At 12 years old, Alex Capogna already is a three-year veteran of filmmaking.

The MacDonald Middle School seventh-grader has received national attention for his work, including a "What IFFF? Kids" and Nickelodeon Networks "Nick's Pick" award for his short documentary, "Aviation Challenge," at the International Family Film Festival in 2004.

"It was actually pretty astonishing," Capogna said. "It was the award that caught my attention, not the ceremony, because it really helps me to figure out what people like to see."

Being an award-winning writer, director and producer of films all while in middle school might seem like a lot of work - Capogna's latest film, "Sand Dollars," was shot in Los Angeles, for example - but the East Lansing student seems confident in maintaining the balance.

"It's kind of like getting into a battle," he said. "If I keep my good grades up, I can go out of school to shoot a movie, but if things get out of hand, I obviously have to stay at home and do schoolwork."

Capogna is just one of many filmmakers whose work is featured at the eighth annual East Lansing Children's Film Festival, which starts Friday and goes until March 3, and has more than 100 films from 14 countries. The bulk of the screenings will be at South Kedzie Hall on campus, but films also will be shown at NCG Lansing Cinemas in the Eastwood Towne Center in Lansing Township, and the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road.

In order to find the best films, festival co-Directors Christine Nichols and Teri Yago Ryan screened more than 145 submissions from around the globe, and selected the highest-quality live action, documentary, shorts and feature-length films for youth. They have help in their criticism from the Junior Film Critics Club, a year-round program for K-6 students who critique and discuss festival selections, Nichols said.

"We felt it was our responsibility, as a festival being involved in arts and media, at educating our audience instead of simply letting them take films for face value," Nichols said. "The club gives children opportunity to express what they're seeing, and many of their comments are brilliant."

This year, festival entertainment will kick off with Director Ilya Maximov's full-length feature, "Little Longnose," at 7 p.m. Friday at Hannah Community Center. The film tells the story of a young boy transformed into a dwarf by an evil witch and the persevering steps he takes to break her spell.

"The animation in 'Little Longnose' is great in depth and color," Nichols said. "This is the first animated film out of Russia for children in 40 years."

Following the feature, festivalgoers are invited to enjoy food and music from Lansing-based percussion band Mystic Shake.

If older festival attendees are looking for entertainment better suited to their interests, however, the newly created TeenREEL will offer films for students of middle school age and older. Nichols said the program was created to offer an outlet for viewers more familiar with complex themes, such as war, fitting in and growing up.

"It's really telling to get films like that," Nichols said. "So many contain the theme of war; you see burned-out tanks and children playing in bombed-out buildings.

"Before TeenREEL, we had films that dealt with thoughts of mortality, and other mature themes, and didn't quite know where to put them."

One such film, "Gettin' Grown," is the live-action story of 11-year-old Eric (Isaiah Matthew), whose neighborhood trip to the pharmacy at dusk is lengthened by various temptations, such as a group of teenagers who invite him to join a basketball game. In a more broad sense, "Gettin' Grown" emphasizes an average coming-of-age tale told through a child's eyes, said creator Aaron Greer, an assistant professor of telecommunication and film at the University of Alabama.

"Running to the grocery store, for (Eric), is a responsibility more loaded than it would be for us," Greer said. "People often think that kids don't have worries or responsibilities, but it's just that when you get older, your worries and responsibilities change.

"When you're a kid, they're still important to you."

The film also attempts to combat some of the typical negative stereotypes people associate with being young and black in the inner city, Greer said.

"There are working class, normal families, who are certainly affected by the stuff that happens in the inner city, but what we see in most films, the gangbangers, the robberies, is such a small spectrum of what the black experience in the city really is," Greer said. "For Eric, that stuff is there, but it's kind of in the background —it's not who he is as a person."

For more hands-on activities, festivalgoers can pick from three animation workshops, offered on Saturday and Sunday. The "SEMAFX 'Tricks of the Trade'" workshop, from 9 to 11 a.m. at Hannah Community Center, will show workshop participants of 7 years old and up how to create animated characters and produce single-frame stories.

At "HHAM! Hand Held Animated Movies!," held from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at (SCENE) Metrospace, 303 Abbott Road, children can see their own drawings come to life, with help from workshop leaders Ken Scott and Chris Allen-Wickler.

"We give them an idea of how to start, and then we let them go to town," Allen-Wickler said. "We wanted this to be a very kid-driven workshop - the artwork they make is fresh, unreserved, vital and inventive, and we honor that in working with them as guides. The results are almost always astonishing."

If festival attendees are strapped for cash and still want to attend a workshop, "An Introduction to Animation: Flip Book & Zoetrope Workshop" on the basics of animation, is free and will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the South Kedzie Hall lobby.

And if movies, art and workshops galore aren't enough to satisfy your child within, there's still more for festivalgoers.

Don't be fooled by the name, the East Lansing Children's Film Festival is not just for young children and teenagers. Many films and activities appeal to people of all ages, Nichols said. Michigan native Richard Brauer's film, "Barn Red," for example, highlights the issue of land development and urban sprawl in the state's most beautiful rural areas.

Additionally, a directors' roundtable discussion, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the Marriott at University Place, 300 M.A.C. Ave., will feature various filmmakers and industry guests discussing an inside look at the business and art of film. Any festival guest with a ticket stub from earlier events is welcome to attend.

And on March 3, after all the popcorn has been munched, films screened, and workshops completed, filmgoers can see their favorite flicks again through the "Best of the Fest." The 75-minute production will compile all the movies voted on by festival attendees throughout the week.

For more information on the East Lansing Children's Film Festival, visit www.elcff.com.