Publications – Page 6 – European Children's Film Association

Ján Sebechlebský about SECRET DELIVERY

“With childlike courage and a sense of justice”

War films can profile themselves with bloody trenches and crackling mortar fire. But they can also bet on respectable solidity, telling a story of young camaraderie. In SECRET DELIVERY, a group of children tries to keep a war victim – a downed French pilot – out of the hands of the German occupying forces. Their actions resemble the principle of the well-known ‘telephone game’ – the pilot is passed between mountain villages like a secret message, while the young rescuers are being chased by German soldiers. They must outwit traitors and survive the harsh conditions of winter in the mountains. In the hands of director Ján Sebechlebský, SECRET DELIVERY became a solid historical narrative.

Rand Beiruty about TELL THEM ABOUT US

“It’s their life and they don’t owe me anything”

Rand Beiruty delivers on the promise of her film title: she tells us about them. She herself describes the concept of the film as follows: “TELL THEM ABOUT US follows a group of young girls, mostly Arab, with one Kurdish and one Roma girl, as they navigate their coming-of-age journey over four years in a German provincial town. The film takes on a collaborative approach by including artistic workshops, in order to prepare a series of scenes in which they stage their dreams in front of the camera.” We get an insight into the social background of the main characters, and into the strength they draw from their friendship. Beiruty: “For me this title transmits an attitude: we’re here and this is our story!”

Nika Saravanja & Stephen Otieno Owino about JUMP OUT

“Doing a backflip is all about avoiding falling”

12-year-old Ian, his brother Marcus and their friend Promise are growing up in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. They share the same playground and the same dream: to become acrobats, for which they exercise outdoors, in the open squares between the city’s blocks of houses. And they dream of travelling around the world, following in the footsteps of their older local heroes, who train them in performing their tricks and teach them a notion of both safety and showmanship.

Asli Özarslan about ELBOW

“Anger can be a positive thing if you can localise it”

The least you can say about director Asli Özarslan, is that she took some brave decisions. In her first fiction feature – a German-Turkish-French co-production – she decided to work with an amateur actress on the adaptation of a novel by Fatma Aydemir. ELBOW premiered in 2024 at the Berlinale, and has provoked a lot of discussion. Asli Özarslan: “That’s what the film was designed to do from the outset; it should encourage dialogue.”

Aldan Baimakhanov about MIKA

“A goldfish named Herman Hesse”

Seven-year-old orphan Mika lives in the city with her grandfather. Wherever they go, people are charmed by the odd couple. Until embittered top model Dayana lays her eye on the little girl, who carries an amiable purity. The lives of both ladies – big and small – suddenly take a new turn, for better or worse. MIKA by young director Aldan Baimakhanov (Kazakhstan) bears the signature of a director who observes the little things of life full of wonder, with a great sense of absurdity…

Franco García Becerra over RAIZ

“Like the landscape: strong, and firmly anchored”

Feliciano’s number one passion is football. He even named his alpaca after his favourite player, Ronaldo! Feliciano is overjoyed when he hears that Peru can qualify for the World Cup, but there is not much time to dream. His father gave him a task to fulfil: to take care of the alpacas in the mountains. But modern machinery threatens both his dream and his job. RAIZ doesn’t draw from the excitement of football stages, but from the silence of the mountains, where life slips by slowly, like the clouds that hang around the heads of the people living on the highest Andes peaks.

Gints Zilbalodis about FLOW

“If I could choose, I’d prefer to be the capybara”

The Estonian animated film FLOW proves that you can ignore existing success formulas, make a film that goes straight against the grain, and still be successful. A film with only animal characters, without dialogue, with lots of silence, set in a world we hardly recognise as our own. At least 60% of the film takes place aboard a boat! Still, initial box office results suggest the best. With his previous film AWAY, Gints Zilbalodis established his reputation as a loner. For FLOW, he is at the helm of a team of animators to create this epic adventure.

Mascha Halberstad about FOX & HARE SAVE THE FOREST

“A bad character is the nicest thing you can wish for”

Fox and Hare are a beloved IP in the Low Countries: parents read their stories at bedtime, children watch the series on television… But for their big screen debut, the merry fox and hare aspire to the international screens, together with their forest friends: the timid Owl, the powerhouse Tusk, the sneaky Jack, Mermaid and Pingwin… They find a common opponent in Beaver, who threatens to flood the forest with a dam surrounding his imposing beaver castle.