(ages 8 and up) Discover what happens when a man receives a mysterious package in Delivery (Till Nowak, Germany, 2005, 9 minutes); be inspired by a young boy’s imagination in Shipwrecked (Devon Bolton, Canada, 2006, 10 minutes); see a friendship develop between a fan and a flower in The Fan and the Flower (Bill Plympton, United States, 2005, 7 minutes); follow a glimmering fish through the ocean in A Fish with a Smile (C. Jay Shih, Taiwan, 2005, 10 minutes); and enter a young girl’s secret world in JumpTrumpRumpBump (Justin Murphy, Canada, 2006, 8 minutes).

(ages 4 and up) Join us for a screening of creative journeys. See what happens when a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti walks out of the museum in search of its soul mate in Walking Man (Michael Lindbough and Mads Tobias, Denmark, 1999, 4 minutes); watch a group of mice explore the unfamiliar in Seven Blind Mice (Weston Woods Studios, USA, 2007, 8 minutes); meet a dog who collects some wonderful treasures in Aston's Stones (Lotta and Uzi Geffenblad, Sweden, 2007, 9 minutes); and learn about the life and work of artist Mary Cassatt in the animated biography Mary Cassatt (Mike Venezia, USA, 2008, 24 minutes).

(ages 4 and up) This series of animated shorts will put a smile on your face. Films include My Happy End (Milen Vitanov, Germany, 2007, 5 minutes); A Sunny Day (Gil Alkabetz, Germany, 2007, 6 minutes); Giraffes Can't Dance (Weston Woods Studios, USA, 2007, 10 minutes); Puss and the Moon (Suzanne Tuynman, Netherlands, 2005, 5 minutes); Charlie and Lola: Welcome to Lolaland (Kitty Taylor, United Kingdom, 2006, 12 minutes); and How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton for the Walt Disney Animation Studio, USA, 2007, 7 minutes).

(ages 11 and up) The beauty and grief of present-day Afghanistan receives poetic treatment from eighteen-year-old Iranian filmmaker Hana Makhmalbaf. Set in central Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley, where in 2001 Taliban soldiers destroyed centuries-old sculptures of Buddha carved into the cliffs, the film is a haunting journey into the minds of the children who live in that desolate area. Amidst the rubble of the massive statues, an endearingly obstinate six-year-old Afghan girl, Bakhtay, wants to learn to read and write. After hearing that a school for girls has opened up across the river, she sets out on a mission to attend. The film follows Bakhtay as she faces obstacles, including her family's poverty and indifference to education, on her way to school. She must also traverse a no man's land, where she is "captured" by a band of boys who delight in playing war games that mimic the violence they have witnessed. Bakhtay's arduous journey across the river becomes a metaphor for Afghanistan's own difficult transition. This film is being shown in honor of the exhibition Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, on view in the East Building through September 7, 2008. In Farsi with English subtitles (Hana Makhmalbaf, Iran/France, 2007, 81 minutes)