Ninnoc Selected for Children’s Film Festival Seattle 2017

The Dutch film Ninnoc by filmmaker Niki Padidar has been selected for the Children’s Film Festival Seattle 2017. The festival, running from January 26 until February 11 at Northwest Film Forum, will show the film on January 28 & February 1st. 

About Ninnoc

Ninnoc doesn’t like cliques. Why do they all have to behave – and look – the same? Ninnoc has big blue eyes, she dances and sings, and she is a strong-willed girl. She can’t describe herself, but if she feels excluded, this is the sound it makes: “Wawawawawawawawa.” Then her hair trembles, she gets a headache and a constant ringing sound in her ears: “Aaaaaaaaahhh.” She didn’t fit in at her old school, and she keeps to herself at the new one. She doesn’t want to join in with those other people, but she’s also afraid of being shut out. “People only see who I appear to be. There are only a couple who know who I am. You can only see what I want you to see, and there’s lots behind that smile that you don’t even know about.” Ninnoc ruminates on the question of what’s “normal” and “different” and “popular” (the quotation marks are hers), and we see her moving around an empty school, in a classroom full of children and in a classroom full of Ninnocs. The film’s camerawork and editing echo Ninnoc’s feelings, helping the viewer to understand why such a bright young girl would find some things so difficult.

About Niki Padidar

Niki Padidar was born in Iran, and came to the Netherlands when she was 7. She mostly makes stories for children and young adults. She directs, comes up with and executes new concepts, writes and designs. Niki loves to come up with new ideas and to develop them from A to Z. She wants the viewers to be surprised or confused afterwards, and preferably to doubt their own version of reality. Currently Niki lives in Amsterdam, and studied photography at the New School University in New York, did an orientation year at the Rietveld art Academy and got her masters at the University of Amsterdam, where she specialized in youth & media and representation.

About Children’s Film Festival Seattle

The next edition of the Children’s Film Festival in Seattle will feature more than 150 films from over 40 countries. Kids can hear the music of dozens of different languages in the festival, and feast their eyes on gorgeous animation, crisp live action and features films that run the gamut from laugh-out-loud funny to unforgettably poignant.

Now more than ever, it’s a great time to remind our kids that Planet Earth is home to many different and beautiful cultures and ways of life. The festival films also show that we share much in common with people who live in vastly different circumstances than we do. We all have the same longings — to laugh, to love, to belong and find the deeper meaning of our lives. An international children’s film festival is a perfect place to discover common ground, to build empathy and celebrate our shared humanity.
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The festival offers something for everyone ages 2-14, from gentle animation for the youngest viewers to meaty docs and narrative films about important issues for older kids. Guest filmmakers from around the world will be on hand to enlighten audiences about how their films were made, and young audience members will also get a chance to step behind the camera to make their own films at festival workshops.
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As always, kids will be in charge at this year’s festival. The youth jury will be led by a group of amazing teenaged graduates of the jury program, which began in 2007. The festival motto is simple: See the World, Feed Your Mind. From the beginning, the organizers believed that kids can only change the world if they’ve seen the world. They hope this festival opens their eyes.

Have you ever dreamed of going on an around-the-world trip with your family? Then save the dates for Children’s Film Festival Seattle 2017, January 26-Februry 11, at Northwest Film Forum.

Our next edition Children’s Film Festival Seattle will feature more than 150 films from 40+ countries. Kids can hear the music of dozens of different languages in the festival, and feast their eyes on gorgeous animation, crisp live action and features films that run the gamut from laugh-out-loud funny to unforgettably poignant.

Now more than ever, it’s a great time to remind our kids that Planet Earth is home to many different and beautiful cultures and ways of life. Our festival films also show that we share much in common with people who live in vastly different circumstances than we do. We all have the same longings — to laugh, to love, to belong and find the deeper meaning of our lives.

An international children’s film festival is a perfect place to discover common ground, to build empathy and celebrate our shared humanity.

Our festival offers something for everyone ages 2-14, from gentle animation for our youngest viewers to meaty docs and narrative films about important issues for older kids. School groups are joyously welcome — please let us know at cffs@nwfilmforum.org if you are an educator interested in bringing a field trip group to the festival.

Guest filmmakers from around the world will be on hand to enlighten audiences about how their films were made, and young audience members will also get a chance to step behind the camera to make their own films at festival workshops.

As always, kids will be in charge at this year’s festival. We’ve reached a wonderful milestone with this, our 12th Children’s Film Festival Seattle — our youth jury will be led by a group of amazing teenaged graduates of the jury program, which began in 2007. We can’t wait to see the smiles on our new young juror’s faces when they meet their leaders — motivated, high-energy, worldly teens who have grown up watching international films at Northwest Film Forum.

To find out more about the children’s jury, contact liz@nwfilmforum.org.

Our festival motto is simple: See the World, Feed Your Mind. From the beginning, we’ve believed that kids can only change the world if they’ve seen the world. We hope this festival opens their eyes.