European Children's
Film Association
Association Européenne du Cinéma
pour l'Enfance et la Jeunesse
“A silence that was completely new to us”13 year old Pep has a crush on Sara, a girl from his grandfather’s village. One summer night, Sara disappears but, after a few hours, Pep finds her hidden in his bedroom. The girl of his dreams explains that she has run away from home and asks if she can stay for a while. While the whole town is looking for her, Pep becomes her protector, which will mark this summer forever.
“The most amazing mop of curly hair!”I passionately hate them, those boys racing their mopeds down my street in a filthy cloud of smoke and deafening noise. If a director succeeds in making me sympathise with those kids, she must have been very convincing. PERFECT 10 takes you to the gym, not a glittering sports temple but a brick building with old-fashioned metal coat hooks, where the odor of sweat-saturated plastic mats fills the room.
“What does it mean to live in that absurd world of war every day“ Since 2014 war between pro-Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists rages in the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine. What that means for people living their everyday lives in the frontline zone, is shown in a documentary written and directed by Kiev-based Iryna Tsilyk. THE EARTH IS BLUE AS AN ORANGE has collected many festival awards, and was picked for the Documentary Selection 2020 of the European Film Academy.
How much does THE PACK represent the lives of Czech teenagers today? We collected opinions from a group of 14 year old students from the local Zlin Sports Academy and confronted producers Julietta Sichel and Jan Fronek (8Heads) with the result.
If Rock Demers is the godfather of Canadian children’s films, in my view, Burny Bos is the equivalent on the other side of the Atlantic. I wish I could have met Burny when he was at the age of Tom Sawyer – he must have been a naughty boy full of daring ideas that could mesmerise little girls! Burny and I grew up on different planets and who could foresee that we would even meet, collaborate and befriend for 20 plus years!! Burny was born in a place with windmills, cheese and lots of fairy tales. Me in communist China, a pigtailed young pioneer who was told to change the world!
“The modern media generation needs to re-discover film culture”In 2020 the German youth film association BJF celebrates its 50th anniversary, which should have been a reason for year round festivities. But when I speak to BJF manager Reinhold Schöffel he is not absorbed by the past, but thinking about the future, more specifically about a film which was to become the showpiece of the anniversary celebration: the Canadian documentary YOUTH UNSTOPPABLE.
“What is funny for a child at what age?”Several episodes of the animation series SIR MOUSE were presented as a compilation film to the youngest audience by Belgian distributor JEF. Besides its beautiful design, the series stands out for the frivolous way in which gender patterns are broken.
“Always a torn shirt to fix”Sports is often seen as a stepping stone towards social progress. For the brothers Hai and He the occasion is very concrete. It is the prospect of new shoes that spurs them to join the school’s rope skipping team. Not warmly welcomed by the seniors, they soon regret their decision. But when a young teacher arrives with new methods, progress is made immediately.