Bay Area International Children’s Film Festival at Chabot Science Center

Do you have a budding film maker at home?  If so, dust them off and bring to the Bay Area International Children’s Film Festival, a 3 day extravaganza, all about movie making and here is our own back yard.

Bay Area International Children’s Film Festival (BAICFF for short!) will be Chabot Science Center, February 23 – 25, 2018.  It will be a family affair with events, workshops and movies scheduled from Friday night to Saturday afternoon.  If you have a budding film buff in the family that wants to learn about the behind the scenes making of movies this will be YOUR weekend.  TWOFER! All tickets include General Admission to the Center.

This year, BAICFF celebrates its 10th Anniversary with special celebrations and programs, along with animated, live action, shorts and feature-length films, special “How did they do that?” presentations, and Q&A sessions with award winning guest filmmakers. Films hail from countries around the globe including: South Africa, Taiwan, Brazil, Iran, Haiti, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, and Canada.

Tickets can also be purchased at the Front Desk on the day of the event. TWOFER! All tickets include General Admission to the Center. Purchase your tickets in advance and sign up for the various workshops.

BAICFF Opening Night Event

The Fantastic Films : Short Films and a discussion with BAICFF programmer and co-founder Jim Capobianco.
What goes into making a great short film? How do you get your film into a festival? Can you make any money with a short film? In honor of our 10th anniversary, join us in a free ranging discussion with BAICFF programmer, co-founder and filmmaker Jim Capobianco. Jim will show some of the shorts he has made independently and at Pixar as well as show and discuss what, in his opinion, makes a great short film. Fellow BAICFF co-founder, Shelley Trott, will also discuss with Jim his 25-year career in animation, and Jim will also answer all of your questions about the secrets of animation and the Universe.

2018 BAICFF Workshops & Special Programs

Children learn film making techniques and leave with their own short animated films by enrolling in the workshops listed below. Purchase your tickets in advance and sign up for the various workshops.

Clay Puppet Workshop – BAICFF’s most popular workshop! Decorate and film your very own, professional stop-motion puppet and take the puppet home with you. Spend the first half of the workshop personalizing your “actor” with googly eyes, buttons, feathers, etc. Then lights, camera, action – it’s time to make your puppet come alive. Use your imagination to place your little “actor” in a series of poses that add up to action!

Pixilation & Foley Workshops – What is Pixilation? It’s an animation technique that uses the most readily available tool at your disposal – your body! In this workshop, the participants are the actors. Just change your pose slightly from one photo frame to the next and you will magically float, fly around a room, disappear and reappear in a different location, slide along the ground, drive an invisible car, or almost anything else you can imagine! You add the sound! In addition to creating your film using pixilation you will then add your own sound effects in our Foley Sound workshop.

Family Fun Stop Motion Workshop – Using found objects, children and their parents will create short stop-motion animated films. Select your objects and use your imagination to change their placement slightly from one photo frame to the next to tell a story. Watch the objects come alive as they disappear and reappear, travel from one side of the screen to another, or magically create cool patterns and designs.