Postcard From 1952

Explosions in the Sky has a new music video out, and it brings with it a steady ache in the throat and the tears. Just like the videos for Sigur Rós's Glósóli (dir. Arni & Kinski), and Iron and Wine's Naked as We Came (dir. Sam Beam), this video by Peter Simonite and Annie Gunn opens up an old photograph and reveals a world inhabited by a collective lost childhood. The film evolves in a slow burn, just like the brilliant music surging underneath it, as we pass through yards and rooms inhabited by a collection of children young and older. Each lost soul casts a sidelong glance beyond the frame, to a world outside our reach, and we're left wishing we could just feel that shimmery bubble, that prickly sprinkler, taste that smoke and that kiss. The climactic 5th minute could slay a hardened heart with its slow motion collapse of candles, bulbs, hearts, as the music builds and builds, relentless and beautiful. Then everything stops, for the expression on the girl's face when she sees what becomes of her beautiful delicate bubble breaks our hearts. We are reminded that the darkness is creeping in. But then we see that there is a force that cares for us, blowing the next bubble, so that we can reach again and again, to the sky.

See the directors talk about making this film.

"I love doing mysteries . . . "

That's what Heaven said when I asked her what it was like to make Spirit Ship the year before. She was seven, and we had filmed when she was six. Now she's nine. How time flies when you don't have funding . . . and decide to start having children! Despite many timing and resource malfunctions, I'm happy to announce that three years after our shoot, Spirit Ship is available for sale in a lovely package complete with original art, a tiny key and purple ribbon, reminiscent of those Heaven strung around her neck before setting off on her journey. Now children and families far and wide can have a chance to "do the mystery" of Spirit Ship. The following is the text of the DVD press release, and here it is as well on the new Spirit Ship website:

Spirit Ship Offers a Rare Glimpse into the Poetry and Beauty of Childhood

The Red Hook, Brooklyn-made Spirit Ship (17 min, HD & Super 8, 2011) the first HD short directed by Kristin B. Eno of Little Creatures Films, is now available on DVD, and will soon also be sold with a companion full-color booklet designed to extend children’s viewing experience and to equip adults with practical ways to encourage imaginative play. Spirit Ship, a live-action fantasy film narrated by children, highlights children’s play in the natural world, and reveals a thoughtful perspective into the mystery and poetry that lives within children’s imaginations.


What Children are saying about Spirit Ship:
• Heaven, 7 years old (participated in the film one year before): "It was like playing house or something, but you really doing it on a real camera. Cause playing house, you make stuff. But it's like, Real. It was interesting because we explored stuff a lot and go on adventures. And we see special stuff and mysteries, and I love doing mysteries."
• Sophia, 5 years old (participated in the film one year before): "It's like you're in the movie, like Alice in Wonderland, like you fell asleep watching it, and then you got into the movie."
• Mollie, 10 years old: "You hear this boy, and you hear this girl, and you see all these pictures, and you don't really know what's going to happen. It sort of leaves you intrigued. It doesn't say, 'Oh, this is a film about blah, blah, blah.' It leaves you wondering. It intrigues you."
• Ewan, 10 years old: "Black and white, it's very cool, very mysterious. Looks like they're going to explore the beach, and what's in the ocean. It reminds me of my garden, and looking through old things, going into little forts that I made, in between yards. The voices were so mysterious."

