Day One of Prix Jeunesse (5/25)


I’m so glad I came to this conference!  I’m meeting all kinds of interesting people.  This morning, I received an email from a student of mine (from 1992!) who saw my name on the participant list and is here at the conference.  We were able to connect face to face today, which is fun.  She’s been a children’s TV producer in New York since she left SFSU. I wouldn’t have recognized her if she had not introduced herself.
The way this conference works is that programs are put into categories by age and either fiction or non-fiction, and then they are screened back to back for the participants.  Today, we looked at ages 11-15 non-fiction in three sessions of about 2 ½ hours each, and then ended the (work) day with discussions led by pre-identified moderators each of whom was in one of six different rooms. The programs were fascinating – a lot of nicely done portrayals of kids with disabilities, some “adolescent issue” programs, and some others of various kinds. There was a German-made program that really touched a nerve in me – one that very awkwardly addressed the gun-control issue. I was all fired up (sorry about that expression) about it, and said so in the discussion. The moderator handled ME very well, and other Americans in the group said what else needed to be said about the program. It’s really interesting that there’s a lot of discussion about not “othering” people in children’s TV – and then we Americans get “othered.” There’s no reason we should be exempt from the experience; it’s just that it hit a nerve with me!
Anyway, this evening, there was a reception in the Residence, which is a historical mansion that I toured last fall when I was here at the time of Oktoberfest. It’s quite a building – and a really nice place to have a reception, with great German food.  People were supposed to wear their national costumes – and many did.  As one of my kidvid friends here said, “Our national costume is a T-shirt and jeans.” But I decided that, for 51% of us, the national costume is “the traveling pantsuit” (a la Hillary), so that’s what I wore!

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