Report of Festival Internacional de Cine para Niños (…y no tan Niños) in Mexico, City from 7 to 11 August 2018
La Matatena, A.C., it’s an ONG which is in charge to organize Festival Internacional de Cine para Niños (…y no tan Niños) / Children's Film Festival for Kids in Mexico City since 1995 and year by year during the second week of August, on summer holidays, promote the best films for Children made  around the world in each corner of the 5 continents and give the chance to give a real options of cinema to the kids in Mexico City.
This year it was the 23° edition of the Festival Internacional de Cine para Niños (… y no tan Niños) and in this edition we had the opportunity to count with the presence of 6 special guests and colleagues (some from CIFEJ) who attended at this edition, they were: Josep Arbiol, Founder and Director of the Mostra International du Cinema Educative in Valencia, Spain; Michael Harbauer, Founder and Director of the Internationales Filmfestival für Kinder und Junges Publikum Schlingel, Chemnitz, Germany;  Kim Sang Wa, Director of the Children Film Festival for Kids and Young audiences in Busan, Korea; Alejandra Fritis, Founder and Director of the Festival Internacional de Cine para Niños, Niñas y Jóvenes Ojo de Pescado from Valparaíso, Chile; Eileen Sanabria, Coordinator of the Platform UNIAL in La Habana, Cuba and Pamela Bison, Founder of the project Le Machin Club in Quebec, Canada.
During all those 23 years, in many cinemas in Mexico City, in the Network of Lighthouses and in some states of the interior of the Mexican Republic we have had screening as an option for the kids, but also we have wanted to give them the chance to see the best films from all around the world. This year 2018, we made 74 screening during 6 days in different cinemas in Mexico, City. The program consisted of 90 films from more than 40 countries and the categories which were in the competition were:
Best feature films animation and live action Best short live action Best short animation Best documentary Best National Production And also we had the chance to screen two programs of 28 films made by kids from different countries including the films which were made during the workshops of La Matatena, A.C. in Mexico.
During the Festival a Children jury of girls and boys participated and gave awards in the 5 categories I mentioned before.
During 23 years, 204,500 spectators have been impacted by our Festival here in Mexico. We are the second oldest festival in Mexico and the only one in which the kids attend in.
La Matatena, A.C., was created for disseminating and producing films made for children in a playful manner, with human values ​​and topics of interest, to form sensitive, reflective, critical and committed audiences with the transformation of their environment.

Since the year 2000, La Matatena, AC has held animation workshops which allows girls and boys give life to everything that you imagine, also we promote workshop of cinematographic appreciation to promote a culture of cinema in the earliest years and work very close with the kids in Mexico.
La Matatena, AC, has a collection of 170 short films made by children, and a material that has a lot of value and that makes it possible to visualize children. All those short films are an audiovisual content made by them in which their messages address the issues of their rights, the care of the environment, gender equity, the promotion of egalitarian relationships between girls and boys and the exhibition of these films provides many tools for the children and also for the adults. It’s a very powerful and enrich content which give us also the chance to promote what the kids can do via the images in movement.

La Matatena, A.C., has been producing and producing films for children for 19 years through workshops, at its facilities and in public and private schools in Mexico City and inside of the Mexican Republic, also in other countries that we have the experiences to share our methodology.

About the Children Jury

The children jury is the one who analyzes and discusses the materials that are exhibited during the week of the Festival and grants a symbolic award to each of the categories in the competition. In this edition, the jury was made up of girls and boys from 6 to 8 years of age. They awarded the Best Feature Film and Animation Short Film. Girls and boys from 9 to 13 years old presented each of the categories in the competition. In the closing ceremony which was held in Cineteca Nacional, on Sunday 12 of August 2018, the awards were being given to the categories mentioned before.
Special activities during the 23 editon of the Festival Internacional de Cine para Niños (…y no tan Niños)
Retrospective about films made by kids from Chili, Cuba and Valence.
Workshop of Documentarie held in the Lighthouse of Milpa Alta and was presented by Alejandra Fritis from Chili.
Worshop named “For a Better Communitations…” presented by Eileen Sanabria at the Ligthouses de Oriente.
Round table with the title of “Reflextions about the Future of the Internacional Festivals for Kids and Young Audiences” with the participation of Michael Harbauer, Josep Arbiol, Alejandra Fritis, Eileen Sanabria and Liset Cotera and was moderated by Ana Rosas Mantecón. 

Liset Cotera