‘Moondance’ opens return of kids’ filmfest

The well-received Kids First! Film Festival returns with another summer of free family movies. This year, the festival has partnered with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Hawaii to try to reach more families, both visiting and local. In addition to the six Sunday screenings starting this weekend and continuing through July 20 (except July 6) at the University of Hawaii-Manoa Art Auditorium, two additional 7 p.m. screenings at the Sheraton Waikiki satellite venue are scheduled for June 29 and July 6.

The University of Hawaii's Kids First! Film Festival Place: UH-Manoa Art Auditorium and Sheraton Waikiki Time: Sunday through July 20 Admission: Free Call: 956-7221 or visit outreach.hawaii.edu/summer

The festival is a project of the Coalition for Quality Children's Media, and travels to more than 100 locations nationwide each year, making it the largest kids film festival in the world. Now in its ninth year, the Kids First! Film Festival offers sneak peeks at new films from major studios, classic films, independents and shorts in a variety of styles including animation and live action.

The films are evaluated by juries of adults and kids and must meet the festival's criteria of containing no gratuitous violence, no racial or cultural bias and no condescension toward children.

All screenings are free, with door prizes given at many screenings.

The festival starts Sunday with "Moondance Alexander," starring Kay Panabaker, Don Johnson and Lori Loughlin.

Life is a rough ride for Moondance, an awkward and friendless teenager, but when a wild pinto pony named Checkers leaps into her life, she pursues a dream she never knew she had. Convinced that Checkers has champion potential, and with the help of a down-and-out show rider, she enters him in the Bow Valley Classic. In the process, Moondance learns only perseverance lands you in the winner's circle.

(The movie will also screen at the Sheraton Waikiki on June 29.)

The rest of this month's schedule includes:

» June 15: "Knights of the South Bronx" -- Ted Danson stars in this movie, based on true events, about a middle-aged, inner-city schoolteacher who discovers a way to reach out to his skeptical students through the game of chess.

» June 22: "Alice Upside Down" -- A comedy based on the books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Eleven-year-old Alice finds her life seriously disrupted when her widowed father moves the family to a new town. Having a rough time adjusting to her new life, Alice gets a little unexpected help and charges forward toward her future. (Additional screening at the Sheraton Waikiki on July 6.)

» June 29: "Critter Tails" -- with animated shorts "Dooby Dooby Moo" and "The Ugly Duckling and Me: School Days," and the live-action "The Tails of Abbygail," starring six dogs and two horses.