You really shouldn't show adults successful children's films, otherwise their minds will melt immediately.

It is true that children's films that are no good are completely harmless for grown-ups, because they are almost always camouflaged adult films that someone between the "screenplay" and "director" stages has simplified with didactic furor until there is nothing objectionable anymore.

Dietmar Dath

Editor in the Feuilleton.

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Maria Wiesner

Editor in the “Society & Style” department.

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Good children's films, on the other hand, speak truths, whether they want to or not, that are so fundamental and crystal clear that they just don't fit into the language and world of ideas of adults, because everything is far too complicated in them.

Unfortunately, in the average adult head, the brain only rarely and exceptionally strives for truth, but constantly for the constant multiplication of the connections of every idea and every feeling to the outside: to society, its requirements, orders and customs.

So this echo chamber is like the Internet: stupid, stuffed, hectic and confused.

However, if the adults are very lucky, they will at least retain the most important childhood quality: curiosity.

This blessed spiritual attribute could then tempt such adults, for example, to watch "The Little Witch" (2018) with us and to learn from this film adaptation of the classic children's book of the same name by Ottfried Preußler from 1957, among other things, what magic actually is (it has to do with scent you can see), how much such magic has to do with cinema, where the climate crisis really comes from, what the optimal balance is between special effects and special acting, and all kinds of other exciting things.

However, we strongly advise that you have at least one child look after you during this process so that your head does not burn out, and we would also like to invite you to take part in the discussion that follows.

In this part of the evening, two highly motivated and well-prepared people from the editorial team, namely Maria Wiesner and the author of this article, will explain to you in more detail how Karoline Herfurth actually managed as a little witch to attract top international witch actresses named Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, trumping Cher, Anjelica Huston and Anne Hathaway (it has to do with rubber-nosed female talent), why a major Japanese animated series necessarily had to mistake Doctor Faustus for a witch and the latter for a troubled pack of little girls,

How you can take part in the FAZ film evening

The FAZ film evening format, which we developed in cooperation with the streaming service Pantaflix, is regularly offered to an audience with an FAZ subscription.

If you don't already have a subscription, you can subscribe here.

Each evening begins with a brief introduction to the film selected by the editors.

With the start of the film evening on June 28, 2022 at 7 p.m., the selected film will be available to subscribers free of charge (previously it can only be borrowed for a fee, but this limit will be automatically lifted for FAZ subscribers at the start of the event.) After the short introduction Some browsers may need to refresh this page for the film in order to start the stream.

Questions or requests to speak for the subsequent discussion can be shared after registering on FAZ.NET using the comment function.

After each screening, Dietmar Dath and Maria Wiesner from the editorial department have a discussion with the audience and with each other.

This is intended to create a space for the exchange of ideas that goes beyond the usual critical register (e.g. a review) in search of connections and judgments that do justice to the richness of the feature film format.