On 7 October, Cinemira Int’l Children’s & Youth Film Festival hosted the 3rd Children & Youth Film Pitch Forum, where Hungarian screenwriters, writers and creatives came to present their ideas for young audience films and series, and find directors, producers and other professional partners for their projects.
In 2022 Cinemira received around 100 film candidacies for the Pitch Forum; proof of Hungary’s growing interest in children’s film.
In a special section of the forum, teenagers were asked about the topics that concern them. This Junior Pitch Forum hopes to find out what kind of films they consider of interest to their age group. In the Junior Script Lab, organised by the Hungarian National Film Institute’s Fast Forward programme and Cinemira over the summer, teenagers developed their film ideas into screenplays with the help of professional screenwriters, actors and directors. Of those works, eight were accepted to the Junior Pitch Forum, attended by a professional jury and a children’s jury… and in the end, the children’s jury decides the Grand Prize.
Teen festival
From 18 – 20 November, the Cinemira TEEN Film Festival will take place at the Corvin Cinema in Budapest, the only festival in Hungary addressing teenagers with outstanding Hungarian and international short films and animations. In 2022, for the first time, the Golden Squirrel Award for Best Hungarian Short for Teens will be decided by thousands of high school students. Cinemira will also host the national premieres of international titles, such as the multi-awarded Swiss drama OLGA about a Ukrainian gymnast during the Eurmaiden revolt, the Danish scandalous drama NOTHING and the EFA Youth Audience Award-nominated COMEDY QUEEN. By inviting directors like Nimród Antal (STRANGER THINGS Season 4) or master cinematographer Marcell Rév (EUPHORIA), the festival also provides behind-the-scenes insights into filmmaking.
