I had to attend the press conference for an upcoming children's film festival as part of the daily activities of the school social work I'm doing, since last month, at the Cineteca Nacional (Mexico's national cinematheque). Before the conference began, I was lucky enough to actually watch seven of the many short films that will be part of the festival. It was material that otherwise I would not have seen, so it was a really nice very first experience at this kind of events – and I liked some of the shorts (and loved one!).
This one was the very first screened and while it's not the one I truly loved it wasn't the worst either. Actually, I think it's a very fine example of the type of material that will dominate the festival: stuff with a message that yes, is pretty much *just* for kids. CARLOTTA UND DIE WOLKE is about a little girl who suffers the hostility of a man and latter of some boys. She eventually gets from an old man an unusual and magical artifact that will help her in order to change that hostility thing. It gets surreal but nevertheless feels way too simple and it doesn't really offer much to a 20-year-old like myself (nor to the parents that will take their kids to the festival). Not that it should offer something to the grown-up but hell, if someone ever gets to read this commentary I'm pretty sure he or she won't be a kid. Finally, I must say that there's a cool element as the mentioned artifact is an Atari controller (or at least it looks just like one)!
*Watched it on 01 August, 2012
