Skip to main content
James and the Giant Peach film image; cartoon boy and human-sized insects celebrating on a giant peach

James and the Giant Peach

Family Day | VIFF Kids Club

This event has passed

Join us on BC Family Day for a classic family matinee with fun activities! Arrive at 11 am to create your own bug antennae headband, have your favorite fruit or bug face painted on your cheek, and enjoy peachy snacks from concession before our noon screening of James and the Giant Peach.

Featuring stop-motion animation and live action, this inventive adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s tale follows the adventures of James (Paul Terry), an orphaned young British boy and his band of enchanted insect friends. Forced to live with his cruel aunts (Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes), James escapes his bleak existence when he is given a bag full of magic that creates an enormous enchanted peach. Climbing inside, he meets a group of friendly and caring insects who welcome him with open arms. Rolling into the sea inside the buoyant fruit, James and his new friends set sail for adventure and head for New York City to create a better life together.

James and his friends offer young audiences positive messages about friendship, bravery, acceptance, and teamwork. We see a strong role model in James, who’s courageous in the face of challenges, showing us the importance of facing your fears and finding people who love you for you. Directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton, the duo who brought us The Nightmare Before Christmas, this film took three years to produce, one animated frame at a time.

 

All tickets are just $10, including a film screening and family activities.

Preorder a James and the Giant Peach snack box for $5 + tax
Small Peach Juice or Soda + Small Popcorn + Pack of Maynard’s Fuzzy Peach candy

Please note: Kids Club screenings are designed for families to attend together. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

 


Content Consideration: Rated PG, recommended for ages 7 and up. A few potentially scary scenes include an ocean attack from a toothy robotic shark, an ominous rhinoceros monster in the sky, and a brief encounter with ghostly skeletons on a sunken pirate ship. James’ heartless aunts are cruel to him in the opening scenes before he escapes. Language warning: Grasshopper calls Centipede an “a—” during an argument.

Activities

11:00 am

Screening

12:00 pm

Director

Henry Selick

Cast

Paul Terry, Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

1996

Language

English

Content Warning

May frighten young children

PG

Open to youth!

139 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Screenwriter

Karey Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Roberts, Steve Bloom

Cinematography

Pete Kozachik, Hiro Narita

Editor

Stan Webb

Original Music

Randy Newman

Producer

Harley Jessup

Also Playing

Caravaggio

Dir. David Bickerstaff & Phil Grabsky
100 min

In the latest from Exhibition on Screen, co-directors David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky shed light not only on Caravaggio's paintings, but his life, often kept half-hidden in the same chiaroscuro tones he shaded his masterpieces with.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Left-Handed Girl

Dir. Shih-Ching Tsou
109 min

Co-written and edited by Sean Baker (Anora), Shi-Ching Tsou's heartwarming solo feature debut follows a single mom in Taipei who is too consumed with her noodle stand to keep tabs on her five-year-old daughter's burgeoning shoplifting habit.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Train Dreams

Dir. Clint Bentley
104 min

A lovely, ruminative movie set in the Pacific Northwest in the first half of the last century. Robert (Joel Edgerton) is a lumberjack, a taciturn man who comes to appreciate the life slipping between his fingers.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Dawn Pemberton Sings Aretha + Amazing Grace Film Screening

Dir. Alan Elliott & Sydney Pollack
180 min

These dates are going to knock your socks off: one of the all-time great concert films, Aretha Franklin performing at the New Bethel Baptist Church in 1972, and Canada's own Queen of Soul, Dawn Pemberton, performing live in Aretha's honour.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema