Not Usual Fare at Kid Film Fest : Education: First day showcases classic ‘The Red Balloon’ and an offering from local children. Program will culminate today in an awards ceremony.

THOUSAND OAKS —  Pocahontas and the Power Rangers were nowhere to be found Wednesday on the opening day of the Thousand Oaks Children’s Film Festival.

Instead, 290 local elementary students laughed and cheered their way through three low-budget movies as enthusiastically as if a multimillion-dollar blockbuster like “The Lion King” had appeared on the screen.

“There are films out there you can’t see in the theater,” said festival chairwoman Nancy Frawley, who admits that she has seen “Pocahontas” four times with her two youngsters. “We wanted to show [attendees] different films and also show them that you could learn something from films.”

Take French, for instance.

The first movie, “The Red Balloon,” was filmed in France in the late 1950s but contains no subtitles. Yet the audience of kindergartners through third-graders got the message. They squealed with delight as the main character floated through the sky at the end of the hourlong movie, lifted by helium-filled balloons.

The festival also featured two other movies, including one made by local children ages 7 through 12 at a summer workshop. More than 500 grade-school students from Newbury Park to Simi Valley are expected to see the films during the festival’s two-day run, which concludes today.

Originally, the festival planned to offer a late-morning session to fourth- through sixth-graders in addition to the younger children, but not enough older classes expressed interest, Frawley said. Organizers hope the festival, which they intend to make an annual event, will be expanded into a full day of screenings in 1996.

The festival will culminate tonight in an awards ceremony hosted by Thousand Oaks teen-ager Ariana Richards, who had a role in “Jurassic Park.” The 6:30 p.m. event will honor the winner of a contest to design a poster promoting the festival. The best children’s film of the year, as chosen by critics from national parenting magazines, will also be selected.

“I wanted to expose them to different kinds of art from what they would normally get,” said teacher Lori Peters, who walked her third- and fourth-graders from Conejo elementary school to the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza for the morning screenings.

Josh Joffred, 10, was one of those who attended from Conejo elementary. He said the final film “I’ll Fix Anthony” was definitely worth the trip. The 30-minute movie featured a young boy dreaming of ways to get even with his bullying older brother.

“I think I’ll be nicer to my younger brother,” Josh said. “Unless he gets on my nerves, which he sometimes does.”

The young audience also got a kick out of the workshop-generated six-minute feature, “The Fickle Finger of Kate,” about a girl who uses magic to make relatives, classmates and teachers disappear.

The film’s 12-member cast produced the movie during a workshop sponsored by the Alliance for the Arts. The cast will be honored during tonight’s festivities.

The awards ceremony, which is open to the public, will feature producers and filmmakers such as Bernard Willets, who made “I’ll Get Anthony,” along with trailers of the five popular movies nominated for best children’s film. The nominees are “Babe,” “Indian in the Cupboard,” “A Little Princess,” “Little Women” and “Pocahontas.”

FYI

Tickets for the Thousand Oaks Children’s Film Festival awards ceremony are still available. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Forum Theatre in the Civic Arts Plaza. Tickets are $5 for children and $7.50 for adults and can be purchased at the box office. For more information, call 371-1387.