• The parallel activities of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival feature multiple ways, at user and advanced level, of directly connecting with different sections of the film event
• ‘Magic Lantern: Family Time’ recovers two films starring famous adventurous girl with braids Pippi Longstocking and brings child and young audiences closer to Frida Kahlo’s life before becoming an artist
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Tuesday, April 15, 2025.- As usual, in this new edition the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival will offer screenings and special meetings aimed at training and discussing different aspects of cinema through the experiences of professionals in the sector. These parallel activities will take place as part of Magic Lantern, a section that has sought since its beginnings to instill in the audience, especially the young one, the value of cinema as cultural and artistic heritage. On this occasion, it will allow the public to experience the film event through several educational ‘routes’. Additionally, Magic Lantern: Family Time will reserve both weekends of the Festival for the screening of three films whose protagonists are girls that have a very particular way of looking at the world: Pippi Longstocking and Frida Kahlo.
These educational ‘routes’ will be divided into two different levels: user level, aimed at educators and high-school students in general; and advanced level, exclusively aimed at teachers and trainers from the cinematographic field.
The user level activities include the 5th Film Conferences, which will gather four renowned actors—Javier Gutiérrez, Bárbara Lennie, Nathalie Poza and Carolina Yuste— who will discuss different aspects of the film trade from their own individual perspectives; as well as special screenings and meetings directly connected certain sections of the Festival, such as Lynch – Walk With Me, Camera Obscura, Bande à Part or even the Official Section.
Regarding advanced level activities, the Festival has organized three of them specifically for the professionals in the sector: the 5th Audiovisual Trainers Meeting, the CIMA Meeting of the Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media, and, finally, an introductory workshop on the creative possibilities of 16mm.
Pippi Longstocking and Frida Kahlo in Magic Lantern: Family Time
Over the two weekends of this 24th Film Festival, Magic Lantern; Family Time will bring to the silver screen of Cine Yelmo Las Arenas three titles aimed at child and young audiences in which “there are no rules when imagination and courage rule,” according to Elodie Mellado, a member of the selection committee.
Three films that offer the particular ways of looking at the world of Frida Kahlo, before becoming the artist “we all admire,” and Pippi Longstocking, “the girl with the wild braids and the most unforgettable smile on television,” recalls the programmer.
Thus, in Hola, Frida, by Karine Vézina and André Kadi (Canada, France, 2024, 82 min.), the audience will discover the childhood of an extraordinary girl who sees the world through her unique colors and transforms every obstacle into a creative opportunity. On the other hand, the films by Swedish director Olle Hellbom Pippi Goes on Board (Sweden, Federal Republic of Germany, 83 min.) and Pippi in Taka-Tuka-Land (Sweden, Federal Republic of Germany, 86 min.) will remind us that freedom is a game without instructions and that growing up doesn’t mean to stop dreaming.
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