To make Spirit Ship, Kristin and crew followed six children as they discovered a range of haunting artifacts and went on a journey to find the original owners. Kristin and Sean Eno and Damaris Cozza wrote a story, which then evolved as the children played, and was further developed through the children’s ad-lib voiceover narration and singing. Assistant to Director Damaris Cozza, Director of Photography Roman Jaquez, 1st Assistant Director and 2nd Camera Henri Falconi, Super 8 DP, Score Composer and Title Designer Sean Eno, Sound Recordist and Designer John Moros, Editor Michelle Chang, Co-Editor Erin Martell, Costume Designer Sarah Hoit and Post-Production Assistant Jenna Haley contributed to the film team. Spirit Ship is a fiscally sponsored project of the Brooklyn Arts Council, and also raised post-production funds in a Kickstarter campaign. The latest screening of Spirit Ship took place in November 2011atColumbia Teachers College, and included a discussion with Renee Cherow-O’Leary, Marj Kleinman and Russell Miller. Spirit Ship took home the prize for "Best Fiction Film" at 2011’s Red Hook Film Festival. It was also a preliminary selection for the Primary/Audiovisual category of the Japan Prize for Educational Media. Director Kristin Eno is currently seeking partners—schools, universities, museums, churches and non-profit organizations—for Spirit Ship screenings and conversations, and for opportunities to distribute the DVD and booklet to parents, educators and others interested in providing children with opportunities for imaginative play.
DVD
The DVD includes the 17-minute film and the following Special Features:

1. Spirit Ship with English Subtitles

2. Spirit Ship with Milo’s Commentary

3. Behind the Scenes (narrated by Heaven)

4. Spirit Lens (narrated and edited by Milo)

5. Bird Girl's World (narrated by Sophia).

This package is on sale in the Spirit Ship Shop for $15 (family)/$50 (institutional).

DVD/Book
The 38-page book includes:
1. "Spirit Ship: Exploring the Hidden," by Kristin B. Eno
2. "Building Upon Spirit Ship: A Guide for Parents and Teachers," by Elisha Georgiou
3. Ten suggested lesson plans that can extend the Spirit Ship viewing experience.
4. Book design by Elizabeth Eno, including several full color stills from the film, as well as art by Sophia (the Bird Girl/Spirit Child).
In January of 2012, the DVD/Book set will go on sale for $40 (family)/$75 (institutional).


Little Creatures Films
Little Creatures Films collaborates with children (non-actors) to create imaginative live-action films told in the children’s voice. The slow pace and poetry of the films represent a unique alternative to the standard fare in children’s media. The films support inquiry-based learning, creative problem solving, reflective thinking and social and emotional self-regulation. The work takes into account the crisis of decreased free play, as documented by the Alliance for Childhood and NYTimes. The films redirect children’s gaze away from the screen and back outside to the world around us, where myriad highly original adventures are waiting to be created. Kristin B. Eno (M.Ed. Columbia Teachers College) has produced more than 20 videos with children, including commissions for the Yale Center for British Art and the Childcare Collection at Ball State University.


Contact:
Director Kristin B. Eno
kristin@littlecreaturesfilms.com
(t) 347-564-0213

The Spirit Ship Book: Exploring the Hidden

The companion book to Spirit Ship is now complete, and this momentous event bestows a bit of hard-earned closure on a three-year-long project.  It's been such a pleasure to work with my sister-in-law Liz Eno, who designed the book.  I wrote one of the essays (which Rachel Federman of Last American Childhood edited) and commissioned another by Elisha Georgiou (my fellow M.Ed. student at Columbia Teachers College, many moons ago, and mother of Sophia, the "Bird Girl" in the film). 

The book is built around a selection of film stills and accented by a range of detailed drawings and handwritten titles Sophia did based on the film.  A set including the book along with a DVD of the film itself (including 5 Special Features) is available for purchase on our website, for $40 (Individual/Family Rate) or $75 (Institutional Rate: Schools, Colleges, Museums). And at Blurb, the site where the book was printed, the book itself can be purchased (without the DVD) for $25. Here Blurb has provided a preview, where you can peruse 15 pages of the 38-page book:

Spirit Ship by Kristin B. Eno

Here is an excerpt from the essay I wrote for the book:

