European Children's
Film Association
Association Européenne du Cinéma
pour l'Enfance et la Jeunesse
“Can I touch your heart?” That is what Rugile asks her new friend Juozapas, who was born with a bizarre condition: the boy carries his heart outside of his chest, protected by a special armour. Always cautious, what Juozapas likes most is spending time in a deserted mansion, where he keeps his collection of bugs, beetles and butterflies, a secret he shares with nobody but Rugile.
In school gardens in Amsterdam children take care of beds full of vegetables, as the beating heart of a bigger social movement. These green oases are also a surprising habitat for all kinds of wildlife. Anyone who has seen THE SCHOOL GARDEN will immediately feel the urge to start working in the garden or sinking their teeth into a fresh carrot.
12 year old Jim is passionate about all things space travel. His father is an astrophysicist who might soon take off on a space mission. But Jim has his own project: building a hot air balloon with his school friend Emma. Though when competing for first prize at a competition for young scientists, unexpected obstacles arise.
Once 9 year old Samay has picked up the taste of film, he sneaks inside the theatre every day. He even infects his gang of friends with the cinema virus, and together they try to construct a film projector. LAST FILM SHOW invites you into an Indian countryside cinema, where the audience – chanting and clapping – actively takes part in every screening.
One day Birta, a strong and responsible girl with a passion for handball and playing guitar, overhears her mother on the phone, telling that she is so totally broke that there might be no Christmas this year. She simply can’t afford it in times of financial crisis. Birta, shocked by the news, wants to start raising money through various adventurous methods. But that’s not easy when you’re only eleven.
LAST DAYS AT SEA closes in on 12 year old Reyboy, living in Karihatag, an isolated village in the south of the Philippines at the frontline of climate change. In 2014 Venice Atienza visited the region with her camera, documenting how local people survive devastating storms. When she heard Reyboy would leave Karihatag at the end of summer to go to high school in the city, she decided to film the life he was leaving behind.
“A hoodie in a box“
Sihja, an outrageous young fairy, is surely one of a kind. When entering the life of Alfred, a shy and sensitive boy, she turns his whole world upside down. She messes up his room, scares off his friends and spits her milk all over the table. But even stranger things are happening. Birds are found dead on the streets, and both plants and people display rather peculiar behaviour. Something weird is going on at the local fertilizer factory!
“Realism allows me more than fantasy does“
Margot and Marguerite are both 12 years old, struggling with family, friends and other issues. But one lives in 1942 during the war, the other one in 2020. They tumble into each other’s lives via a magical trunk. One more thing they have in common: an absent father. Despite the 70 years that separate them, they embark together on an adventure on the edge of space and time.