News from the Chicago International Children's Film Festival
With over 40 countries representing more than 200 films from around the world each year, the Chicago International Children's Film Festival hosts an average of 26,000 children and their parents and teachers at several venues through-out Chicago each year and is the largest annual festival of films for children in the world.
The mission of WTTW11 is to provide relevant and distinctive programming for diverse audiences in Chicago and around the nation. With a special commitment to children's content, WTTW11 offers programming that informs, inspires, educates, and entertains. For over 55 years, WTTW11 has been Chicago's leader in children's television, touching the lives of over 500,000 children every week.
The American Academy of Pediatrics refers to the Chicago International Children's Film Festival as "a jewel representing the very best'". "The Festival's track record in recognizing and awarding excellence in short and feature live action, animated and documentary films for children makes Chicago the first destination for children's filmmakers worldwide. We're extremely proud of the Festival's track record and of our initiatives to introduce new and culturally diverse films for children to American children's audiences", notes Milos Stehlik, Executive Director of Facets Multi-Media.
WTTW Kids is a signature daypart for the station, broadcasting Monday through Friday 6:00 am to 6:00 pm and on weekend mornings. In total, WTTW uniquely commits over 70 hours a week to children's programming, reaching more households with children during the day than any other television station in the city.
The Festival is experiencing an unprecedented increase in productions for children by public and private television networks worldwide. This year's special highlights may include never-before seen episodes from the popular television series, "The Wonder Pets", the UK's "3rd & Bird"; Germany's "The Show with the Elephant"; new never-seen episodes of "Thomas the Tank Engine" and "Bob the Builder", as well as world premieres from television submitters from around the globe including the BBC, Sesame Workshop, Discovery Kids Latin America, Weston Woods/Scholastic, Little Airplane Productions and major TV production companies and stations in Germany, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Taiwan, Croatia, Mexico, Italy, Brazil, Russia, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland, Israel, Sri Lanka and France, among many others.
