NYICFF ’25: Living Large

Growing up can be tough, but everyone is expected to do it. Let’s be honest, some people, maybe a lot of them, never really get it right. Maybe that is why there will always be an audience for coming-of-age films. Indeed, any American can relate to this film, even though it was made by Czech animators and based on a French novel. Ben Pipetka has good friends and both musical and culinary talent, but he is a fat kid, so he gets bullied. However, he tries to take back control over his life in Kristina Dufcova’s Living Large which screens as part of the 2025 New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Luckily for Pipetka’s veterinarian mom, he is the one who does most of the cooking—using a lot of butter. He also fixes himself big breakfasts and substantial snacks throughout the day. The audience does not need the school nurse to tell us he is overweight, but in the wrong hands, her note prompts some nasty bullying. Eventually, things get so bad, Pipetka considers visiting a weight-loss doctor recommended by his divorced father Cyril and his new girlfriend Sofie.

Obviously, losing weight is difficult, given Pipetka’s sweet tooth and sophisticated palate. However, he has powerful motivation. Her name is Klara Laboutkova and she is unusually friendly for a girl. So much so, Pipetka thinks he might have a shot—even though her jerky bother is one of his biggest tormentors.

So yes, Living Large is thematically familiar—you might also say timeless. His story feels like a warm well-worn John Hughes sweater, especially when he rehearses his garage band with his friends, Erik Poupe, and his sister Sonia Poupetova.

Dufcova’s stop-motion characters have a slightly dirtier, sweatier look and vibe than other previous clay animation figures. It has a bit of a grungy look, but it rather suits its hormonally-charged angst-ridden teenagers. You could almost compare it to Welcome Back Kotter, but Dufcova and co-screenwriters Petr Jarchovsky, Barbora Drevikowska, and Anna Vasova only intermittently aim for laughs.

Maya, Give Me a Title (NYICFF '25), in Cinema Daily US

Michel Gondry assembled MAYA, GIVE ME A TITLE out of cut-out aniated shorts originally produced for an audiience lof one. However, many kids and animation fans will appreciate his mock epics, absurd humor, and fatherly love (not just his daughter). CINEMA DAILY US NYICFF '25 review up here.

NYICFF ’25: Tiddler (short)

This little fish feels very self-conscious about his supposedly drab grey scales, but instead of taking pride in his delicious taste and healthy omega-3 fatty acids, he builds his confidence by telling tall tales. However, his talent will come in handy in Alex Bain & Andy Martin’s Tiddler, the latest BBC and Magic Light Pictures-produced animated short based on a Julia Donaldson book, which screens as pat of the Shorts for Tots program at the 2025 New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Tiddler thinks he is the plainest fish in his literal school, but the skate teacher obviously looks like a skate fish—so maybe he shouldn’t be so hard on himself. Regardless, Tiddler constantly tries to build himself up by arriving late each morning, breathlessly creating an unlikely adventure to explain his tardiness. Most of his fellow students roll their fish eyes, but his pal Johnny Dory loves his crazy fish stories.

In fact, Dory constantly spreads Tiddler’s stories to other fish, who pass them on in turn to other aquatic creatures. Unbeknownst to Tiddler, his fame has spread quite widely throughout the ocean. That notoriety comes in handy after he narrowly escapes from a commercial fishing boat.

Perhaps you could think of Tiddler as a more compact and economical Finding Nemo. Of course, lost animals are a staple of animated fare. Despite any such similarities, you have to like any film that celebrates both creativity and truancy, right parents?

NYICFF ’25: Totto-Chan, The Little Girl in the Window

The Tomoe Academy was not exactly A.S. Neill’s Summerhill, but it was quite progressive for its era. That would be the Tojo Era. Tetsuko Kuroyanagi’s parents were relatively modern and somewhat Westernized, putting them a little out of step. Little Kuroyanagi (a.k.a. Totto-Chan) also happens to be a free-thinker, which causes her trouble at most schools. However, Tomoe’s Principal Kobayashi can handle her just fine in Shinnosuke Yakuwa’s Totto-Chan: The Little Girl in the Window, adapted from the real-life Kuroyanagi’s autobiographical YA novel, which screens as part of the 2025 New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Totto-Chan is a classic example of what contemporary audiences might see a gifted student who becomes inadvertently disruptive due to lack of challenge. In Japan on the cusp of WWII, most teachers just consider her a pain. Kobayashi gets her and she thrives under his non-traditional approach. Tomoe also perfectly suits her empathy and tolerance, because it is there that she meets her (arguably best) friend, Yasuaki Yamamoto, a little boy whose leg and arm were shriveled by polio.

She helps build his courage and learns how to be more sensitive towards others from him. Unfortunately, very few of her countrymen try to learn greater sensitivity after the Pearl Harbor Attack. Clearly, her parents have grave reservations regarding the war, but Totto-Chan instinctively understands the need to keep private family business private. She quickly recognizes the dangers represented by a uniform. Totto-Chan is also surprisingly mature when it comes to facing hunger caused by wartime shortages.

Such excesses of Japan’s militarism periodically intrude into Totto-Chan’s life, but the film mostly focuses on her relationships, especially with Yamamoto. When you really boil it down, this is an absolutely beautifully, almost painfully bittersweet portrait of young friendship.

NYICFF ’25: Hola, Frida

Frida Kahlo had an affair with Leon Trotsky three years before Stalin’s agent assassinated him. Yet, ironically, her portrait adorns the 500 Peso note. Her adult politics were messy and deeply regrettable in light of the Communist horrors of the 20^th Century. Wisely, this film sticks to her childhood. She was unusually smart and sensitive, but she nearly succumbed to sickness and injuries. Yet, the inner strength the spurred her to survive leads her to become a great artist in Andre Kadi & Karine Vezina’s animated feature, Hola Frida, which screens tonight as the opening selection of the 2025 New York International Children’s Film Festival.

Frida’s parents are affluent but progressive, especially her doting photographer father. Her mother gives more deference to social norms, but she still encourages young Kahlo’s original ambitions to become a doctor. Unfortunately, her promising life is almost cut short when she contracts polio.

In fact, Santa Muerte nearly takes the ailing Kahlo. However, her protective subconscious manages to fight off the angel of death-like figure during her fitful fevers. Kahlo will survive, but her new leg-brace attracts an unwelcome new experience: bullying. Yet, little Frida is indomitable. She also counts on the support of her good friends and the roguish stray dog Chiquita, who resembles the coyote statues in the town-square fountain that so fascinate her.

To its credit, Hola Frida is a sweet little movie that largely (if not quite entirely) skirts the ideological baggage of Kahlo’s later life. It is bright and colorful, in a way that evokes the colors and textures of Old Mexico. In fact, the geometric character design vaguely evokes the vibe of pre-Columbian art. Yet, the film never slavishly tries to approximate Kahlo’s own style.