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When it comes to finding French films or TV shows for kids to watch, the number of programs available on streaming platforms in the US can be overwhelming. That's why, each month, CinéSchool program manager and all-around film expert Nathalie Charles puts together a list of the top French content for kids and teens that is available online. While some films or series are pure entertainment, others are designed to share useful educational concepts, and more still are great for the whole family to enjoy! So, what's on this month?
MyFrenchFilmFestival (From January 13 to February 13, 2023)
MyFrenchFilmFestival is a worldwide French film festival presented by Unifrance whose goal is to shine a spotlight on a new generation of French-language filmmakers.
Selection will be announced on January 5, 2023.
Available online here and on several US platforms/channels.
Zou
Directed by Olivier Lelardoux, animated TV series, recommended for ages 3+
Zou, a little five-year-old zebra, lives in a town inhabited only by zebras. He and his extended family live in a large house right next door to his best friend, Elzee. He is an imaginative and inquisitive foal, and he’s now old enough to start becoming his own person!
Available on Amazon Video: season 1 and season 3 | The Roku Channel
Trouble at Timpetill (Les Enfants de Timpelbach)
Directed by Nicolas Bary, 2008, 2h13, recommended for ages 13+
Welcome to Timpetill, a small, serene village. Well, not really that serene… Indeed, for several weeks, the children have been playing multiple practical jokes and nasty tricks. The victims are, of course, other children… but also, and most of all, the parents. Overwrought, they decide to leave the village for what they think will only be one day. But nothing happens as planned: on the way back, they are taken prisoner by a group of soldiers. In Timpetill, the news of a village without parents makes Oscar and his gang of thugs happy! But that isn’t the case of a few daredevils who decide to side with Manfred and Marianne to regain control of the village.
Available on Vudu | YouTube | AppleTV | Amazon Video
Wakfu
animated TV series, 2008-2017, 3 seasons, recommended for ages 9+
In a fantasy world, a mysterious figure leaves a baby boy with a retired bounty hunter in a small village with instructions to raise him until the time is right for him to find his biological family. Years later, that boy named Yugo discovers he has powerful magic abilities using the power of Wakfu even as his village is threatened.
Available on Netflix (#tip: be sure to click on "Audio & Subtitles" and select audio in French!)
If you like this series, you should like also this special series: Wakfu: The Quest for the Six Eliatrope Dofus
Animated TV series, 2014, 1 season, recommended for ages 9+
Available on Netflix (#tip: be sure to click on "Audio & Subtitles" and select audio in French!)
Terra Willy: Unexplored Planet (Terra Willy, planète inconnue)
By Eric Tosti, 2019, 1h30, PG, recommended for ages 7+
Following the destruction of their ship, the young Willy is separated from his parents with whom he traveled in space. His spare capsule lands on a wild and unexplored planet. With the help of Buck, a survival robot, he will have to hold until the arrival of a rescue mission.
Available on Hulu | Amazon Video | Vudu | GooglePlay | Redbox | YouTube | AppleTV
Weekend Family (Week-End Family)
Created by Baptiste Filleul, 2022, season 1, TV-PG, recommended for ages 8+
Every weekend, Fred takes care of his girls Clara (15), Victoire (12), and Romy (9). Each has a different mother with whom she lives during the week. A new stepmother joins in this happy mix when Fred falls madly in love with Emma, a Canadian doctoral student in child psychology.
Available on Disney+ (#tip: be sure to click on "Audio & Subtitles" and select audio in French!)
