When Alante Thalley first heard about the Junior Film Critics Club, he wasn’t interested.
“I didn’t want to go,” says the 13-year-old, an eighth-grader at Cherry Creek Academy. “I thought it would be boring.”
His mother thought it would be a good idea, however, so off he went.
“It was pretty cool,” he says. “We watched movies, ate popcorn and wrote down our notes.”
Kid-critics learned about gratuitous and nongratuitous violence, and how to recognize stereotypes.
They learned how to analyze plot and character, how to give verbal critiques of the films and how to write reviews.
Thalley proved a natural talent, with his quick wit, easy smile and professional demeanor.
So he and another student were selected to conduct a red-carpet interview with actor Morgan Freeman, during last year’s Starz Denver International Film Festival. “I thought it would be easy because I’d just see him and ask him my questions,” he says. “But it wasn’t.”
As it happened, Mayor John Hickenlooper preceded the movie star down the red carpet. While interviewing the mayor, Thalley – a very articulate, self-possessed boy – suddenly got extremely nervous.
He tried to calm down. But next thing he knew, the famous actor was walking toward him.
“I felt like I was about to collapse,” says Thalley. “My words got all jumbled.”
He had to start over. He asked his question. It worked out great.
So this year, the junior film critic plans to participate in the Kids First! Film and Video Festival, held for the first time as a mini-festival within the Starz Denver International Film Festival.
Some call this Cannes for Kids.
On the weekend of Nov. 19-20, at their own film festival – an extravaganza of new and classic children’s films, videos and DVDs – kids will run the show.
They’ll act as festival curators, panelists critiquing films, volunteer staff, photographers and videographers.
They’ll hobnob with celebrities at the red-carpet screening of “The Blue Butterfly,” starring William Hurt.
Then they’ll buzz over to the Cupcake Social at the Children’s Museum of Denver, where they’ll have photo ops with costumed characters before attending the Kids First! Best of Fest awards. They voted for their favorite films, so they’ll also hand out these awards.
Such unprecedented focus on kids at the Starz Film Festival is part of a larger strategy.
“We realized we need to be educating our future audiences, that we could be doing more,” says Britta Erickson, director of media and industry relations for the Denver Film Society.
“We’re training junior film critics to be
culturally aware, to be interested in seeing foreign films and independent films, classic and retrospective films.”
At this year’s film festival there will be two workshops of the Junior Film Critics Club, on Nov. 2 and 5.
Children ages 8 to 13 will learn how to detect what’s real in the media, and what’s not.
This skill applies to all screens, whether IMAX or LCD.
Without such training, a child “might watch the TV news and maybe mistake a small story for a large catastrophe, because that’s how it is played,” says Eric Beteille, director of marketing at the Denver Film Society.
“Or the opposite, maybe the story is not played big enough. If we can do our part training folks when they’re young, they’ll be able to bring their own filters to TV and film.”
The Junior Film Critics Club is run by The Entertainment Project, a Denver-based literacy program that teaches kids through workshops and real-life experiences.
“At first they think it’s just watching a movie and talking about it,” says founder Madera Rogers.
They learn, however, to develop critical thinking skills, articulate these new ideas verbally, and write film reviews on deadline.
“This helps kids start empowering themselves,” says Rogers. “They start looking differently at themselves, and having confidence in themselves.”
Amina Abdella, a 16-year-old student at Denver South High School, worked as a videographer during last year’s film festival, where she ended up meeting celebrities on the same red carpet as Alante Thalley.
“Getting to meet Morgan Freeman was cool,” says Abdella.
The junior critics, however, were equally impressive.
“The words they used, and the way they were talking was so mature,” she says. “That was the really cool part of it.”
Life as a junior film critic has changed Thalley’s perspective. Enthralled by the film industry, he no longer wants to become a forensic scientist. Now he wants to become an actor. If that doesn’t work, he wants to be a director or film critic.
Already, he’s joined drama class, acted in school plays, and is now working on two monologues for his upcoming audition at the Denver School of the Arts.
For Thalley, no dream is too great. That’s what he learned from the mayor, anyway, during their red-carpet interview.
“When you were my age, did you ever dream of becoming mayor?” Thalley recalls asking Hickenlooper.
The teen was hugely encouraged when the mayor said no.
“This means,” says Thalley, eyes gleaming with excitement, “that anything can happen.”
Staff writer Colleen O’Connor can be reached at 303-820-1083 or at coconnor@denverpost.com.
