Sunday’s events at FILMLAND 2019 included two short stage productions that were written by children followed by screenings of Toy Story 4 and episodes of Stranger Things, both followed by Q&A discussions with filmmaker Andrew Stanton. Stanton, an award-winning filmmaker and one of the early members of Pixar, wrote the script for Toy Story 4 and directed the two episodes of Stranger Things that screened at the event.
Before Toy Story 4 began, Arkansas filmmaker Graham Gordy took the stage to introduce Young Storytellers, a program that supports and encourages creativity in young people. They held a lab in Arkansas for children to learn the process of script writing. A group of Arkansan actors took the stage at the event to act out two short scripts as Gordy provided narration. The result was hilarious and crowd-pleasing, as the scripts involved dragons, unicorns and magical sandwiches.
Andrew Stanton came to the podium next to introduce the screening of Toy Story 4. After the film he returned, along with ACS founder Jeff Nichols, who guided the Q&A discussion and took audience questions, including a few from children. After a short break, the Stranger Things event began and Stanton’s two episodes screened back-to-back. The popular show is a Netflix original, and is not typically seen in a large group setting, making the screening a real treat for fans of the show.