Just what is a "Cannet" and why am I even going there in the first place? Good questions. A week ago I was in Beaulieu-sur-Mer recovering from a fishing expedition with my friend Luc. Suffice to say it truly was an "expedition" and after a sumptuous feast, I felt I needed a week's bed rest. I eventually regained sufficient strength and was able to contact the Marie du Cannet Côte D'Azur hoping that someone in their
To help you all get properly situated, Le Cannet is located in the northern part of la ville de Cannes on the Cote d’Azur. That's right the same Cannes that's usually stuffed with movie stars, glamorous hangers-on, high prices, swarms of paparatzi, bad attitudes, pushy eastern bloc tourists with too much money, flashy cars and overpriced everything. If you're lucky you might even run into a real local who actually speaks who speaks French though I understand they are something of a dying breed. A little family side note. Years ago, my grandparents would take the family, my mother and her brothers and sisters, and summer in the South of France. I mean, don't we all do that? If they weren't suffering in Villefranches they rented a "little flat" in Le Cannet. As a comparison, my paternal grandparents would suffer their summers in Le Touquet-Paris, Plage at a lovely rented villa. There was no end to their suffering. Now you can appreciate the connection and why I am heading into the hills. For one reason or another, my sainted mother never lost her accent du Midi and as the polite well behaved children that we were, we laughed our heads off whenever my mother would pronounce certain words (une rose comes to mind). We wondered why she could not pronounce here words in French like us, little Parisian smart-ass voyous who knew just about everything there was worth knowing about. End of that story.
To reach my destination from Cannes, one takes the Boulevard Carnot driving north out of town. Once you reach the rondpoint, or the roundabout or the traffic circle, the road cleverly is renamed Boulevard Sadi Carnot. One small piece of information. If you happen to be driving something less than glitzy (as I normally do) say perhaps a well-used deux Cheveaux you are best advised to leave Cannes as early in the morning as possible so as not to be seen by the glitteratzy. Let me explain. Last year, and this is according to the Nice-Matin, that premier daily covering all the news from the southeast and Corsica that's fit to print, a couple from Moldova in their new-to-you 403 Peugeot, had the misfortune of leaving town during the daylight hours and were pelted with a shower of pebbles and stones by a crowd of, what the Matin described as, beautifully well dressed people. To add insult to injury, a porte-parole for the Commissariat de Police de Cannes commented on the incident by "shrugging" his shoulders and then promptly excusing himself to go to lunch. Get a Rolls Royce or leave town very early. You will thank me.
Miss chirpy voice from the is truly "Le rendez-vous des gourmands" and held at the end of March, 10:00 AM sharp! By the time you're starting to enjoy your first cup of coffee with the Matin du Midi, crowds are already gathering at the Place Bellevue and rue Saint-Sauveur. Chocolate-themed events are one of the few times where I don't let children get in my way. I take on a WC Fields mentality, and urge them to take their little sticky fingers and chocolate covered complaining mouths away, far away. I make no apologies when it comes to fine chocolates.
For a chocolate lover, it's a real cocoa high of an event with chocolate sculptors, street artists, chocolate vendors, chocolate fondue stands and samples at every turn. In no time at all, that familiar buzz is with me. I feel dizzy, hands sweating, my heart beating an all out charge, my blood pressure inching up ever higher, my eyes feel as if they were going to pop out of my head. In other words, I was in choco-heaven but it was a high which sadly would not last. Eventually I would sink down into a deep, never ending abyss as my blood sugar desperately attempted to wrestle itself to normalcy. I dragged my sluggish body to the nearest cafe and collapsed in a chair and ordered twin IV's of water and coffee. Oh and un pastis, deux glaçons s'il vous plaît! Truly a memorable moment. I resurfaced later that evening and decided that I would try Le Café de la Place on the advice of Mme. Chirpy herself. The restaurant/bistro was in Vieux Cannet so I could roll home if I had to. I found Le Café to be un endroit très sympa in other words a very friendly, welcoming resto. It is a well-kept secret but not for very long I suspect One of their marks of excellence is that they lean heavily on fresh local produce so if you're looking for Maryland crab cakes on the menu, your going to be disappointed. I started with the terrine de foie gras aux figues and I have not had such delicious foie gras in a long-long time and told the owners just that. I then permitted myself to have the pennes al dente au magret fumé (smoked duck breast) and infused with black truffle. Good God! I pinched myself twice to make sure I was truly awake for this piece or was I heaven looking down. What an amazing dish and if you are a truffle hound as am I you will understand that it was almost better than something else. Thank goodness I had the sense God gave me to order a bottle of nicely chilled champagne Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin because truly, it paired beautifully. It was a perfect moment.It was my very own heaven on earth. As I was eating light, I decided to have their famous Baba au Rhum which is topped with a fine three year old Havana rum. Salud! I had coffee but passed on the little chocolates putting them in my pocket instead. Such willpower!
The next day I was on the morning train to Paris.
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