Something magical happens when children play. They invent stories; they collaborate to solve mysteries; they enter dream worlds of their own creation. In this age of electronic media, battery-operated toys and intensely structured activities, children are finding fewer opportunities to engage in completely unstructured play. As children’s parents and teachers we have become so used to seeing our little ones in front of the computer or television, being coached in formal sports and instructed both during school and in after school classes; however, when it comes to children’s imaginative play, we may fi nd ourselves wondering:  What is an authentic play experience? When playing freely, what are children really saying, thinking and learning? As a first grade and K-2 art teacher, and later as an Art Education M.Ed. student, I found myself always asking the question:  just what is going on within these complex imaginary worlds?  How deep into a metaphysical landscape might children venture when given a chance to play in a wide-open space? As my research revealed more instances of children learning intellectually, socially, emotionally, and physically through their play, I began to see the need to provide children more time to simply play. Because many of them are—incredible as it may seem—new to the idea of imaginative play, it also became clear that they needed inspiration to run free and to make up their own stories as they went along. 

Ten years of experience making imaginative live action videos with young children in NYC schools helped me to hone the question: Could artfully-shot films capture children’s process of authentic play? How might the tool of digital video be thoughtfully used to gain deeper insight into the language of young children’s authentic fantasy worlds? Could the finished “films” then inspire other children to engage in their own imaginative play? Could these films fill a gaping void in the children’s media market:  that of live action films with no adult-written scripts? Could the films provide a needed glimpse into the inner workings of young children’s minds? Could they by extension bring us closer to understanding not only how children’s minds work, but how human beings are connected to each other, to the worlds around them, both natural and spiritual? Spirit Ship was made as a response to these questions. After years of witnessing children’s narration that so often veered into the spiritual, it occurred to me that I could fashion a project that gave children the freedom to explore spiritual subjects even more deeply. So with Spirit Ship I aimed not only to present children’s imaginative wanderings as true and lovely, as I had been doing for years, but also to unveil the depths of children’s capacity for spiritual understanding.  

In essence, the book functions like a teacher's guide for parents who are looking for alternative media options for their children. This essay and the one Elisha wrote (both viewable in the preview book above) present the wider picture within which the film itself is situated, providing for parents the back story, vision and goals of Spirit Ship. The theory behind the filmmaking soon gives way to loose facilitation of a range of magical journeys designed to extend children's viewing experience. Ultimately we wanted to send the message that Spirit Ship as a media entity is not at all about viewing a finite, 17-minute film, just for entertainment's sake. Rather, the film presents a concept, a state of mind, which might well provide hours of exploration for any thoughtful child and his/her family. 

The book is a simple invitation to parents to walk alongside Little Creatures Films as we seek to provide healthy ways of redirecting children's gaze away from the screen, and back outside. As children's media producers and marketers know all too well, parents are the gatekeepers to their children's time, and by extension, to their hearts and minds. The book acknowledges how important parental involvement is when it comes to media co-viewing, discussing and extending, and builds upon that essential component of child development. Combined with the full color stills from the film, these essays and extension projects aim to attract a range of parents to a broader discussion about the wonders of childhood play in nature, the power of mystery as a fundamental element of children's imagination, the beauty of young children's storytelling as manifest through their early language, and the spiritual wisdom that children reveal in their deepest ponderings.

Fanciful and Engaging

On Wednesday, November 30 at 4pm, Spirit Ship will be screened for an audience of professionals in the fields of education and children's media.  I'm honored to have the film make an appearance at the institution where I did my graduate studies (M.Ed., Art and Art Education, 2001-04). The Columbia Teachers College website describes Spirit Ship as a "fanciful, highly imaginative, and engaging short narrative film."  Next Wednesday after we screen Spirit Ship (17 min), I will have a conversation with the following panel colleagues concerning the implications of the film for early childhood education and the children's media market:

   • Renee Cherow-O'Leary, President, Education for the 21st Century: Renee has served on the Little Creatures Films advisory board for the past three years. We met at TC when I was a student and she a professor, and reconnected at an NYC children's media event years later.

   • Marj Kleinman, Senior Interactive Producer of Children’s and Educational Media,THIRTEEN WNET: Marj and I met through a mutual friend, but while we live in the same city, what first ensued was a five-year-long email conversation. We finally met this year in person, and were thrilled to find out that our respective visions and goals align in many ways.

