Millburn Library Presents Family Film Series: Classics for Kids

Classics for Kids, a six-week film series, will bring movies that span several decades of the 20th Century to the Millburn Library beginning Jan. 14.

From the charming The Red Balloon to the family adventure Swiss Family Robinson and the emotional Born Free, the movies in the series are all perfect for families and celebrate the beauty of film and storytelling, said curator Victoria Plummer.

Plummer watched lot of films to curate the Classic for Kids series before she settled on the seven films in the series.

“There are a lot of wonderful films but I wanted each one to represent a different decade and be made before the year 2000,” she said.

These classics, ranging from silly to serious, will allow parents to relive some childhood favorites while their children perhaps see them for the first time.

The idea came to Plummer when she was watching the movie The Red Balloon with her 8 - and 10-year-old daughters.

"They were capitvated by it," she said. "And it seemed like a good idea to bring the these films here to let parents and children share them together."

The films are appropriate for younger children ages 5 to 8, but older children and adults will enjoy them too, Plummer said.

Classics for Kids is a part of the Six Week Film Festival, a curated series of thematically linked films. Various programs are available to appeal to children, teens and adults.

The series is the first of the festival to be screened at the Millburn Library and is sponsored in conjunction with the Library and the township Art Advisory Committee.

Kicking off the series is Duck Soup, with all the gags, puns and general mayhem the Marx brothers are known for.

Other films in the series are The Red Balloon and White Mane, two short films from the 1950s by the French director, Albert Lamorisse.

The Red Balloon is magical and mostly silent film about a balloon that inexplicably follows a young boy about his day in Paris.

In White Mane, a boy and a horse’s lives are entwined in this tale set in the marshes of Southern France.

Swiss Family Robinson takes moviegoers to the tropics, where a shipwrecked family learns to survive – and build a tremendous tree house and fight pirates – in this swashbuckling film.

Based on a true story, Born Free is the tale of a woman raising a lion cub on the African plains, eventually to return it to the wild.

The Black Stallion is a beautifully shot film about the adventures of a boy and a glorious black stallion, complete with thrills, friendship and horse racing.

The Secret of Roan Inish takes the audience to Ireland where this John Sayles film follows a family living on the coast, enmeshed in the worlds of magical legends and hard realities. 

For more information, please contact the library at 973- 376-1006 or www.mfplib.org or visit the Six Week Film Festival site: http://6wff.wordpress.com/.

Screenings are free and start at 1 p.m. in the auditorium on the second floor.

Full Schedule:
January 14:    Duck Soup
January 21:    The Red Balloon and White Mane
January 28:    Swiss Family Robinson
February 4:    Born Free
February 18:  The Black Stallion
February 25:  The Secret of Roan Inish

Bring your own popcorn!