Finding Felix Project

My photo
Berlin, Germany
The Finding Felix Project is a work for screen and publication from Katy Kavanaugh, a curator and filmmaker (katykavanaugh.weebly.com). Funding from Stanford University, The Freie Universität- Berlin and DAAD allowed her to return to the Berlin Film Festival's 35 year-old Generation (formerly Kinderfilmfest) to collect evidence of the directive impact that international films seen in childhood can have toward shaping the breadth of a person's view of the world and the decisions they make. This investigation focuses on one eleven year-old film festival-goer whom Kavanaugh met while serving on the Kinderfilmfest's international jury in 2001. Ten years later, Kavanaugh wants to know how a childhood full of international films influenced Felix's life so far. Meanwhile, with help from Media Consultant Tina Toepfel and Gintare Malinauskaite, PhD History at Humboldt Universität, Felix has been found and is now in post-production. To help meet its completion goal, please consider contributing via our fiscal sponsor, Cinefemme.net. https://cinefemme.net/projects/finding-felix/

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Happy New Year: A Message to Children


A wish for children from a couple of two impressive young filmmakers

Brother - Sister filmmaking duo Aissa (13) and Kahina (11) offer a message to other children in the world, to inspire them to engage in something that interests them. 
Their film THE RETURN OF THE REPRESSED a short documentary exploring the history of Morocco, is making its festival rounds now. 

Aissa and Kahina, with their father Youssef present the value of international films for language learning in FINDING FELIX www.findingfelixproject.blogspot.com

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Finding Felix in Post-Production

Finding Felix has gathered all of its footage and is in post-production.  Our Kickstarter campaign included our fiscal sponsor to capture donations even if the goal wasn't reached.   And they are still ready to receive.  See Finding Felix on the Cinefemme site. 

Los Angeles-based Cinefemme is an organization that supports women producers and filmmakers.
They provide fiscal sponsorship which offers their 501 (c) 3 non-profit status to make it possible to receive grants.  For the service, they garner 5% from the total donations.  Crowdfunding sites, like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, are really fiscal sponsors.  Cinefemme has helped me with two other projects prior and I'm grateful they're with us again.  Here's section from their site and the reason why I'm happy Cinefemme.net is on my side:

Cinema as Art

Profit-driven films should not rule the world. In her article The Decay of Cinema, Susan Sontag writes:
"To be sure there was always a conflict between cinema as an industry and cinema as an art, cinema as routine and cinema as experiment. But the conflict was not such as to make impossible the making of wonderful films, sometimes within and sometimes outside of mainstream cinema. Now the balance has tipped decisively in the favor of cinema as an industry."
Cinefemme aims to tip the scales back towards cinema as art. Be an artistic filmmaker, support other artistic filmmakers, and promote the visions of women whose works of art can have a positive, profound impact on our future.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Nina professes her dream. A directive memory is fostered.



This is Nina, one of the fourth graders at John F. Kennedy School in Berlin.  We interviewed the class two weeks after they watched the 2011 Berlinale film THE STRONGEST MAN IN
HOLLAND.  Nina's detailed response not only revealed a vivid memory of the film but her own unique way of thinking about it.  I asked the children next what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Nina's response is an apt one. I'm glad she and more got a chance to hear her state it.  Nina later found Gintare Malinauskaita and I debriefing at a sidewalk cafe near the school (she had been on the bus and jumped off when she saw us).  She was excited and smiling ear to ear.  She had to tell us how much she enjoyed our interview and she wanted to tell us how much she loves writing.  The moment you see here in this clip may have been the first time Nina heard herself profess her dream.  I hope that Nina continues to watch challenging films that further foster her dream. 

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Finding Felix Kickstarter Campaign



The Finding Felix Kickstarter Campaign is now LIVE:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/202492356/finding-felix

Look for updates on Kickstarter and follow
or start a discussion on facebook.com/FindingFelix

The Kickstarter activity is astonishing.  Feels like a conversation
with 100 million people. The responses are exhilarating.
Watch this space for more clips from FINDING FELIX.
.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Animator Michel Ocelot offers rich insights to the magical stories he tells...

Animator Michel Ocelot's PRINCES AND PRINCESSES and KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS have created brilliant memories for audiences young and adult around the world.  Here he gives insight to the stories he tells through his own vivid recollection of his first film seen in his childhood in Afrika.  He also makes a good argument for the meaning of "international" for a child.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Moritz Klein and Vincent Förster on the most innovative films of the 2011 Berlinale Generation program.


Moritz Klein and Vincent Förster are two of Felix's peers who both served as young journalists and members of the youth juries at the Berlinale Generation section.  In this excerpt from their interview, they discuss the innovative films of the 2011 program.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Gratitude



None of the following photos documenting the person behind the camera and the process that made FINDING FELIX would have been possible without the presence, attention, visual skill and understanding of the value of a moment which Tina Töpfel and Gintare Malinauskaite brought to the project. On the magic day when we found Felix, Elise Fried expertly handled the camera. All three showed me things I couldn't have thought of and proved, once again, that filmmaking is a team sport.  Thanks team.



Felix Klein, the "Felix" we sought is found. Elise Fried is running camera.






Katy Kavanaugh with director Mohammed Ali Talebi, who made the first Iranian film I saw at the Berlinale in 1993, THE BOOTS.

Moritz Klein, former jury member, now Generation staff.
                      Director and cast of US film THE DYNAMITER by Matthew Gordon


Felix Klein, first interview.

                               A PAS DU LOUP team: Olivier, Yves and Winona Ringer


ON THE ICE  director Andrew Okpeaha   Maclean and producer Cara Marcous