On the podcast “Films To Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein,” guests are asked: What is the first film you remember seeing? Nearly everyone cites a movie they saw in theaters.
Wouldn’t it be nice if future generations could say the same?
Facets Film Forum is doing its part to keep the moviegoing tradition alive for the youngest audiences with the May 17 launch of a monthly film series called Family Sundays.
It will feature programming and activities for children ages 2-6 with a selection of animated short films that emphasize visual storytelling, under the umbrella title of “My First Movies,” at 10:30 a.m. The auditorium will be a “no shhh-zone,” meaning it’s just fine if there are whispers, restlessness or reactions to what’s happening on screen. Afterward, everyone is invited to take part in art projects inspired by what they’ve just seen.
A 2 p.m. matinee will follow for audiences ages 6-12, featuring the 2007 Pixar movie “Ratatouille,” which will be paired with a “hands-on stop-motion activity where kids and families can create their own mini films using food as their medium.”
Compared to the prices at your typical movie theater — compared to the prices for anything right now, for that matter — the series is downright affordable with tickets at $14 (and $10 for members).
Family Sundays at Facets Film Forum is a monthly screening series designed for children and families that expands the idea of what a moviegoing experience can be. Blending film exhibition with thoughtfully designed, hands-on creative sessions, the series transforms traditional screenings into immersive environments for play, experimentation, and discovery. (Facets Film Forum)
Ellyzabeth Adler is a programmer and educator at Facets. “My first job was at Facets working on the Children’s International Film Festival, and I did that for eight years.” (She is also the founder of Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble.)
She returned to the cinema about four years ago and started having discussions with her colleagues about ways they could better cater to young audiences. “I have a 6-year-old myself and I work in the theater industry, so I take her everywhere I go, and it’s not always a welcoming environment. Even a movie that’s for kids, at some of these big multiplexes, even though she doesn’t have sensory needs, it’s really loud. It can be too much for them. So how can we create more of a welcoming environment for kids?”
Fewer people are going to the movies these days. If we want younger generations to embrace the moviegoing experience and take that with them into adulthood, they need opportunities early on that are kid-friendly. What if there were options beyond the latest big money grab from the studios? Maybe something smaller and more intimate is your child’s speed. And Facets is smart to understand that a 3-year-old is going to need a different experience than an 8-year-old.
Adler says there will be a brief pre-show. “I joke that it’s like the warm-up comedian. We’re singing some songs with the kids and telling the parents it’s OK if their kids ask questions. One of the things I love is sitting in the movie theater and a kid asks their parents a question, and then another kid on the other side of the room answers it. I think that’s where community is built. When parents are all together and kids are all together, they start talking and it’s just another way for people to come together and make friends.”
Facets is also making the theater a more friendly space than typical. “The lights are on a little bit. The back door is propped open a little bit, so in case kids have that experience of being afraid of the dark. If they need to see that the door is open and there’s still light out there, that’s OK. And if your kid decides that they want to stand up and dance around, great. Or if they just want to go sit somewhere in the movie theater, great. All of this is fine.”
The post-screening art projects are also a way to subvert some of the effects of artificial intelligence, which can too easily short-circuit the idea that one’s own imagination has the potential to be expansive and worthwhile. Watching a movie should spark creativity afterward. Family Sundays are a way to turn that into a regular practice.
“I learned so much from Facets early on about how to get kids to watch movies and how to get them to think critically about how we see the world. What is the story that’s going on? And asking kids to be creative and to take a risk — that you can make a movie, too. When kids take ownership over their learning and creativity, it creates lifelong engagement.”
If you go
10:30 a.m. May 17 at Facets, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., tickets and more information at 773-281-9075 and facets.org/programs/family