Non-Violent CARTOONS from around the world will entertain 300 giggling children on Saturday November 16th as part the Columbus International Film Festival. If you do not get a seat don’t worry as on December 31st during First Night Columbus at COSI thousands of children and their parents will be joyfully entertained by these TOONS. The hour-long program promises to be special as many of these cartoons will be first runs in Central Ohio. The Columbus Film Festival (CIF) started in 1952 and is the longest running film festival in the U.S. It was founded by progressive educators and has always included documentaries, narratives, experimental works and animation. PFW is encouraged that CIF is making this dedicated effort to share with our community violence-free TOONS as children need to be children and parents need to know that there are alternatives to the high level of violence that permeates kids’ daytime programming. Studies have shown that the new intensity of this medium causes children to be more aggressive, anxious and potentially can desensitize them to the realities of pain, fighting, war and death. The differences between the graphics of Tom & Jerry or Popeye when compared to contemporary children’s programming and the prevalence of unacceptable real-world behaviors portrayed in these cartoons is startling. Children studied under ten years old cannot, for the most part, distinguish between reality and fantasy as they do not have enough life experiences “on file” yet. More info on the entire Festival is on line at www.columbusfilmcouncil.org
