Films

Sonja, born with Down Syndrome, is a bundle of energy who dreams of dance and demands independence. This inclusively produced family-friendly film is a testament to the power of resilience, creative expression, and love.

Kona is a forest-dwelling cat who lives with her mom and grandma. When her mother disappears, Kona embarks on a quest to find her alongside Colin, an orphaned pup, and Bernard, a runaway circus bear.

Myrsini Aristodou’s award-winning, sensitive debut resonates with deeply felt authenticity and lasting emotional power in its story of the relationship that develops between a troubled, precocious preteen and the father she’s just getting to know.

Filmed over 25 years, this prize-winning documentary casts a tender and fearless eye over the lives of two inseparable cousins, Guillermina and Belinda, as they grow up in the rural Argentine Pampas.

A young boy navigates life from inside an iron corset in Wall-E and Up animator Louis Clichy’s tender, funny rite-of-passage story that honestly confronts the distress that every adolescent endures.

MVFF partners with CalArts, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, California College of the Arts, and CSU Long Beach for a stellar showcase of animated work directed by female and nonbinary filmmakers. This selection features films reflecting family, friendship, life, death, and cultural identity.

MVFF partners with CalArts, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA and CSU Long Beach for a second showcase of animated work directed by female and nonbinary filmmakers. Films include kid-friendly topics like animals, family, friendship, big dreams, and outer space. Appropriate for grades 1-5 (ages 6-10)

When the local pool closes, pre-teen Pola leads the charge to save it in this upbeat and inspiring story of activism, kid-style, and the enduring power of friendship, awash in wildly creative costumes, musical dance numbers, and fabulous young talent.

A jazzy, sassy musical tale of Mouse Detective Quill on the trail of his longtime nemesis and secret crush, Cat Burglar Juliette.

Dinner conversation at the table of a most imaginative family who definitely do not subscribe to the old saying, “Never play with your food!”

In this fun musical homage to the toons of the 1940s, a struggling artist can’t seem to get his self-portrait on canvas until his paints and brushes come to the rescue.

The humorous story of a man working as a teddy bear mascot who gets transported to a land of plush animals where the humans live in cages and stuffies rule the world.

Sibling creatures snuggle and struggle to find their own place and space from—and with—each other.

When the Empress transports herself to a spa planet for some much-needed R&R, her assistant Quip takes charge for the day and has some ambitious plans.

The lovely journey of a coin rolling and bouncing from one edge of San Francisco to the other.

A little ballerina dreams big from the wings of a grand stage production of The Nutcracker.

A New Normal is a short film created using Augmented Reality, that subverts the limitations of digital intimacy to create a story about warmth, hope, and family.

A girlfight at poolside between two frenemies who both emerge triumphant.

Can’t a girl just get a pair of regular old glasses in the astral plane?

A little girl accompanies her mom to the café where she works and discovers a seagull with undiscovered barista talents.

Snakes slide along the frame, doing their beautiful dance of life.

A poor little sticker is tired of being stuck to a notebook, so he hitches a ride for a wider view of the world.

People imagine the animals we wish we could see in real life—all shapes, all colors!

“My child, in this lifetime, you will know what it is to be loved.” A beautiful musical story of young love on the shores of a faraway land.

A child of divorce learns how to appreciate time with Mom and time with Dad in a family that is together but apart.

A culinary whiz in the kitchen, this cat is a most unexpected cake-maker.