DE ORIENTE A OCCIDENTE: A selection of short filmsproduced by the filmmaker Marcos Nine to watch online at home. The pieces from several nationalities represent different cultural traditions.
For children from 2 to 6 years old. The entire collection is suitable for children and adults, but in each film we indicate the minimum recommended age.
[‘The Fight between the Heron and the Clam’]
FROM 2 YEARS OLD ON:
The filmmakers Te Wei, Qian Jianjun, and Hu Jinqing created between the 60’s and the 80’s works that mix fables and proverbs with Chinese pictorial heritage. The result is spectacular, and it illustrates a traditional lifestyle and at the same time, the love for nature, especially for animals. We have selected three titles with the hallmark of these artists.
- XIAO KE DOU ZHAO MA MA [‘Where is Mama?’], Te Wei, 1960 (age 2 and up). OV. It tells the story of a group of tadpoles that, after being born in a lagoon, get to know all the animals that inhabit it, trying to find out who their mother is. Even though it is in Chinese, it is easy to understand.
- MU DI [‘The Cowboy’s Flute’], Te Wei, co-directed with Qian Jianjun, 1963 (age 2 and up). OV. The young main character is capable of communicate with animals thanks to the sound of his flute. No dialogues.
- YU BANG XIANG ZHENG [‘The Fight between the Heron and the Clam’], Hu Jinquing, 1983 (age 2 and up). It illustrates a fierce battle for eating and for not being eaten. No dialogues.
FROM 3 YEARS OLD ON:
As it happened in the East, fables and classic tales were the source of cinema. One of the animation cinema pioneers is the German Lotte Reiniger, who adapted a great part of her first works to the Brothers Grimm or Charles Perrault’s tales. Her chosen film dates before the birth of films with sound and thus it has no dialogues.
- KALIPH STORK [‘The Caliph Stork’], Lotte Reiniger, one of the pioneers of animated film, 1929 (age 3 and up).
FROM 5 YEARS OLD ON:
In 1995 the Russian filmmaker Valeriy Ugarov was requested to direct one episode of the BBC series “Operavox”, in which some of the most important operas in history were adapted, in a reduced format and with traditional animation in an attempt to bring opera to children’s audiences. Ugarov had to adapt Mozart’s work.
- THE MAGIC FLUTE, Valeriy Ugarov, 1995 (age 5 and up). OV. It is in English, but that is no problem to enjoy 30 minutes of a nice opera and a carefully designed animation.
FROM 6 YEARS OLD ON:
- LES TROIS INVENTEURS [The Three Inventors], Michel Ocelot, 1980 (age 6 and up). A fable that invites us to think about how, on occasions, all powers, from the people’s to the government’s, oppose progress when they can’t understand it. Original version subtitled in Spanish.