Celebrating Creativity

Cert

Age group7–14

Duration91 mins

Paddington(2014)

Charming family film about an accident prone young bear from Peru arriving in London and searching for a new home.

The enormous success of Paddington was largely the result of painstaking work from individuals at London based special effects company, Framestore. Not only did they need to create a realistic looking bear that could interact with humans, they also had to give that creature warmth and humanity - key to our empathising with the character.

Cert

Age group7–14

Duration97 mins

Frozen(2013)

Snow-filled and funny Disney adventure inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's icy fairytale, The Snow Queen.

Inspired by Hans Christen Anderson's classic story The Snow Queen, Frozen is a great example of how older art and literature can influence distinctive new stories. Frozen's cultural impact has been enormous, and with endless amounts of merchandise - both official and unofficial - being produced, we are sure to see its own influence on many films to come.

Cert

Age group5–11

Duration101 mins

Cinderella(2015)

Lavish live-action version of the classic fairy tale, about young Ella’s quest to escape the clutches of her wicked stepmother.

Cinderella had many outings on the big screen before Kenneth Branagh's live-action film. We love this version, but also think it's fascinating for young people to look back at older versions of the story, so they can gauge an understanding of the processes involved in adaptation, and how individual creativity allows for the same story to be told in numerous different ways.

Cert

Age group5–16

Duration32 mins

Peter and the Wolf(2006)

Oscar-winning animated version of the timeless folk tale, set to Sergei Prokofiev's classic orchestral composition.

The enchanting Peter and the Wolf continues to enthral young children, partly due to Prokofiev's memorable music - post screening, discuss how the film might have been without it. Why it is important that filmmakers do not simply use other people's music in their films without permission?

CertUnclassified

Age group7–14

Duration94 mins

Felix(2013)

An uplifting South African film about a 13-year-old talented musician who must earn a place in his new school’s jazz concert.

The power of music is also celebrated in South African family drama Felix, where a talented musician from a poor background wins a prestigious scholarship and finds himself competing for a place in the school concert. This uplifting film is a brilliant evocation of music as an expression of creativity amongst people of all ages and backgrounds, regardless of circumstances.

Cert

Age group7–14

Duration98 mins

Big Hero 6(2014)

Action packed Disney animation with a lovable robot and a cool teenage scientist.

Lots of popular films are full of inspiring themes around celebrating creativity and ingenuity in young people. A recent example is Big Hero 6, which features Hiro, a young robotics genius and inventor, who teams up with a group of his friends - all with very diverse but equally important talents - to form a band of high-tech and very modern heroes.

Cert

Age group11–14

Duration101 mins

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet(2013)

Charming, richly coloured film about a ten-year-old cartographer and inventor living on a remote ranch with his cowboy father and scientist mother.

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet also tells the story of a young inventor. Here, the title character learns valuable lessons around the importance of protecting his own ideas, when he is invited to the Smithsonian Institute to present his perpetual motion machine by organisers who have no idea he is only a child.

Cert

Age group5–11

Duration82 mins

Shaun the Sheep Movie(2015)

The much loved farmyard creature from Aardman animation finally gets a big screen adventure of his own.

The painstaking labour put into Shaun the Sheep by Bristol's Aardman Animations resulted in one of the most charming British films of recent years. Our reporters were there to cover every step of the process, creating a brilliant insight into what goes into putting these stories onto the big screen, celebrating the endeavours of countless individuals behind the scenes.