The Magic Lantern – The cinema club for children

The Magic Lantern is an international cinema club for children aged 6 to 12. Its purpose is to help young audiences to discover the pleasure of cinema …at the cinema.

Once a month, club members are invited to attend an age appropriate, quality film in a real cinema. Exclusively for children (without their parents) but supervised by competent and responsible adults, children get a taste of the major emotions of cinema – emotions that parallel those we experience in our daily lives: laughter, fantasy, a bit of fear and sadness. They experience not only the pleasure of being at the cinema with comrades of the same age but also the “decoding process” – understanding the images they will see – thanks to an educational sketch which precedes the film and underlines one or several important aspects of the film.

Through this unique concept The Magic Lantern helps children to discover cinema as an art form and makes them aware of its different components: music, theatre as well as literature.

An educational vocation

The Magic Lantern aims to help children discover the history, techniques, aesthetics and pleasures of cinema. Through its various activities, it is shaping the spectators of tomorrow: a public of informed connoisseurs equipped with a discriminative eye towards the images and music with which they are confronted. Consequently The Magic Lantern will, without a doubt, contribute to the evolution of cinema under the motto “quality viewers equal quality cinema”.

The seasonal membership card costs about as much as two individual cinema tickets. With nine film showings per year including the illustrated leaflet, the sketch and the film, The Magic Lantern makes it easy for all girls and boys to join the club. The membership also allows him or her to participate in contests, see film previews or visit film festivals.

This post is also available in: French, German, Italian, Spanish