European Children's
Film Association
Association Européenne du Cinéma
pour l'Enfance et la Jeunesse
In our world things often reach a point where all you want to do is turn your head and look away. But, fortunately, plenty of short films for children actually do deal with those issues. The current trend is: take a closer look where it hurts, and where the protagonists never give up. One example is Nils Hedinger’s KUAP, about a tadpole who somehow misses out on becoming a frog and is left behind.
“With a drop of nostalgia – like summer when it’s almost over”Summer, 1989. Sunlight softly falls in delicate rays over the village where city girls Paula and Laura come to spend their summer holidays. Four girls in flowery skirts, unattended, playfully imitating the life of adults, while in the background the signs of a national uproar against the Russian occupier can no longer be denied. At the Filem’on festival in Brussels, director Madara Dislere can’t emphasise enough how deeply the film is based on her own childhood experiences. “It’s about a young girl’s farewell to the life she had so far, and the start of a new era.”
“Fire everywhere, burning bodies and an insufferable heat – all hell was breaking loose over the city.” In OBON, the nuclear attack on Hiroshima is remembered by one of its last survivors. We spoke with German filmmaker André Hörmann at the doxs! festival.
In many ways, Vitello’s life is totally fine. He gets plenty of spaghetti with butter, he lives in a nice neighbourhood surrounded by many friends, he has a fast lawn mower and a slingshot… What more can you wish for? A dad perhaps? Since mum refuses to tell him who or where his father is, Vitello sets off on a quest in search of a dad of his own.
Both at the Oulu Int. Children’s Film Festival (Finland) and the AleKino Festival (Poznan, Poland) the ECFA Award went to the Danish film I AM WILLIAM by Jonas Elmer. Continue reading “I AM WILLIAM triumphs at two ECFA festivals”
The Toronto Kids Int. Film Festival TIFF recently announced a reimagining of its family programming. The longstanding annual TIFF will be retired and digiPlaySpace, the interactive playground for kids, will be rebranded for a 14+ audience. Continue reading “TIFF Kids – a festival retires”
On 10-11th January 2019 the two-day conference ‘FAME, Take 1. Film and Media for Education’ will be held in Tallinn, Estonia. Continue reading “Film Education Conference in Tallinn”
Filem’on, the Brussels Children’s Film Festival, was brave enough to host two ECFA juries to decide upon one ECFA Doc and one ECFA Short Award.