Posted August 5, 2016
Watch With Me, Mom!
By JBFC Executive Director Edie Demas
This is a common refrain at my house. I hear it most often when I’m in serious multitasking mode, home late from work, worrying about a wholesome dinner, and trying not to look at my phone to catch any “might be urgent” last minute emails. My child’s plea, made up of four words, acts like an express train to my not so subconscious worries about work-life balance, screen time for my 5 year old twins, and the constant juggling act that is modern parenthood. Am I being too permissive? What are they watching and is it ok for them to watch it alone? Do I spend enough time with them? Is simply being in the room with them meaningful, is it enough? And do I really want to be in the room while they’re watching it? Am I a bad mom if my answer is no?
You get my point.
Most of the time these existential flashes disappear as quickly as they arrive, because really there’s literally no time to indulge them. This is an interesting place for me to find myself, having come to parenthood later in life and after a pretty long career in family programming, from the stage to the screen. I’ve spent a long time considering and exploring what makes for meaningful, shared experiences for families. Now that I actually have a family, the desire to understand and provide enriching experiences is more elusive and more pressing than ever. This is why I’m so excited by the JBFC Kids initiative. It’s personal as well as professional for me.
While kids and the Jacob Burns are far from a new concept, what is new is a deeper and more comprehensive commitment across our film and education departments to providing kids and their parents with wide-ranging opportunities to share the powerful medium of film as both viewers and makers. Through regular family screenings at the theater, free family Saturdays at the Media Arts Lab, and a rich catalog of classes, we are providing families with meaningful, mutually satisfying ways to engage with media together. Thank goodness, because when it comes to my own kids, I often find it hard to access my “professional brain” in any rational way. Sure, I remember inspiring quotes from throughout my work life, like this one from Eric Jensen, author of Arts with the Brain in Mind; “The arts are not only fundamental to success in our demanding, highly technical, fast-moving world, but they are what makes us most human, most complete as people.” Easy to espouse, hard to actualize.
As a parent, I am really looking forward to JBFC Kids and the opportunity it will give my family to experience a wide range of stories and storytelling activities as a way of slowing down together, building memories, and connecting through the Burns’ unique film curation and unparalleled media education expertise. As an example, I am particularly excited by the shorts programs we are screening in September, including a program for 3–7 year olds. Some of these will be foreign language or non-verbal films, which are especially great for very young children. Watching stories unfold without words is an excellent way for young children to build cognitive and communication skills. Ask them to tell you the story afterwards–you’ll be amazed by what they saw.
I invite you to be amazed as well. Come watch (and play and explore) with us! View all our upcoming JBFC Kids programs here.
