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Don’t Miss 2021’s Virtual Screenings of the 10th Annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival!

March 3, 2021

2021 is turning out to be a big year for me. I have a new book coming out this September. And 2021 is the tenth year of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival!

Yes, for the past decade (!!), young filmmakers have been creating short movies for our film festival, telling the entire stories of Newbery-winning books in about 90 seconds. We started out in 2011 with screenings in just New York, Chicago, and Portland. Now, in 2021, our film festival has spread to fourteen cities across the country, from Boston to San Francisco, from Minneapolis to San Antonio!

One of the most satisfying experiences of the 90-Second Newbery has been watching how certain filmmakers submit year after year, always improving and pushing themselves. For instance, fourteen-year-old Eian-Gabriel Sinclair from Rochester, NY has been making 90-Second Newbery movies since 2016. You can see them all here, but check out his latest above: a Claymation of Wanda Gag’s 1929 Honor Book Millions of Cats, done as “Millions of Blob Monsters”! You must watch it to experience the genius. (And don’t touch that dial: I feature movies by two more veteran 90-Second Newbery filmmakers below.)

Now, we usually do our annual screenings at libraries and theaters in cities around the country. Obviously, we can’t do any live events this year . . . but the show must go on! And so, in 2021, we are doing ONLINE screenings of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival.

We’ll be doing virtual screenings for movies from New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Tacoma, and Boulder, along with an extra screening for assorted cities—plus a special “Best Of 2021” show. All of the screenings are hosted by me and Keir Graff, author of The Tiny Mansion and many other great kids’ books. Here is the schedule for the screenings:

Saturday, March 6, 2021
The NEW YORK online screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, premiering at 3 pm EST here.

Sunday, March 7, 2021
The CHICAGO online screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, premiering at 3 pm CST here.

Saturday, March 13, 2021
The SAN FRANCISCO online screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, premiering at 3 pm PST here.

Sunday, March 14, 2021
The ASSORTED CITIES online screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. Featuring movies from Iowa, Oklahoma, Alabama, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Missouri, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Texas, and more! Premiering at 3 pm CST here.

Saturday, March 20, 2021
The BOSTON online screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, premiering at 3 pm EST here. Made possible by the Boston Public Library.

Saturday, March 27, 2021
The TACOMA, WA online screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, premiering at 2 pm PST here. Made possible by the Tacoma Public Library.

Saturday, April 3, 2021
The BOULDER, CO online screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, premiering at 3 pm MST here. Made possible by the Boulder Office of Arts & Culture.

Saturday, April 10, 2021
The NATIONWIDE BEST OF 2021 online screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, premiering at 3 pm CST here.

You won’t want to miss these screenings . . . But actually, it’s okay if you miss them, because the videos of the shows will be available on their pages permanently after their premieres as well.

Let’s close out this post with two more movies by 90-Second Newbery veterans.

Jillian Parrino of New York has been making 90-Second Newberys since 2014. (You can see them all here.) Jillian turns 18 this year, which means she’s aging out of the film festival, but she’s going with a bang: this masterful movie of Charles Hawes’ 1924 Medal Winner The Dark Frigate, made with a combination of stop-motion, live action, and puppetry. It’s an amazing capstone to a proud career. Take it away, Jillian:

Great work, Jillian! I’m proud to have shown your movies since 2014!

This year, the talented Riley Levine of Chicago is also aging out of the film festival. Riley has been making 90-Second Newbery movies since 2015 (you can see them all here), and this last one, an adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s 1963 Medal Winner A Wrinkle in Time, has the kind of meta comedic brilliance I’ve come to expect from Riley over the years:

Hilarious and impressive! Thank you for all the great movies, Riley!

And I hope everyone enjoys this year’s crop of virtual 90-Second Newbery screenings. Interested in making a movie for next year’s 90-Second Newbery? It’s never too early to start, and we are already accepting entries for 2022! Full details about the film festival at the 90-Second Newbery website.

Do you want to support the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, so we can keep this crazy show going every year, coast to coast? Please make a tax-deductible donation to the 90-Second Newbery here so we can keep bringing this program to everyone across the country for yet another ten years! The 90-Second Newbery is under the nonprofit fiscal sponsorship of Fractured Atlas.