Wondering what your children might do during parent-teacher conferences next week? Vashon Film Society and the Vashon Theatre have teamed up to provide two afternoons of short films from The Best of Children’s Film Festival Seattle at 2:30 p.m. today, Wednesday, and tomorrow,Thursday, at the Vashon Theatre.

An all-ages selection of short animated films from Sweden, Slovakia, Japan and more will be shown first, taking young viewers on journeys near and far. The colorful animated program is 64 minutes long and will be followed by a short popcorn break.

The afternoon program of live-action shorts from around the globe will begin at 3:40 p.m. and run 66 minutes. Topics will include best friends who overcome bullying, children who dream of their homeland and kids who are excited about the arts.

Curator Liz Shepherd from Northwest Film Forum said the live action films are best for ages 8 and up but can also be appreciated by most younger children.

Children’s Film Festival Seattle and Vashon Film Society have had a long-standing collaboration that aims to showcase high-quality, age-appropriate movies from around the world “with no fast food plastic toy tie-ins!”

Tickets, available at the box office, are $5.