The ECFA Award train is picking up speed again, rolling back and forth between Germany and Italy over the past few months.
The first summer edition of the Cactus Int’l Children’s & Youth Festival in Aosta was a record-breaking edition! In terms of attendees (nearly 10,000), and in terms of involvement from the local community. And with IN BETWEEN (collective work; France), it had a glorious laureate for the ECFA Short Award.
When her parents separate, little Nora’s world literally splits in two. This beautiful graduation film was chosen by the ECFA Jury in the Cactus Festival “for its poetic and emotionally intense metaphor of a young girl trying to find her way between two parents. This visually powerful and delicate film gives voice to the inner world of children and the weight they carry in silence.”
In the LUCAS Festival (Frankfurt), the ECFA Award went to I ACCIDENTALLY WROTE A BOOK (by Nora Lakos, Hungary). “This unconventional film tells about a summer of growing up. Main character Nina wants to tell stories, while playing with the rules of storytelling: What does it take to be exciting or funny? How do conflicts work out? And what really makes me tick? Nina learns about death and new beginnings, about change and first love. A warm-hearted, inviting story unfolds in cinematic images with great attention to detail, a story that only Nina can tell us because it is her own.”
In the ECFA Jury were Anna Hofmann (Austria), Christian Zetterberg (Sweden), and Andrea Reisz (Romania).
The ECFA Award in the SCHLINGEL Festival (Chemnitz) was given to TOMORROW I’LL BE BRAVE (by Bernd Sahling, Germany). “We celebrate the power of cinema, its ability to help us make sense of the world and to accompany children as they begin to discover the richness of life and the depth of human emotion. There is something truly magical about sharing stories. Learning to see and hear through the lens of a camera and the light of a screen is why we fall in love with cinema and the stories it brings to life. (…) Love, so universal, is rarely seen from a child’s perspective. In TOMORROW I’LL BE BRAVE, we accompany children in their reflections and discoveries about love, guided by the unique and transformative power of cinema.”
In the ECFA Jury were Tatiana Chagina (Germany), Thom Palmen (Latvia), and Alfred Sesma Siuraneta (Spain).