Salt Lake City is film-festival friendly, and certainly kid-friendly. So why has it taken so long for someone to organize a children’s film festival?

Salt Lake City Film Center artistic director Patrick Hubley wonders about that himself—so he decided to do something about it. This year marks the inaugural Tumbleweeds Children’s Film Festival. It features films that engage kids in ideas and storytelling—not just with animation but with live action, documentaries (gasp!) and even non-English-language films that will employ readers to help youngsters with the subtitles (double gasp!).

Gavin's Underground: Tumbleweeds Children's Film Festival

The 11 features and 10 short films selected for this maiden voyage are conveniently identified with a target age for the audience, from 4 to 10 and up. Take your preschooler to an adaptation of the beloved picture book Laura’s Star; inspire your tween with an example of youthful activism in the engaging food-themed documentary What’s on Your Plate? (pictured); or try out a sampler platter of charming animated shorts from around the world.

And if watching movies isn’t enough for the aspiring auteur in your family, the Film Center has partnered with Spy Hop to offer four limited-enrollment workshops for kids covering topics like filmmaking basics, special effects and animation. Throw off the shackles of Disney and DreamWorks and expand your child’s sense of what movies can do.

Tumbleweeds Children’s Film Festival @ Broadway Centre Cinemas, 111 E. Broadway; Tower Theatre, 876 E. 900 South; and Sorenson Unity Center, 1383 S. 900 West; 801-746-7000, April 1-3, $5 per screening, $20 for workshops. Full schedule at KidsFilm.org