This year Germany’s oldest film festival for young audiences, children and youth, LUCAS, presented awards for the 42nd time.
The three main prizes for best feature films went to
– Section 8+: MY EXTRAORDINARY SUMMER WITH TESS (Steven Wouterlood, The Netherlands)
– Section 13+: GIANT LITTLE ONES (Keith Behrman, Canada)
– Section 16+: LES MÉTÉORITES (Romain Laguna, France)
The ECFA Award went to MY EXTRAORDINARY SUMMER WITH TESS.
The ECFA Jury were Gloria Morano (Luxembourg City Film Festival), Kärt Väinola (Just Film, Estonia) and Philipp Aubel (Bundesverband Jugend und Film, Germany).
Award winning short films were MARADONA’S LEGS (Firas Khoury, Germany & Palestine – 8+) and SCREW THE BOYS (Anthony Coveney, Canada – 13+).
LUCAS (a project of DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Frankfurt) has a special trademark: young film fans are involved on all festival levels, as jury members, reporters, film critics, presenters etc. Festival director Julia Fleißig (DFF) was pleased with the further expansion of youngsters’ participation in the context of the 42nd festival edition: “LUCAS has taken another step forward in actively involving film fans of all ages in the programming. This year, even more programmes curated by the young generation have proven that ‘getting involved’ is the best way to acquire film art.”
In addition to a multi-faceted international film programme with more than 60 features, documentaries and animated films from 33 countries, LUCAS #42 emphasised the theme of ‘diversity’ in its accompanying programme. The panel discussion on ‘Diversity in Children and Youth Films’ was positively received. That’s how LUCAS once again advocated for more diversity for young audiences on cinema screens and for a lively exchange in an open society.