BAICFF: A Playdate for the Imagination is where education and imagination collide. The festival offers families a cinematic view of the world's varied cultures and traditions. The films inspire curiosity and conversation, and allow children to experience a wide range of cultural perspectives.
The Bay Area International Children's Film Festival began as a creative community event to support education programs that foster global understanding and cultural exchange. Between 2009 to 2021 BAICFF produced 13 annual festivals and presented over 500 family-friendly films of high artistic value from around the world, and held workshops for nearly 900 children designed to introduce kids to the world of animation and live-action filmmaking.
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Program 1
https://roxie.com/film/bay-area-international-childrens-film-festival-program-1/
1. Slave of the Rave - Directed by William Garratt, UK, 2 mins, 40s
Music worlds collide! A short animated comedy about how an audience reacts to
different types of music.
2. The Sled - Belchonok i sanki Directed by Olesya Shchukina, 4 mins, 19s, Russia
The little squirrel finds something he has never seen before.
3. If I Were God - Directed by Cordell Barker, Canada, 8 mins
What would you do if you were 12 and suddenly found yourself charged with God-like powers?
Would you use them for good? For bad? Perhaps a little of both?
4. Mo's Bows - Directed by Jennifer Treuting and Kristen McGregor USA 6 mins,19s
Most sixth-graders count their accomplishments in terms of trophies and medals, but not Moziah Bridges: he tracks his achievements by the number of bow ties he has sold.
5. Luki and the Lights - Directed by Toby Cochran, USA,11 mins 2024
Luki, a charming and upbeat robot known for living life to the fullest, is diagnosed with the life-altering disease ALS. He must choose how to face life going forward.
**Q&A after the shorts program with Director Toby Cochran and Producer Adrian Ochoa**
6. Dot - Directed by Will Studd and Ed Patterson, 2 mins, UK
A microscopic character battles the perils of being small using the materials at hand and her wits.
followed by - Making of Dot - 5:36
See how Aardman made this teeny tiny film. Noted in the Guinness Book of World Records as the tiniest character animated short ever.
7. My Mom is an Airplane by Yula Aronova, 7 mins, Russia
A young boy imagines his mother to be an airplane traveling to exotic lands.
8. Negative Space Directed by Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata, 5 mins, 30s, France
My dad taught me how to pack.
9. My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts directed by Torill Kove, 10mins, 5s, Canada
1999
This Oscar®-nominated animated film comes from Oscar®-winning filmmaker Torill Kove (The Danish Poet). It's a tall tale about her grandmother's life in Oslo, Norway, during World War II.
10. The Night Boots by Pierre-Luc Granjon, 13 mins, France 2025
*Winner Audience Award Annecy 2025*
While his parents are welcoming friends, a child leaves home in the middle of the night and enters the undergrowth, wearing rubber boots.
Program 2
https://roxie.com/film/bay-area-international-childrens-film-festival-program-2/
1. Graveyard Jamboree with Mysterious Mose by Screen Novelties, 5 mins, USA.
Dead Pirate Mysterious Mose has a rousing bone-yard bash!
2. Lego Adventure in the City by Rogier Wieland, 3 mins, 17s, The Netherlands.
A snake has to save his city from "the grey"! It is better then the Lego Movie because it is all
real!
Followed by - The Making of Lego Adventure in the City - 3 mins
See behind the scenes of how Lego Adventure in the City was made. You won't believe how many Legos they had to use!
3. Odd Dog by Keika Lee, 4,30 min, USA.
Watch as the cat entertains the boy with his crazy dog-like antics to win the boy over and see if the two end up becoming best friends.
**Q&A with director/producer Keika Lee after the shorts program**
4. Bottle by Kirsten Lepore, 5 mins, USA.
The story of two unlikely penpals: one a mound of sand, the other a pile of snow.
5. Persevere: The Wilma Rudolph Story * wrote and preformed by kids * by Lisa Rossi and Tony Saxe, 10 mins, 54s, USA.
The students of one second grade class at Jefferson Elementary School in Berkeley, CA share the journey of Olympic Gold Medalist Wilma Rudolph.
6. Nube directed by Christian Arredondo Narváez & Diego Alonso Sánchez de la Barquera Estrada, 7 mins, 30s Mexico 2024.
Noma, a puffy white cloud realises that Mixtli, her daughter, a dark stormy cloud, is in danger of raining prematurely.
7. Pigeons directed by Zazie Capobianco, 2 mins 52s UK 2025
Did you know there is no difference between pigeons and doves? Well you will, and much more, in this light hearted animated documentary about our ubiquitous avian neighbor.
8. ( Notes on ) Biology by Danny Madden, 5 mins, 41s USA.
A bored high-school student turns his biology notes into a wildly adventurous flip book.
9. CARDBOARD directed by J.P Vine 8 mins, 5s UK 2025.
A single dad fears he's failed his family but his kids create an imaginative game, and Dad has a choice: dwell in the past or join them on their intergalactic adventure.
10. Luminaris by Juan Pablo Zaramella, 6 mins, Argentina.
In a world controlled and timed by light, an ordinary man has a plan that could change the natural order of things.
11. Éiru by Giovanna Ferrari, 13 min Ireland, 2024.
Cartoon Saloon's latest short - When the water mysteriously disappears from the well in a warrior clan's village, an intrepid child descends into the belly of the earth to retrieve it.