   • Russell Miller, Managing Director, Center for Intentional Media: Russell and I met at the Fred Forward conference at the Fred Rogers Center in 2009, and he went on to support Spirit Ship and to invite Little Creatures to be a part of an exciting new children's online TV network he is developing.
 

Wednesday, November 30
4 pm 

Room 306 Russell

Teachers College, Columbia U.
525 W. 120 St.
New York, NY

Find out more information about the event and the panelists here.  All teachers, professors, children's media professionals, museum educators and parents are welcome to attend!

Back to the Roots of Spirit Ship

Spirit Ship took home the prize for "Best Fiction Film" at this year's Red Hook Film Festival over the weekend of October 15-16. The films were screened in the converted warehouse that hosts the BWAC art show, just around the corner from the building (also evoking Civil War-era nostalgia) where we shot the last scene of Spirit Ship in October of 2008. This award was such a surprise and an honor, and simply screening the film in that familiar location brought the project full circle, three years later! We were part of a lovely family-friendly block of shorts that included Unstrung, a lyrical piece by Meerkat Media and Puppet Collective and Flonia Telegrafi's short documentary, Lehigh Valley 79, which tells the amazing story of David Sharps (who hosted our 2010 fundraiser) and his Waterfront Barge/Museum.  

A few weeks after the Red Hook festival, Spirit Ship and two other Little Creatures Films (Through the Window and Adventure at the Red Hook Community Farm) screened for educators attending the annual convention for the National Association for the Education of Young Children in Orlando, FL. I was excited for my work to follow a presentation by Resa Matlock of the Childcare Collection, with whom I had collaborated to produce three segments of the "Story in the Early Years" DVD series in 2009. That series, also available for sale in the NAEYC online store, includes several segments of Vivian Gussin Paley's storytelling/story acting, including her interaction with the Early Kindergarten class at P.S. 27 in Red Hook, where she visited in 2008 while I was working with three classes on a NYSCA-funded video-story-book project. 

Resa Matlock of the Childcare Collection, Catherine Donohue of OMEP, Kristin Eno of Little Creatures

Both Resa and I have been significantly influenced by Vivian's work with children and storytelling/acting, so it's always affirming to meet back up with the guru herself, which we did this year because she was giving the convention keynote speech. 

Vivian on the video feed at NAEYC. She mentioned that the only other time she had been seated in a chair as such had been across from Mr. Rogers.  Oh to have heard that conversation!

Vivian posed the question to thousands of teachers from across the country (and I hear Iceland was represented, so make that the world): "Who will save the kindergarten?" This timely question certainly keeps ringing in the ears of any thoughtful early childhood educator, and Vivian would be the one to eloquently answer it! I will write more about her talk in an upcoming post which will also include a recent interview I did with her. Until then, here is the answer, friends: "the children and the teachers, they will save it."

Meanwhile, in Iceland . . .

Mysterious fort/rock cabin at the Keflavik shoreline

My trip to the UK in May brought with it some interesting video projects, from Glamis Adventure Playground in Shadwell, East London, to Oxfordshire, to the University of Greenwich (which has a new Center for the Study of Play). What made the trip even more magical was a three-day stopover in Iceland. So while I still editing my London footage, I thought I would post a few images and thoughts from Iceland. 




Several years ago I fell in love with that beautiful island through the music of Sigur Rós, Múm and Amiina, and by extension the wonderful Sigur Rós videos (and concert projections) featuring images of children. For a good introduction to the exciting things going on in both Icelandic music and film, watch the Glósóli video, one of my favorites in the world:

Suffice it to say, the directing team of Arni and Kinski, and Sigur Rós themselves, have a beautiful perspective of children that I am drawn to--it's clear that we are speaking the same language. As the cinematographer of this video Chris Soos said in an interview, "no weird Hollywood puppet children in Iceland." Thankfully. He goes on to speak of an "undercurrent of this film [that] diverts the audience towards a spiritual release, a re-birth in a way, obviously open to interpretation, as it should be, sorry, no easy answers." As always it's refreshing to see artists not only dealing with similar subject matter, but to find those who are grappling with deeply connected concepts.

