Dove Family Film Festival

About the Dove Family Film Festival

In the early 1990's the not-for-profit Dove Foundation co-founder Dick Rolf decided, "It's time for positive family values to impact those in Hollywood instead of Hollywood impacting family." In 1991, the Dove Family Film Festival was born. The founders of the Dove Foundation believed that it was becoming increasingly difficult to for moms, dads and grandparents to find good, wholesome family films coming out of the Hollywood world of graphic and gratuitous violence and nudity.

Their solution to this ongoing problem was to begin a foundation that promoted movies that reflected their predominately Judeo/Christian beliefs. Now the foundation runs its bi-annual film festival in multiple Michigan cities in the spring and in the fall.

Dove Family Film Festival Locations

The current Michigan locations for this family friendly film festival are in the following cities:

• Grand Rapids
• Muskegon
• Lansing
• Benton Harbor
• Kalamazoo
• Mt. Pleasant

The start date for the festival for all locations is the last week in March until the middle of May. This festival has perfect timing for kids that have cabin fever in March due to the long, cold winter and when it's still too cold to go swimming in the lake in May.

What to Expect

The Dove Film Festival is unlike the other Michigan film festivals such as:

• The Ann Arbor Film Festival
• The Saugatuck Waterfront Film Festival
• Central International Film Festival
• The Waterfront Film Festival

For the other, more traditional film festivals in which filmmakers enter their films in the contest and they are voted on by viewers, the Dove festival centers on mass produced children's movies that come out of Hollywood.

The festival runs for eight weeks at local theaters and features kid-friendly movies like:

• Alvin and the Chipmunks
• Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
• Spiderman 3
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything
• Mr. Bean's Holiday
• Bee Movie
• Fred Claus

Tickets are only $2.50 apiece for adults and children over the age of 12, and they're free for children under 12 years old. Each film runs in the theaters for one week and there are no time or day restrictions for receiving the discounted ticket prices.

Dove's Reach

Proving that there is a market and a need for the promotion of family-friendly films, movie giant 20th Century Fox recently began including Doves "family approved" seal on DVDs that have been reviewed and approved by the Dove Foundation in 2005. The foundation also introduced the Dove Movie Channel in 1995 to Ronald McDonald's Children's Charities hospitals around the country. There are currently 30 McDonald's children's hospitals that run the Dove Movie Channel, giving parents one less thing to worry about while their child is ill.

Conclusion

If the original Judeo/Christian basis used for the founding of the Dove Foundation makes you worry that the films chosen are going to be largely religious based or influenced, don't let it. The films reviewed and chosen by the foundation are films widely released in theaters nationwide. As most parents know, even films that are rated PG-13 and sometimes PG contain too much violence, bad language and sexual innuendo for small children even with the kid friendly rating.

Besides, these films are all about the kids having a good time and about the parents not having to worry about covering their eyes or telling them to put on their "ear muffs." The only thing to keep in mind if you're planning to attend one of films during the festival is to not expect a quiet theater during the film. With that many kids running around and eating popcorn and candy, thinking you're going to enjoy the film surrounded by silent children is just not realistic.