During the ECFA Exchange sessions (28-29 September), hosted by the SCHLINGEL Festival in Chemnitz, Germany, directors, producers, distributors, and festival programmers from 10 European countries gathered on stage for an intensive exchange of information, data, and perspectives based on case studies. The main goal was to “take children’s film and media seriously”.
Among the speakers were two young directors, whose films celebrated their international premieres in SCHLINGEL; Tõnis Pill (FRÄNK, Estonia) and Elin Grönblom (ELLA AND FRIENDS, Finland) ventured into the mechanisms of the European children’s film market. Grönblom described how the Finnish market is heavily reliant on strong IPs based on famous book series, “which is a massive barrier for financing original children’s films and stifles creative risk-taking, pushing films towards a specific ‘colourful and fast-edited’ style.”
Experienced producers like Philipp Budweg (Germany) and Jan Fronek (Czech Republic) highlighted coproduction and support schemes within their respective countries as tools for successful innovation. Award-winning director Mariusz Pale (Poland) shared the example of his film BEHIND THE BLUE DOOR (2016), a landmark in the “new wave of Polish children’s film”, achieving 250,000 admissions, when distributors predicted a massive failure. Since then, Pale has continued to try to expand his success in children’s cinema.
In another session of the ECFA Exchange, Catalan distributor Alfred Sesma examined whether Southern Europe is subject to the same market developments and trends. Sesma described the recent rise of Spanish animation films for children and highlighted the importance of minority language traditions as a launchpad for creating awareness. The debate also uncovered a very different perspective on how the existence of “children’s films” is evaluated on both sides of the continent.
ECFA President Pantelis Panteloglou and Board member Marta Jodko joined the panel for the discussion, moderated by Mariella Harpelunde Jensen, their fellow ECFA Board member. Over the coming weeks, ECFA’s social media channels and Journal will provide more in-depth insights into the specific ECFA Exchange sessions.
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Copyright: IFF SCHLiNGEL / Photography Daniela Schleich