Interviews – Page 20 – European Children's Film Association

Majid Majidi about SUN CHILDREN

“Dreams flying up in the sky like pigeons”

12 year old Ali is handling his business in the streets of Tehran, walking and talking like a grown man. With his nose in so many (slightly criminal) cases, he is like a juggler keeping too many balls up in the air. One day he and his friends are hired for a mission: it is said that a treasure is hidden in the underground river, underneath a school building. Only by enrolling into that school, they might have a chance of getting their hands on the valuable goods. For a boy like Ali, school might be an even more challenging environment than the city streets.

Arvin Kananian about I, JULIA

“Don’t talk about it to others; this is a family matter”

In the Swedish short film I, JULIA, a 14 year old girl seems to be living a normal life, but there is a darkness growing, as her father controls the family with physical and mental abuse. What enabled director Arvin Kananian to capture so precisely the mechanisms behind that suffocating terror?

Marta Elīna Martinsone & Asnāte Sofija Rožkalne about LAME-OS

“Dumb jokes are the answer to everything ”

If the world were full of 100% reasonable people, LAME-OS would probably never have been made. Even if that film offers you the chance to see – amidst a stream of fluorescent colours and kooky nineties fashion references – many things that you’ve never seen before on the white screen. And I mean: never!

Petr Oukropec about MARTIN AND THE MAGICAL FOREST

“Classic fairy tales contain crucial information about growing up”

This summer, city boy Martin is sent to a forest camp. Sleeping in tents, eating from a field kitchen, daily morning gymnastics… life couldn’t get more terrible than this! Oh yes, it could. The forest has secrets to hide, and Martin is the first one to discover the mysterious creatures that dwell here by night: elves, squeaking branches, fighting cones all willing to leave their hiding places and pick a fight as they prepare an uprising against the mining company taking over the forest.

Cássio P. Santos about VALENTINA

“She’s just a girl trying to fully live her life”

Tonight Valentina wants to party until she drops, as tomorrow she’ll be leaving the city. Maybe moving to the countryside will help her escape from the obstacles she is facing everywhere as a transgender teen in Brazil. In her new town, she builds a loyal network around her, only trusting her mother and two dear friends. But when information about her gender identity is leaking, trouble might start all over again. Unless Valentina can firmly look her haters in the eye.

Katrin Milhahn about NIGHT FOREST

“We did some crazy stuff”

On the first day of the summer vacation, best buddies Paul and Max sneak out of their homes and venture into the wilderness. They are on a mission to find a legendary cave hidden in the mountains. The boys follow the traces of Paul’s missing father, who is seen as a madman by everyone in the village. To find the path to the cave, the boys must decrypt his notes about a local legend. As they blaze their trails through the deep forest and steep mountains, both boys experience a newfound sense of freedom and light heartedness.

Barbara Kronenberg about MISSION ULJA FUNK

“Comedy comes in many disguises”

Ulja Funk… the name sounds different, cool, almost… funky. Which is not the first impression you get when meeting this rather nerdy girl with a passion for astronomy and a habit of speaking her mind. Her quest is now to travel to Belarus and observe the impact of an asteroid, which she does in a stolen car, with an underage classmate behind the wheel, while being chased by a bunch of religious fanatics.

Elizabeth D Costa about BANGLA SURF GIRLS

“If it tastes like sand, you have to clean it”

In Cox’s Bazar, on the Bangladesh coast, a young girl is riding the waves on her surfboard, all confidence and grace. “All my dreams are about surfing”, says Shobe. But those dreams might be different from the future that is awaiting her and her friends. Now that the girls are growing up, sooner or later choices need to be made, and conflicts will be unavoidable. In BANGLA SURF GIRLS Canadian filmmaker Elizabeth D Costa captures this gang of young surfettes at a crucial moment in their lives.