90-Second Newbery Film Festival

The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is an annual video contest in which kid filmmakers create short movies that tell the entire stories of Newbery-winning books in about 90 seconds. Creative twists are encouraged—Charlotte's Web in the style of a horror movie, for example, or The Tale of Despereaux in the style of a musical!

The best movies are shown at gala screenings that are attended by hundreds of folks, in 14 cities nationwide: in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Minneapolis, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, Tacoma WA, Salem OR, Rochester NY, Boulder CO, Oakland CA, and more! These screenings are hosted by film festival founder and author James Kennedy (The Order of Odd-Fish) with bestselling and award-winning co-host authors like Jon Scieszka, Linda Sue Park, M.T. Anderson, Laini Taylor, Bruce Coville, Rita Williams-Garcia, Jenni Holm, and more! The screenings vary from city to city, a mix of the best movies nationally and standout local entries.

The 90-Second Newbery receives hundreds of kid-made movies per year. Each and every movie gets a detailed and personal review from the 90-Second Newbery judges, and is featured on the 90-Second Newbery website. The website also has help for first-time and even experienced filmmakers. Founder James Kennedy also visits schools, libraries, and other organizations throughout the year, leading book-to-movie how-to workshops for young filmmakers.

Learn more about the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival in our press kit here.