Kids get in on the action at film festival

The producer-director team grew up watching Disney films such as Old Yeller. Amy McGary said children love today's animated movies but, "We need some new classics for them."

The children who saw Ociee's adventures as part of the Marco Island Film Festival Aperture Project & Kidfest on Nov. 8 certainly thought the movie could achieve classic status.

"I liked it a lot, especially Ociee," said 9-year-old Valerie Schippers of Naples after sitting intently through the movie, laughing and gasping at all the right places. "She's just like me."

Schippers attended the program with her friend, Ines Davrainville, 9, and Ines' mother, Faiza, of Bonita Springs. The two girls begged Faiza Davrainville to bring them to the festival after the McGarys visited their school, Royal Palm International Academy, on Nov. 7.

"I tried to get a whole group together to come along with us," Faiza Davrainville said. "They were so excited about it."

The Aperture Project & Kidfest programs are designed to give children 18 and under a look at the film-making process. After the screenings of certain movies, filmmakers answered students' questions on a variety of topics.

Valerie and Ines had loads of questions for the McGarys during a post-film question-and-answer period; their arms kept shooting into the air as they inquired about everything from the actors to the story.

Amy McGary told them the movie is a fictionalized account of an actual person, Josephine Nash. The movie's Ociee is a tomboy whose father sends her to live with an aunt "to become a lady." Along her journey, she meets muckraker Nellie Bly, the Wright brothers and President William McKinley.

While the real-life Ociee did have some exciting adventures, Amy McGary assured the girls she did not get to meet the president.

The actresses who played Ociee and Elizabeth Murphy, her best friend in the film, became "fast friends" as soon as they met one another. "None of the kids had ever acted in a movie before," Kristen McGary said.

Ines said she liked the actress who played Elizabeth the best.

"I thought Elizabeth was pretty," she said. And both girls agreed their favorite part of the movie was when Ociee saved Elizabeth from a fire.

Kristen McGary said she and her sister made the movie with 4- to 12-year old girls like Valerie and Ines in mind. "There aren't a lot of movies for little girls," she said. "The girls love this one, but the boys seem to like it just as much."

The movie gives anyone who watches it a sense of family and togetherness, Faiza Davrainville said.

"It's really a good movie for children and for families, for everyone," she said.