Kid Flicks features a selection of unique films presented by the New York International Children’s Film Festival. Featuring a range of stories that include live-action, animation, and documentary films displaying different styles of filmmaking from around the world, this lively collection of films reflects NYICFF’s commitment to storytelling and diversity and is sure to spark meaningful conversations.

In this program, Black stories take the spotlight to highlight films that share the joy, determination, resilience, and complexity of being Black and young.

Celebrating Black Stories Program

• Comic Escape (United States, Live Action, Alphonso McAuley, 2021, 15 min., English) - A young boy unexpectedly finds a comic book that changes his reality.
• Cupids(United States, Live Action, Zoey Martinson, 2021, 10 min., English) - This whimsical comedy love letter to New York's essential workers follows a whole class on the last day of school as they scheme to find the perfect partner for their adored bus driver, Ms. Cheryl, and save her from a lonely summer without them.
• Generation Impact: The Coder (United States, Documentary, Samantha Knowles, 2021, 7 min., English) - Jay Jay Patton was only 13 when she designed and built an app to help kids connect with their incarcerated parents, inspired by her own experience. Now she is creating a coding academy to help other kids do the same.
• My Name is Maalum (Brazil, Animation, Luísa Copetti, 2021, 8 min., In Portuguese, with English subtitles) - Maalum comes from a home surrounded by love and Afro-centered references. When her classmates tease her about her name, Maalum discovers the lovely legacy of her name and ancestry.
• The Night I Left America (Uganda, United States, Live Action, Laki Karavias, 2021, 14 min., English and Luganda with English subtitles) - While anxiously awaiting the results of his mother’s visa renewal request, a teenage boy living in Texas conjures memories of his life in Uganda.
• Room Rodeo (United States, Live Action, Daniel Kayamba, 2021, 14 min., English) - Grounded and with a last-minute school project due, Jamil takes matters into his own hands in order to prove he is the great grandson of a legendary Black cowboy.
• Wolf and Cub (United States, Animation, Marvin Bynoe, 2021, 8 min., English) - A father and son cross a world of imagination in order to return their mother’s forgotten lunch.