On Saturday 17 February ECFA announced the winners of the three annual European ECFA Awards for Best Children’s Film, Best Children’s Documentary and Best Children’s Short Film. The winner of the prestigious Best Film Award was CHICKEN FOR LINDA (by Chiara Malta & Sébastien Laudenbach, France/Italy), the Documentary Award went to WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY (by Alisa Kovalenko, Ukraine/France/Poland), and the Short Film was awarded to TO BE SISTERS (by Anne-Sophie Gousset & Clément Céard, France). All awards were handed out in Berlin during a festive ceremony, celebrated with the international young audience film community.
Directors Chiara Malta & Sébastien Laudenbach received ECFA’s Best European Children’s Film Award for CHICKEN FOR LINDA. A girl is unfairly punished by her mother, who now needs to make it up to her, and that means cooking the complicated chicken recipe… But where can she find a chicken when the entire world seems to be facing a general strike? The award was collected by Italian co-producer Flaminio Zadra (Palosanto).
The ECFA Doc Award for Best Young Audience Documentary of the year was presented to WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY, an international co-production directed by Alisa Kovalenko, about five teenagers growing up in the Ukrainian Donbas region, where ever since 2014 shelling and gunfire have been a common thing. Now, Russia’s full-scale invasion might darken the last ray of hope. The award was collected by Polish co-producer Kasia Kuczyńska (Haka Films).
The ECFA Short Award for Best European Young Audience Short Film went to TO BE SISTERS, by Clément Céard & Anne-Sophie Gousset, who wrote the story based on her childhood memories. Sisters can share a magic bond together, but these two sisters share something a bit different. The award was collected by co-director Clément Céard.
The ECFA Award is the only European children’s film award voted on by professionals, all 160 of them members of ECFA. The awards were handed out by ECFA’s President Pantelis Panteloglou and General Secretary Felix Vanginderhuysen.
ECFA is a membership organisation for professionals and organisations who operate within the field of quality films for children and youth. For more than 35 years they have tried to improve children’s access to the best possible film culture and to increase an awareness of the need for good media policies across Europe.
Extra Info: ECFA Awards
ECFA is an association with approx. 160 members in almost 50 European and non-European countries. Throughout 2023, 24 different children’s film festivals hosted an ECFA Award jury, selecting one title to ECFA’s shortlist. All shortlisted films competed for the final ECFA Awards: the Best European Children’s Films 2024. ECFA members, all of them active in the children’s film industry, viewed the shortlist and voted for the winners.
Complete list of festival participating in the ECFA Awards
Jeugdfilmfestival (Antwerp, Belgium), BUFF Children & Youth Film Festival (Malmö, Sweden), Play Children’s Film Festival (Lisbon, Portugal), Smile International Film Festival (New Delhi, India), International Women’s Film Festival (Dortmund & Cologne, Germany), International Children’s Film Festival (Kristiansand, Norway), International Ciné-Jeune de l’Aisne Festival (L’Aisne region, France), Short Film Festival (Oberhausen, Germany), Cactus International Children’s & Youth Film Festival (Aosta, Italy), Mo & Friese Short Film Festival (Hamburg, Germany), Film Festival for Children & Youth (Zlin, Czech Republic), Schlingel Film Festival for Children & Young Audience (Chemnitz, Germany), Lucas Festival for Young Filmlovers (Frankfurt, Germany), Young Horizons Film Festival (Warsaw, Poland), DOXS RUHR (Ruhr Area, Germany), Filem’on International Film Festival for Young Audience (Brussels, Belgium), International Children’s Film Festival (Athens, Greece), doxs! Documentaries for Children & Youth (Duisburg, Germany), Children’s & Youth Film Festival (Oulu, Finland), Just Film Children & Youth Film Festival (Tallinn, Estonia), Castellinaria Filmfestival (Bellinzona, Switzerland), Ale Kino! Young Audience Film Festival (Poznan, Poland), Olympia Children’s Film Festival (Pyrgos, Greece), and AniFest Rozafa (Gjirokaster, Albania).