(Big) screen time Children’s film festival showcases joy of shared experience By: AV Kitching Posted: 4:53 PM CST Monday, Feb. 23, 2026 Last Modified: 9:05 AM CST Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026 Updates

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In a world where anyone can stream anything almost instantly at any time, film festivals such as Freeze Frame International still matter, says artistic director Pascal Boutroy.

“I am disheartened by how accessible some things are to children,” says Boutroy, who established the festival in 1996 with his wife Nicole Matiation.

“We have screens everywhere — the television, the computer, the cellphones … shared experience has disappeared over the years. But (watching a movie with an audience) is such a thrill; it’s actually like watching a game of hockey or soccer with people in a stadium or arena rather than watching it in front of TV by yourself.

“There’s something very precious about the shared experience.”

Now in its 30th year, Freeze Frame International Film Festival Kids of All Ages brings drama, comedy, fantasy and animation from Canada and across the world to the big screen.

A total of 11 films will run from March 8 to 14 at Centre culturel franco-manitobain. The event includes school screenings and showings open to the general public.

The festival aims to present different perspectives from across the globe to young movie lovers and their families, while empowering budding filmmakers to express their own creativity through its year-round film and video workshops.

“Our concept was to bring award-winning films to Winnipeg for one week and show them in their original language, with subtitles or dubbing. Forty per cent of our programming is in French and 60 per cent in English,” Boutroy says.

As festival artistic director, he has the formidable task of choosing this year’s run of films. He watches four times more than what he shows and has been doing so for long enough to know within the first 10 minutes whether it’s a hit or a miss.

“It’s a big job. We don’t have a committee like some other places. With us, it has always been the artistic director who chooses the films and right now it’s me,” he says.

There are a number of things to consider before he finalizes his picks. Children’s films that have won awards at other festivals help narrow down the field, and movies that have both French and English dubbing or subtitles are preferred.

“There’s something very precious about the shared experience.”

He also ensures he’s screening Canadian movies; at least one-quarter of the programming is from Canada.

“I also strike a balance between animation and live action. It’s very important that kids see other live kids in films because they identify better with that. And then there’s the age group. I always want to have films for very little kids up to the older teenagers,” he says.

Alongside its core mission to expose children to the diversity of cultures and themes showcased in global cinema, Freeze Frame also holds creative workshops for children throughout the year, giving them a chance to screen their work during the festival as part of its Video Youth Contest.

The contest presents creative works by aspiring young filmmakers aged six to 18 across two age categories: Wee Reels (Grade 8 and under) and Reel Views (grades 9 to 12).

The awards for Best Canadian Short Film and Best Manitoban Short Film are each accompanied with a prize: $100 for the Reel Views category and $50 for the Wee Reels category.

“We have a kind of a parallel festival of films made by children,” Boutroy explains. “Every year we gather a jury of professionals who judge the films based on a number of criteria before they give out awards.”

And in keeping with the spirit of Freeze Frame, it’s not just the children’s works that will be judged. This year eight of the 11 films on the bill are vying for the festival’s coveted Youth Jury Prize, which the winning filmmaker and producer can include in credits and materials.

“This year all the participants are from École Marie-Anne Gaboury in St. Vital and are students of teacher Danys Lachance’s class. They are French immersion students in grades 5 and 6,” says Tani Miki, executive director of the festival.

The students announce their selection at the closing ceremonies on March 14 before the last screening at 3 p.m.

When Boutroy and Matiation founded Freeze Frame in 1996, there were approximately six children’s film festivals in Canada. Now only three remain, leaving Freeze Frame as the longest running children’s film festival in the country.

“Sprocket, which was part of the Toronto International Film Festival, has been cancelled. The ones in Saskatoon and Halifax both disappeared, and the oldest one in Canada, Carrousel international du film de Rimouski in Quebec, went bankrupt last year,” Boutroy says.

International films play an important role in broadening the world view of young people, he says. Exposing children and their families to a variety of experiences and opinions can engender a sense of belonging.

“People have preconceived notions of what children will or won’t like. It’s like food: if you give your children only pasta, pizza, hamburger and hot dogs, you don’t know if they are going to like sushi. The more diversity you show the more chances you give them to like something else,” Boutroy says.

“It’s important because there are some kids that don’t recognize themselves in models of parenting or families that are around them, or that are part of American pop culture. But they could watch a film from another country very different from here and say, ‘Oh, yeah I’m more like that, or my family is more like that.’”

While he believes children do not need to be raised on a diet of watered-down stories where conflicts and conclusions are simplified and sanitized, he says there is a delicate balance between provocation and protection.

“You have to trust the children, especially the older kids. Don’t assume that they won’t be able to understand some things,” he says, adding that he’s found children’s filmmakers very good at catering challenging topics to kids’ level of understanding.

“Children can can understand very sophisticated films as long as the film is done with their age sensitivity in mind. I want children to discover something they didn’t know about the world and maybe even about themselves.

“And of course these films are very entertaining. Even the serious ones.”

The Video Youth Contest takes place Saturday, March 14, at 1 p.m. before the festival’s closing ceremony and final film screening at 3 p.m. of Hungarian film I Accidentally Wrote A Book (with English subtitles). Entrance is free and open to the public for both events.

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