Ahead of its 2019 edition, Cannes introduced “Le Ballon Rouge,” an initiative offering special services for industry attendees with babies or small children. The group Parenting at Film Festivals raised money for “Le Ballon Rouge’s” childcare via a crowdfunding campaign. Now, the group has announced that, thanks to its collaboration and guidance, three other major film fests — Venice, Toronto, and San Sebastian — are launching similar family-friendly services this year.
Venice, which kicked off yesterday and runs through September 7, has organized its first Kids Corner. Throughout the fest, the Corner will be open from 8am to 10pm. It’s a place where children can play and where their parents can have family-friendly meetings. It is also fully equipped for changing and feeding. Parents and carers can request a daily pass for the Kids Corner. Venice is also providing a list of available childcare services and family activities.
TIFF, which takes place September 5-15, has partnered with a local kindergarten for childcare services. The festival is subsidizing the fee so parents will pay as little as $40 Canadian dollars per day. Changing and feeding corners will be set up at the main industry venues, and TIFF will distribute a list of local babysitting and family-friendly services.
San Sebastian will run September 20-28. It is launching “Puxika Gorria”/”El Globo Rojo,” its counterpart to Cannes’ “Le Ballon Rouge.” The initiative “will provide essential and solution-driven childcare for professionals worldwide.” Parenting at Film Festivals and La Asociación de Mujeres Cineastas y de Medios Audiovisuales (CIMA) have crowdfunded the childcare, which will be offered from 10am to 6pm throughout the festival. It will cost a maximum of €50 per day.
“We want to thank Cannes, Venice, Toronto, and San Sebastian for their forward-thinking family-friendliness, and for their proactive and collaborative work with Parenting at Film Festivals,” the group stated via a press release. “We also want to acknowledge the pioneering work Locarno has been doing in recent years with its childcare service. By 2021 we [want to ensure that] every parent is able to continue their career in the film industry after having a child. By providing several family-friendly solutions within the hectic festival calendar, we will give film industry professionals and creatives the possibility to better adapt to their new lives and inspire society by doing so,” the org explained.
Parenting at Film Festivals also announced it is teaming up with CIMA for Spain’s first resident workshop for women creatives and industry execs, Coofilm. To be held online and offline in Madrid this fall, the four-weekend program “will empower women by coaching their projects and work-life balance strategies.” Childcare will be provided, natch. Another workshop is scheduled for March in Valladolid.
