European Children's
Film Association
Association Européenne du Cinéma
pour l'Enfance et la Jeunesse
Extended reality is a fascinating and rapidly growing audio-visual set of mediums that expands the possibilities and boundaries of cinematic language. Content is indeed king and it is no less than a film festival’s mission to foster and advance new approaches towards XR storytelling. Continue reading “Riga IFF goes XR”
How to film or animate the human body? And what does that bring to the sensory experience of cinema? In her work with Linfraviolet, former ECFA president Céline Ravenel links cinema with its most physical aspects. Her presentation focused on two specific Linfraviolet workshops.
Ever since Europe has gone into quarantine, the Olympia Film Festival started broadcasting one quality young audience film per day through its Facebook page.
Continue reading “Olympia facilitates unique online screening”
“An outrageous but not so comfortable dress code”Since Eia’s parents have little time for her, the 10 year old girl is forced to spend the Christmas holiday with her grandfather on a remote farm, in the middle of the snow covered Estonian forest. There she discovers the beauty of nature and wildlife, threatened by a businessman who has a plan to destroy the primeval forest, inhabited by mysterious owls. While fighting for the protection of Phantom Owl Forest, Eia unwraps a well-kept family secret.
“Boys in general love to be on the pitch”Two kids arrive at the same time in a new school, Ben whose family had to move after their house was sold to a mining company, and Syrian refugee Tariq. They meet not only in class, but also on the football pitch, both aspiring to the same position as the goal scoring striker. We met Milena Klemke, producer of TOO FAR AWAY at the Filem’on festival in Brussels.
“A flagship arts event in the city of Belfast”Several festivals that are nowadays among the leading events in the European children’s film circuit were founded 30 years ago. Cinemagic is one of them. There must have been something in the wind back then, as most of these festivals have since developed in a similar way: ever-growing, with a more professional profile and extra attention for the industry.
Turning donkeys into prima donna’sAngie and her younger siblings live in a cabin by the sea. Their father hardly makes a living vending donkey-rides at the beach. For this family there is nothing like an evening of dark ale and folk singing in the pub to forget about life’s hardships. But that night Uncle Blythe returns from prison, harbouring a grudge over a long-standing family debt. Not much later the kids find themselves riding two donkeys over the moors under the drizzling rain, trying to escape from Blythe. At the Filem’on Festival we asked director Richard Heap about the exact locations of the film.
Rhino and mankindSudan is the last of its kind. A northern white rhinoceros, of which there are only three left – two females and this 40 year old bull. The animal is a star, the Kenyan conservancy where he spends his last days, is like a pilgrimage site where thousands come to take selfies and pet the colossus. Extinction as an attraction. “It was surreal to touch something that will soon disappear,” says Dutch director Floor van der Meulen.