I could not even attempt to explore all of Iceland in three days, but this form of stopover was better than nothing to get to know a place that has started to function like a muse for me. I started at Guesthouse 1x6 in Keflavik, a handcrafted oasis of wood, stone and repurposed materials, created by the talented Daniel Sigmundson. My midnight dip in the warm outdoor thermal bath, under a cold rain, set the tone for my magical sojourn in an enchanted land.

Ragga and her lovely daughter in the Knitting Iceland studio

To get to know crafty Icelandic goings-on, I contacted my friend Ragga Eiriksdottir of Knitting Iceland. She showed me around Reykjavik on the very week that she was featured in a NYTimes Magazine story about Iceland's post-crash renaissance and its crop of new entrepreneurs. Ragga gives tours of Iceland, through the lens of the craft of knitting, and also travels the world teaching workshops. Visiting her studio was a visual feast and an inspiration! And I was so happy to get a few of Ragga's impromptu mini-tours along the way, with sightings of Björk's house and a secret, perfectly round thermal pool by the shore (the unmarked work of an artist, and one of my favorite things on the trip).

This round thermal pool would sneak up on you . . .

Asta had many playgrounds and a beautiful public pool up her sleeve . . .

Just one of the playgrounds Asta showed me.

Kristin and Guðrún Alda Harðardóttir, the director of Leikskólinn Aðalþing

The kind and brilliant Lulu Guðjónsson, who introduced me to Ragga, also put me in touch with Asta Jonsdottir, who studied at NYU and now teaches Art Education at Iceland Academy of the Arts. She took me around to several playgrounds within walking distance from her house, which was very helpful for my ongoing research.
 

To find out what was going on in early childhood education, I contacted journalist and teacher Mica Allen and she put me in touch with some educators at the University of Iceland, who connected me with two Reggio-inspired preschools, Aðalþing and Sæborg. I visited the schools with Kristín Dýrfjörð, lecturer at University of Akureyri and pedagogical consultant for Leikskólinn Aðalþings. I was struck by the beauty and power of recycled materials at Aðalþing, captivated by the elaborate exploration of ramps that the fives were working on, and happy to share a homecooked lunch with colleagues around the teacher table. The school is only two years old but seems to have mastered the art of facilitating meaningful project-based learning for young children. The school is committed to documenting the many ongoing projects, which is evident on school walls as well as in the school's very comprehensive website, which includes many photos (see some other classes here and here) and videos of the children's explorations. I was so encouraged to see echoes of Reggio Emilia in a land that seems so far away. From the vantage point of this school, I could see that it was much closer than we think. It is so affirming to travel the world and find colleagues who "get it," like the teachers at Aðalþing. One of the many images that stuck with me was the location of the director Guðrún Alda Harðardóttir's desk. She had recently moved it from the main office to the Light Exploration room that the children filtered in in small groups to work with light throughout the week. What better or more beautiful location for a thoughtful workspace could anyone wish for? To me this gesture of solidarity with the children's world perfectly illustrates the "culture of thinking together" that is evident in Reggio-inspired schools, and in schools that truly take into account  the minds of their students as brilliant and worthy of listening to.

The 5's wonderful ongoing ramp project at Aðalþing

Why use blocks in a classroom when you can use sticks?

Classic Icelandic preschool scene: Painted Lava!

Beautiful and intriguing installations at every turn, at Aðalþing

One of the many Kristins I would meet . . . Kristín Karlsdóttir, U of Icelan

At Sæborg we met with another Kristin, the atelierista.  These were not the only two Kristins I met on this trip: the day prior I had a lovely lunch with yet another fine colleague named Kristín Karlsdóttir, lecturer/assistant professor at The University of Iceland, School of Education, who has done some very interesting work (with Bryndis Gardarsddótter) about 
children's learning stories, in a study which explored the usage of documentation in ways that complement the work that I do 
(with video viewing/reflecting).

