ABOUT US

Children's Film Festival Seattle is part of Northwest Forum's Family Frames programming for young people and families. At Northwest Film Forum, we recognize that young people and families deserve the highest quality films made specifically for them, and that the future of our organization is dependent on continually building, from the ground up, film audiences who are globally minded, intellectually curious, and critically discerning.

ABOUT OUR PROGRAM STAFF

Liz Shepherd - Festival Director

Liz Shepherd curates year-round family film programs at Northwest Film Forum and is the director the annual Children's Film Festival Seattle, the Northwest's largest annual competitive festival of its kind. She is also the curator of REDCAT International Children's Film Festival, which is held annually at Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theatre in Los Angeles, and she has also curated programs for The New Museum (New York), Asheville International Children's Film Festival (North Carolina), the August Wilson Center for African American Culture (Pennsylvania), ArtsEmerson (Boston) and many other prestigious venues in the United States. Before arriving in Seattle, she was the director of Chicago International Children's Film Festival and Secretary/Treasurer of the International Centre of Films for Children and Young People. She has served on the juries of children's film festivals in Korea, Russia, India, and Egypt.

Renate Zylla - Festival Program Advisor

Born in 1955 in Bielefeld, Germany, Renate holds a Master of Pedagogy with a concentration in media at the University of Bielefeld. She has professional experience in film and media since 1983. She started her festival career in Berlin at the International Film Festival Berlin in 1986. In 1988 she became the director of the Kinder Film Fest of the Berlin International Film Fest and worked in this position till 2002. She was a consultant for the Kinder Film Festival Tokyo (1992 - 2002). In 2003 she became the director of Kodomotachino Kinder Film Festival Tokyo. Renate Zylla is a director, organizer, manager of film projects and events, and has been a jury member at international film festivals around the world. Since 2009 she has been a festival agent for children and youth films and in 2010 she became a program advisor for international film festivals for children and young adults in: Jakarta (Indonesia), Lucknow (India), Manchester (UK), Montevideo (Uruguay), Nairobi (Kenya), Seattle (USA), Winnipeg (Canada). She is currently the official program advisor for Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth Vancouver.

ABOUT NORTHWEST FILM FORUM

Northwest Film Forum is Seattle's premier film arts organization, screening over 200 independently made and classic films annually, offering a year-round schedule of filmmaking classes for all ages, and supporting filmmakers at all stages of their careers. NWFF brings together a community of individuals dedicated to great film in Seattle and beyond. You can learn more at http://www.nwfilmforum.org/.

MANY THANKS TO

We gratefully extend our thanks to the interns and volunteers whose hard work made this year's Festival possible:

Festival Team

Vera Petukhova, Festival Coordinator
Paul Siple, Festival Assistant

Interns

Bonny Chau
Lauren Martin
Scott Osgood
Morgan Wade

Web Design

Kara Schoonmaker

Festival Selection Committee

Chris Greenlee
Emma Greenlee
Elizabeth Shepherd
Vera Petukhova
Morgan Wade
Bonny Chau