Birds of Passage

The charming and moving Birds of Passage has won nearly every prize possible for a children’s film, including Best Film from the European Children’s Film Association and top prizes at the prestigious New York and Chicago International Children’s Film Festivals. When Cathy receives an initially underwhelming gift for her 10th birthday—a fertilized duck egg—she’s warned that the hatched duckling will bond with the first person it sees. Cathy takes diligent care of it only to have her best friend Margaux be the person present at the moment of the duck’s birth. Margaux ends up fostering the bird until her parents object, believing her incapable of taking care of it because she’s in a wheelchair. Margaux and Cathy then take off on a thrilling adventure for their duckling’s freedom—ultimately changing everyone’s impressions of life’s limitations in the process. (84 mins., video)