Kristin and Kristin (Sæborg atelierista + U of Akureyri professor)

As for the Sæborg school, I was intrigued by the "Dinosaurs in New York" play that children had put on and the teachers had filmed just that day. The children had made their own costumes out of various materials in the atelier (see costumes hanging on wall in image below). I told the teachers I could imagine a segment by New York kids entitled "Dinosaurs in Iceland," as a response or continuation of the Sæborg piece, and why not do just that? This idea, of cultural exchange through collaborative video stories, goes back to my earliest video experimentations, specifically "Duende," a piece I filmed with three children in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2003, which I showed to children in Brownsville, Brooklyn, two years later. What resulted was a cross-cultural, bilingual and highly original two-part story about Duendes and Superheroes.  I've always been wanting to continue along with that thread. My current work-in-progress started with a group of kids finding a mysterious box in New Orleans and will continue somewhere in New York City, but how I would love to have that story, or Mysteries in the Woods, continue along the dramatic Icelandic shoreline . . .

Costumes for "Dinosaurs in New York"

"Dinosaurs in New York," a student production

I love this child-made window art

Saeborg's playground by the sea

Spirit Ship Screens Around the World

I am happy to announce that Spirit Ship will screen in the 2011 Red Hook Film Festival, appropriately located just around the corner from the location where we shot the last scene! Another fun aspect of this occasion is that our film will follow a short documentary about David Sharps and the Waterfront Museum, host of our 2010 fundraiser! Our film will screen in the "Red Hook Block: Family and Tradition," which starts at 2:30pm. Spirit Ship will be the last of five films in that block, most of which are about 6 min. long, resulting in a screening time of around 3pm. For more information on all the films in the line up, see Screening Schedule here. 

Spirit Ship will also be available for viewing by children's media professionals at the Cinekid Screening Club in Amsterdam, from Oct 18 - 21. As the Cinekid website explains, "The ScreeningClub is Cinekid’s digital screening facility that provides a sheltered environment where informative exchanges and business transactions can take place. An international selection of the latest and best film and media productions for children (with English subtitles) is provided. Over 200 productions, including virtually the entire festival programme and new Dutch productions, can be screened by professionals from all over the world. Participants include buyers, sales agents, programmers and distributors." 

Some further good news for the project: Spirit Ship has been chosen as a preliminary selection for the Japan Prize for Educational Media, a prestigious award run by NHK in Tokyo. The prize was established in 1965 with "the aims of  improving the quality of educational programs around the world and contributing to the development and fostering of international understanding and cooperation." We have qualified for the second round of the Primary age category of the Audiovisual competition, and we are now competing for $2K and $5K prizes with productions from all over the world, such as "Authors Live" from the BBC, "Sailing in the Dark" from Taiwan, "Word Storm" from Sweden, "Happy Summer" from Iran, and many more.  See complete list of our competitors here.  We will hear back about results within the next few weeks.

Finally, I want to announce an invitation-only Spirit Ship screening for academics and professionals, happening at 4pm on November 30 at Columbia U. Teachers College. This event will feature a panel discussion with Renee Cherow-O'Leary, President of Education for the 21st Century, Marj Kleinman, Senior Interactive Producer, Children’s & Educational Media, THIRTEEN/WNET; and Russell Miller, Managing Director of the Center for Intentional Media and founder of Wonderreel. Following a screening of the 17 minute film, I will have a conversation with these three colleagues and the audience about the educational implications of Spirit Ship. While this screening is invitation-only, I am accepting proposals from interested colleagues who would like to attend this discussion but may not be on my mailing list. If you would like to be considered to attend this event, please email me at kristin (at) littlecreaturesfilms (dot) com.