European Children's
Film Association
Association Européenne du Cinéma
pour l'Enfance et la Jeunesse
“We were cool in our underground hideout”Root vegetables may not be the most elegant of all, but the title character in THE TURNIP looks beautiful. While the roots are teeming with hungry insects, a farming family tries with all their might to harvest the crop.
“A beautiful noise all over Bangladesh”In the most wonderful colours, Amitabh Reza Chowdhury’s RICKSHAW GIRL depicts all kinds of injustice in the villages and towns of Bangladesh. Naima, a young girl who wants to help her ailing father, encounters abuse of power, discrimination and social inequality while cycling the streets of Dhaka with her rickshaw.
“How social hatred was born in modern Tunisia”When 12 year old Gadeha has a traffic accident, his mother can’t afford the medical treatment and is relying on the help of a random family she meets at the hospital. After Gadeha’s recovery, he and his family move into the home of their benefactors, where he befriends his ‘new brother’ Oussama. However, the secret that Gadeha’s mother is keeping might disturb the fragile balance.
“A bridge between African and European art”A child, a buffalo and a beautiful mask are the ingredients of the animated short KUUMBA UMBO. Belgian-Russian director Ekaterina Ogorodnikova explains how these elements together form a story about an African boy growing up to be a man.
“Improvising is not very economical”How to do an interview about a 3.5 minute short film consisting only of transforming objects, seemingly without logic or structure? Well… by finding someone who can tell fascinating things about a 3.5 minute short film consisting only of transforming objects. Like Alexander Isert.
“This is how we spent our summers”There is one thing that all representatives of HOW I LEARNED TO FLY seem to have in common: director Radivoje Andric, producer Maja Popovic Milojevic and actress Klara Hrvanovic have mischievous lights of excitement twinkling in their eyes. Perhaps because they are proud about a Serbian children’s film that is embraced so unanimously. Or perhaps because they are happy with the excellent box office figures that this Central European co-production scores in Serbian cinemas.
“Perfection in the imperfections”The Slovak-Czech animation JOURNEY TO YOURLAND is ambitious in its storytelling and its visual approach. A 3D computer animation with characters looking like hand-made puppets, in whose footsteps we travel from one outrageous universe to the other.
“I wanted people to feel welcome in a warm future”School life sucks for 12 year old Alberte with her old android Robbi being such an embarrassment to her. Here comes the perfect birthday present – the newest model of humanoids! New robot Konrad looks and acts completely as if he were human and suddenly Alberte’s popularity spikes as she is now the kid with the most advanced technology at school. But can the connection between Alberte and Konrad hold up to a real friendship?