Chicago International Children's Film Festival highlights

The 26th annual Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF), taking place October 22-November 1, 2009, is the largest festival of films for children in North America and features over 200 films from 40 countries.

Programming the best children's media for over 30 years, the Festival welcomes over 26,000 Chicago area children, adults, and educators to the screenings, and over 130 filmmakers, media professionals & celebrities attend the Festival to lead interactive workshops with kids. The CICFF is also the ONLY children's film festival qualified as an Academy Award Qualifying Festival!


The Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF) is a project of Facets Multi-Media; a non profit organization dedicated to the exhibition and distribution of foreign, independent and classic cinema. The CICFF is the largest annual festival of films for children in the world and features over 200 of the best films for children from 40 countries. Programming live action and animated features, shorts, TV series, documentaries, as well as child-produced works, the CICFF is one of the most unique festivals in the country, showcasing the best in culturally diverse, non-violent, value affirming new cinema for children. The CICFF is also honored to be the only children's film festival selected to be an Academy Award® Qualifying Festival.


Films placed in competition are then seen by both the Adult and Children's Juries. The Festival's Children's Jury is comprised of children who have participated in the Festival’s Young Chicago Critics program, led by a team of media educators. The Festival's Adult Jury consists of filmmakers, critics, educators, child-development specialists and parents. Films screened in competition are eligible for 1st prize, 2nd prize, or Certificate of Excellence, in the over 15 award categories.

The Festival welcomes over 25,000 Chicago area children, adults, and educators to the screenings, and over 130 filmmakers, media professionals & celebrities attend the Festival to lead interactive workshops with kids. Interactive workshops comprise an important part of the CICFF’s mission to make media a participatory rather than a passive experience. Past attendees have included: Shia LaBeouf (Transformers, Indiana Jones 4), Jane Seymour (Wedding Crashers), Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters, Analyze This), LeVar Burton (Reading Rainbow, Star Trek: The Next Generation), Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner’s Daughter); Paul Dooley (Breaking Away, Sixteen Candles); Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People, French Kiss); Terry Jones (Monty Python’s Flying Circus); film critic Roger Ebert; and hundreds of filmmakers from around the globe.

The Festival operates a small but dynamic market for foreign and U.S. distributors, buyers and festival programmers welcoming representatives from Miramax, Nickelodeon, Tribeca Film Festival, Starz/Encore, Disney, Noggin, Sesame Workshop, Hallmark, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the National Gallery of Art and many other national and international organizations, who attended the Festival to scout films for possible distribution or presentation rights.