European Children's
Film Association
Association Européenne du Cinéma
pour l'Enfance et la Jeunesse
“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?
“We all should have a camera following us for 10 years”She was a lecturer in media sociology at the University who discovered her passion for film when working on a documentary film; he was a self-employed director, editor and producer. Together Tine Kugler and Günther Kurth (KMOTO production company) have made the touching feature documentary KALLE KOSMONAUT about Pascal, known as ‘Kalle’. With great sympathy and unlimited respect, they lead us into Kalle’s world, primarily characterised by shortcomings.
“Nature decided to give us a helping hand”In THE PATH (by Tobias Wiemann) Rolf, his dog Adi and his father are stuck in Southern France having fled from Berlin and the Nazis. Their goal is to travel to New York, where Rolf’s mother is waiting for them. Their only road to freedom is along a steep path across the Pyrenees, guided by the young girl Nuria. When his father gets captured, Rolf and Nuria are suddenly on their own…