The last festivals of the year – Ale Kino and Olympia – have handed out not only the last ECFA Awards of the year, but the last ECFA Awards to be nominated.
At Ale Kino (Poznan, Poland), the ECFA Award went to YOUNG HEARTS (by Anthony Schatteman, Belgium – photo). “In this open-minded film, you can easily identify with the characters. It shows all the strong emotions connected to the theme of experiencing first true love in a very authentic way.”
The ECFA Jury were Juliána Johanidesová (Slovakia), Martyna Szustorowska (Poland) and Marion Heimlund (Norway).
For the Ale Kino Festival – the second oldest Young Audience Festival in Europe – this edition also marked a farewell to the familiar Multikino cinema. Despite this big change, one thing remains certain: the festival wants to continue giving extra attention to youth audiences in the future. There are plans to further develop this fragile section, after successfully devoting extra attention and resources to it in recent years.
The ECFA calendar concluded with the Olympia Festival (Pyrgos & Amaliada, Greece), where the wonderful habit of presenting no fewer than three ECFA Awards – in every available category! – was maintained.
– ECFA Award: GREETINGS FROM MARS by Sarah Winkenstette, Germany.
The ECFA Jury were Tamara Bos (the Netherlands), Charlotte Giese (Denmark), Jaroslava Hynstova (Czech Republic) and Venia Vergou (Greece).
– ECFA Short Award: POCKET CHANGE by Daniel Bakker, the Netherlands.
The ECFA Jury were Dimitris Papadopoulos (Greece), Tapio Riihimaki (Finland) and Heleen Rouw (the Netherlands).
– ECFA Doc Award: NEUROTYPES by Maija Hirvonen, Finland (photo).
The ECFA Jury were Boris Bakal (Croatia), Eleni Mouri (Greece) and Iris Verhoeven (Belgium).