Feature film Buladó, directed by Eché Janga (prod: Keplerfilm), had its international premier at the festival and was well received by the young viewers in the United States, as they voted the film winner of the Grand Prize Live Action in the feature films category.

The film previously won a Golden Calf for Best Film at the Netherlands Film Festival and was the Dutch entry for the Oscars in the category International Feature. Buladó tells the magical-realistic and heart warming story of a small family in the countryside of Curaçao.

In addition, the US tots awarded animated short Ink by Joost van den Bosch & Erik Verkerk the Audience Award in the 3+ category ‘Shorts for Tots’.

Ink previously won the Cinekid Festival Audience Award for animated short film and was selected for the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival among others. International sales are handled by SND Films. In this hilarious 2D & 3D animated short, a clean-up neat-freak octopus uses all of his tentacles in trying to reach what he's aiming for.

The films in this year's line-up have been supported by Never Grow Up! a joint effort of Dutch Performing Arts, Dutch Culture USA, Dutch Foundation for Literature, DutchCulture, Cinekid and SEE NL (Eye Filmmuseum & the Netherlands Film Fund), aiming to stimulate the dissemination and visibility of Dutch arts for young audience as well as cultural exchange and partnerships with renowned US-based presenters and organisations.

The New York International Children's Film Festival took place online 5-14 March 2021.