13 Year-Old Twin Movie Critics On Oscar Noms and The Selma Snub

I often watch the Oscars with my friend, Anisa Raoof,  now Executive Director of the Providence Children's Film Festival, and always tell her that her 13 year-old twin boys, Dylan and Ethan Itkin, are going to be up on that stage one day collecting their Oscars.It seems ever since pre-school, Dylan and Ethan have been into movies--watching them,  reviewing them, and critiquing them.  They've now grown into writing screenplays, and making and directing their own films with neighborhood friends.  I remember a few years back Anisa pointing out the stack of books beside the boys' beds--encyclopedia thick volumes by film critics, Roger Ebert and others, and her telling how they can't wait to wake up on Sundays to be the first ones to grab the Sunday NY Times movie reviews.  These boys are serious, and they can talk to adults for hours on end about all aspects of film making and film content.Four years ago, with the help of their parents, Anisa and Doug--Doug, a computer techie and photographer, started their own movie review blog: flick flack movie talk.  On the blog you'll find expertly written movie reviews, lists of favorite genre films, a book-to-film page, links to resources in the film industry, and the famous Flick Flack rating system of  0 - 10 fingers and toes (because a two thumbs up was not distinctive enough:)To give you an example of how in-the-know I think these boys are, I came to their site last night after striking up a twitter conversation with Kimberly Foster, Publisher and Editor-In-Chief of the renowned blog, For Harriet, a multi-faceted platform for black women's storytelling and journalism.  Ms. Foster and I were going back and forth discussing the Selma snub, or why the film didn't receive Best Director of Best Acting Oscar nominations.  We both had seen word on Facebook of the film's DVD not being sent to the Writers Guild, and an article on deadlines for all the various guilds' and Oscar voting deadlines, which to me were confusing and somewhat vague.Then I thought, if anyone is going to know about this, Dylan and Ethan will, and so I visited their site last night at midnight, and sure enough they had information on the voting process, the DVD's being screened, and more importantly, their personal views on the Selma snub and what that says about the Oscars and the film industry.I was impressed with the depth of their insight and opinions on the matter, at such a young age, to what had the "grown-up world" of black, white and brown folks, especially on twitter, all abuzz. I was also heartened that two young white boys have it in their consciousness to consider race, and the implications of race and inclusion both within in the film industry and beyond.Please take the time to read here, Flack's blog post on the Oscar nominations, including the Selma snub, as well as his posts on the Oscar predictions, and his film review of Selma.  You can show support for Flick and Flack by leaving comments on their blog.  I'm sure they would love to hear from new readers.  Thank you: Flack on the Oscar nominations and Selma snub:http://flickflackmovietalk.com/2015/01/oscar-announcement-bring-flat-out-shocks-and-well-deserved-nominations-flacks-analysis/ Flack's 2015 Oscar Predictions:http://flickflackmovietalk.com/2015/01/flacks-2015-oscar-nominations-predictions-best-picture-question-marks-and-actor-locks/ Flack's Review of the film, Selma:http://flickflackmovietalk.com/2015/01/selma-a-relevant-historical-drama-bursting-with-life-flacks-review/ ___________SOURCE:www.flickflackmovietalk.com 13 year-old twin boys talking about film.www.forharriet.comA multi-faceted platform for black women's storytelling and journalism.www.pcffri.org2015 Providence Children's Film Festival runs from 2/12/15 - 1/22/15 in Providence, RIPCFF presents the best of independent and international children’s cinema to inspire, delight, educate, and connect a diverse community of children and families from Rhode Island and throughout New England.