Since 2007, the festival reaches out to children aged 2 to 6 attending childcare centres. It offers a programme of short films from around the world, giving mini viewers their first cinema experience.

This project, carried out in collaboration with the Maison de la créativité makes it possible to screen the programme within the institutions themselves, with an activity depending on the location (transforming a room into a movie theatre, afternoon tea party, crafting, etc.).

During the 2016 edition, the offer was extended to the canton, and in 2024 around 98 nurseries and kindergartens took part in the Mini Black Movie, with a total of around 4,800 spectators.

Since 2007, school screenings are offered to students in public schools (in collaboration with École&Culture) and private schools (AGEP) at the primary school level.

During the 2024 edition, 22 sessions were offered to a total of 3,800 students.

The 2024 school program addressed a key theme for primary school students: ecology.

Ecology is an essential concept to discuss with pupils, to awaken their awareness of environmental issues and to encourage them to take care of the world around them. And what better way than through animated films to reflect together on the issues of pollution, waste of resources and respect for living beings, while highlighting the importance and beauty of nature.

During the autumn of 2023, four programmes of short films have been screened both in the centre of Geneva and in eight neighbouring municipalities (Bernex, Chêne-Bourg, Grand-Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Meyrin, Onex, Plan-les-Ouates and Vernier). These screening were mostly free and were intended to provide access to quality films for children living in areas where there are no movie theatres.

The 2024 program will be unveiled late August.

Since the beginning of the 2013-14 school year, the festival has been offering children attending GIAP (extracurricular activities), introductory moving image workshops during which they are encouraged to make optical games or short animated films.

You can find a selection of films made during previous workshops at this address: www.vimeo.com/album/4286651

A jury made up of children aged 7 to 10 (registrations are open to the public) is asked, after a short training session, to evaluate a selection of short animated films and to select the film to be awarded the Children’s prize.