A film festival for children might sound, on the surface, like a safe and festive zone — sunshine, puppies, hugs and happy families. But any young reader or moviegoer knows better. From the Brothers Grimm to “The Wizard of Oz” to Harry Potter, some of our darkest stories are the ones we conjure up for and about children.
This year’s edition of the New York International Children’s Film Festival is well stocked with somber and hair-raising stories (all with generally happy and heartwarming resolutions, of course). Lessons about life and growing up are delivered through young characters who lose parents, fall ill, dodge bombs and bullets, and survive a pre-global warming trek across the Arctic.

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