. This short has no background or shading and contains very little detail. This art style causes you to focus on the action and sound of the film.
The shorts in the collection ranged both in style, how it was told and plot. So you couldn’t fit De Poetsprins into one category. My conclusions are that the shorts are in such a wide range that you will definitely find ones that you like. I suggest seeing the films with friends or family members because the shorts will definitely be interpreted differently and will provide great conversation topics. It will be fun learning what your friends or family think the moral/message in each short is. This will help you bond and perhaps get to know each other better.
As my final conclusion, De Poetsprins is a collection of diverse short films that will entertain all ages.
Afterward De Poetsprins there will be Scottish Bakehouse meals made with local ingredients available and live music in a series curated by Colin Ruel.
At 8 p.m. the festival welcomes Darryl Hunt as its guest for the screening of the award-winning documentary The Trials of Darryl Hunt, directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. The filmmakers investigate a brutal rape/murder case and a wrongly convicted man, Darryl Hunt, imprisoned nearly 20 years for a crime he did not commit. At once a social justice story, a decades-long courtroom drama and a personally-driven narrative, the film follows this capital case from 1984 through 2004. In exclusive footage from two decades, the film frames the judicial and emotional response to a chilling crime — and the implications that reverberated from Hunt’s conviction — against a backdrop of class and racial bias in the South and in the American criminal justice system.
The Trials of Darryl Hunt is in English and runs 106 minutes. Mr. Hunt will take questions after the screening.
Admission is $10, or $7 for center members; $5 for festival members.
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