Washington University and Cinema St. Louis to present Second Annual Children’s Film Symposium May 5 and 6

Washington University’s Center for the Humanities and Program in Film & Media Studies, both in Arts & Sciences, will host the Second Annual Children’s Film Symposium May 5 and 6.

Presented in conjunction with Cinema St. Louis, the event will feature a keynote address by Nicholas Sammond, author of Babes in Tomorrowland: Walt Disney and the Making of the American Child, 1930-1960 (2005), as well as screenings of the films Duma (2005) and Saving Shiloh (2006), the latter of which was shot in St. Louis last year.

Sammond, an assistant professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Toronto, will speak on “Parental Guidance Suggested: A Brief History of Children in/at the Movies” at 3 p.m. Friday, May 5, in McDonnell Hall Room 162. A reception will immediately follow.

At 7 p.m. film critic Stephanie Zacharek will introduce Duma at Ronnie’s 20 Cine in south St. Louis. Directed by Carroll Ballard, the film chronicles the friendship that develops between a young boy named Xan and a baby cheetah named Duma as they make their way across Southern Africa on a mission to return Duma to the wild. Zacharek will also lead a post-screening discussion.

Events continue at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 6, with a screening of Saving Shiloh in Brown Hall Room 100. The film is based on the third volume in Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Newberry Award-winning Shiloh Trilogy, which follows sixth-grader Marty and his efforts to rescue Shiloh, a mistreated beagle, from his abusive owner, Judd Travers. In this installment, Marty and his family must work to help Judd, who recently survived a near-fatal truck accident, change his ways and redeem himself in the eyes of the community.

Immediately following the screening, director Sandy Tung, who previously directed Shiloh 2: Shiloh Season (1999), and producer Carl Borack will participate in a panel discussion — led by Jeff Smith, director of Film & Media Studies — about the making of the film.

“Shooting Saving Shiloh in Missouri this past summer was a privilege and a pleasure,” Tung noted at the film’s St. Louis premiere, held in February as a benefit for the St. Louis International Film Festival. “We couldn’t have asked for a more hardworking and cooperative crew. We were also able to find numerous talented actors to add to our cast. Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience and the results of that are evident in our film.”

All events are free and open to the public, though RSVP’s are requested, and seating for Duma is limited. McDonnell Hall and Brown Hall are both located on Washington University’s Hilltop Campus, near the intersection of Forsyth Boulevard and Chaplin Drive. Ronnie’s 20 Cine is located at the intersection of South Lindbergh and Baptist Church Road.

Both films are suitable for children above the age of six. For more information, please call the Center for the Humanities at (314) 935-5576.