The festival season is in full swing, but the ECFA Awards are only slowly trickling in. Recently two ECFA Awards were given to two special, unique films.
In the Schlingel Festival in Chemnitz, Germany, the ECFA Award went to JUNIORS (Hugo Thomas, France), “an original story, balancing between drama and entertainment. It shows that for every lie there is a price to pay. The film raises important questions about material and moral values that call for further reflection and discussion.”
The ECFA Jury were Andrey Hadjivasilev (Bulgaria), Marta Kraus (Poland), and Annette Schimmelpfennig (Germany).
In the Int’l Festival Young Horizons in Warsaw, Wrocław and other cities across Poland, the ECFA Award went to SEA SPARKLE (Domien Huyghe, Belgium). “The universal theme, in the true meaning of the word, is beautifully conveyed with heartfelt authenticity, but the director doesn’t shy from sheer fiction when it is the best way for the protagonist to finish her – and our – very emotional journey.”
The ECFA jury were Markéta Pášmová (Czech Republic), Janne Vierth (Sweden), and Kärt Väinola (Estonia).
A remarkable festival title was the Polish film THE DOG WHO TRAVELLED BY TRAIN (Magdalena Nieć), a story about Zuzia, a young girl with a heart disease, and a dog named Lampo that came into her life and changed it forever. The film came 2nd in the Audience Award (that went to the German SCHOOL OF MAGICAL ANIMALS. THE SCHOOLYARD MYSTERY by Sven Unterwaldt Jr.), won the prize of the Polish Authors Association and received a Special Mention from the ECFA Jury.