January 04, 2010 05:30PM EST

TC Kids Club: Peace!

Hi, it's Truman from Tribeca Kids Access.

Today I went to see the movie The Peace Tree at Tribeca Cinemas Kids Club and it was really good. It’s about two Muslim sisters, one in 3rd grade, and the other in 2nd grade. Their best friend is Christian, and they all want to celebrate each other’s holidays. They would have so much fun together… if their parents would just let them. Both families feel strongly about their own religion, and so they don’t want to celebrate a different religion’s holiday. So when they go the mall, one of the Muslim sisters distracts their Mom. The other goes and buys a mini Christmas tree since their parents had said they couldn’t get a real one. They then decorate their secret tree with every religion’s symbol of peace and call it the Peace Tree.

After the movie, we all went into a room next door to the theater with a bunch of tables covered in art supplies and cut-outs of peace symbols from religions of the world. Everyone colored them in and hung them on a bamboo tree on the side of the room. We called our bamboo tree the Peace Tree. All the kids there were so excited and the room was filled with laughter.

I spoke with some of the kids. Most of them said everyone celebrating together was a good idea. I heard one of the girls say to their mom with a smile, “Mom, can I take them home? They’re really special to me!”

I also heard one little boy say to his parents, “I love Christmas, but can we celebrate Eid too?” Because in the movie they celebrated Eid. I think the movie was really touching.
 

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Another Tribeca Cinemas Kids Club event is taking place this Saturday, January 9! The program is called Oui! Oui! Shorts from France, and the films will bring back memories for the parents and introduce kids to movies that are classics in any language.

At both screenings, we will be showing The Red Balloon, and the afternoon screening will also include White Mane. A former still photographer who started directing shorts in the late 1940’s, director Albert Lamorisse spent considerable time exploring the fantasy world of children. Both The Red Balloon and White Mane received grand prizes at the Cannes Film Festival. The Red Balloon also won an Academy Award. Oui! Oui!

for the 10:30 am screening (ages 3+)

for the 1:30 pm screening (ages 7+)

All screenings take place at Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Laight Street, one block south of Canal. (See map.) See you there!