European Children's
Film Association
Association Européenne du Cinéma
pour l'Enfance et la Jeunesse
The Kids Fest children’s film festival, taking place in several cities across the country, was founded in 2004 as first Serbian film event focusing on children, with a programme targeting different age groups – 4-year-olds, young teenagers, and everything in between. Kids Fest took the opportunity to look for like-minded partners in Europe in the Open Mic sessions during the ECFA AGM. And they hereby repeat their call.
Continue reading “Serbian Kids Fest reaches out for partners”
Interviews with filmmakers in the ECFA Journal often stress the importance of script labs and training modules organised by several European industry organisations. As Klemen Dvornik (BLOCK 5) said in an ECFA interview: “The Cinekid Script and Producers’ lab has greatly helped us to take steps forward. Such opportunities have boosted our confidence.” For all filmmakers whose confidence needs an extra boost, the call for entries for Cinekid’s industry initiatives is now open.
Continue reading “Cinekid prepares for Script LAB and Co-Production Market”
Life doesn’t stand still! Just a few days after the ECFA Award 2025 was presented in Berlin, the first titles were written on the shortlist for the next edition, at the PLAY festival in Lisbon. A short time later, nominations also arrived from the Youth Film Festival Antwerp. On to another rock-solid edition!
Continue reading “Countdown to next ECFA Award started in Antwerp & Lisbon”
The new Audiovisual Act that went into effect in the Czech Republic on January 1st is, above all, the merit of one person. Michal Šašek is widely recognised as the architect of a piece of legislation that ensures bigger budgets, more independence and a separate status for animation film.
Continue reading “A Deputy Minister’s memories to Juniorfest”
During ECFA’s Annual General Meeting three new board members were elected by the attending members, from the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Denmark.
Straight from Berlin… the ECFA Journal’s XL Winter Edition, served on a plate of snow.
What would it take to sensitize both established media and more modern platforms like podcasts, blogs, and fan forums to children’s and young people’s films? Is it the films themselves that need to change, or is it our attitude towards them? A panel discussion will be held at the invitation of ECFA, the German Film Critics Association (VdFk), and Berlin Critics’ Week. Film critics and writers from diverse media formats will discuss critical perspectives on the varied production of children’s & youth films.
Since 2009, KIDS Regio acts within Cine-Regio and presents a lobby initiative for high quality and multi-faceted European Children’s Films. A key focus of the 2024 KIDS Regio Forum, and an outcome of previous Forums, has been the need for more research and data. In partnership with Will&Agency, KIDS Regio have conducted the pioneering pan-European study “Keeping up with Children as an Audience“. This comprehensive research, involving 374 children aged 7-11 from 12 European countries, combined qualitative and quantitative methods to provide valuable insights.
This research (which by the way should be conducted every three years!) is one part of of a three part publication, called Building Bridges: European Children’s Film in Focus. Continue reading “Insights – Audience Research – Quantitative Data”