No. 1 / 2016 ECFA AWARD 2016 Nine films have been nominated for the ECFA Award 2016 and one of FEBRUARY them will soon be crowned as the ‘Best European Children’s Film’ of the year. All ECFA members have now cast their votes and the winner will be announced at the Berlinale on February 13th. The nominees are:

JACK SONG OF THE SEA ENCLAVE Edward Berger, Germany Tomm Moore, Ireland, Luxembourg, Goran Radovanovic, Serbia, Germany Awarded in the Youth Film Festival Denmark, Belgium Awarded in Schlingel Film Festival for Flanders, Antwerp & Bruges. Awarded in Festival Ciné-Jeune de Children & Young Audience, Chemnitz l’Aisne, St.-Quentin and the Kristiansand Int. Children’s Film Festival

X + Y BIRDS OF PASSAGE LIFE ACCORDING TO NINO Morgan Matthews, UK Olivier Ringer, Belgium, France Simone van Dusseldorp, Netherlands, Awarded in BUFF Filmfestival, Malmö. Awarded in the Zlin Film Festival for Belgium Children & Youth and KINOdiseea, Awarded in the Ale Kino! Festival, Bucharest Poznan

OPERATION ARCTIC ABOUT A GIRL THE SEVEN RAVENS Grethe Bøe-Waal, Norway Mark Monheim, Germany Alice Nellis, Czech Republic, Slovakia Awarded in the Oulu Children & Youth Awarded in Lucas Children’s Film Awarded in the Olympia Youth Film Film Festival and in FIFEM, Montréal Festival, Frankfurt am Main Festival, Pyrgos

ECFA’s Annual General Meeting Come and meet many new and well-known faces at ECFA’s Annual General Meeting on Saturday 13 February at 16.00 in a new location: the Vertretung des Freistaates Sachsen beim Bund, Brüderstraße 11, 15 minutes walking from Potsdamer Platz. After the AGM there will be food, drinks and room to mingle at the ECFA Award Ceremony during the ‘Treffen der Kinderfilmszene’, co-hosted by ECFA. Get your invitation and join us at the ECFA party!

ECFA Journal No. 1 - 2016 - 1 - The News Section: MOVING IMAGES Film, impairments and the re-presentation of disability Films, Awards, Festivals and Many films have disabled adults and children in them, and there has been some other events research on how disabled people are represented in films over the last fifteen Juniorfest – Int. Festival for Children years. However, few people have questioned how children understand images of & Youth; Horsovsky Tyn & Pilsen & disability. In response to this lack of knowledge - as two researchers of film and Dobřany, Czech Republic disability, working at Leeds Beckett University - we sought to investigate these Best Feature for Children -10: “Secret Soci- areas. We believed this would provide important insights into how children form ety of Souptown” by Margus Paju, Estonia, their attitudes to disability, particularly in terms of the ways film contribute to 2015; children’s developing opinions. Best Feature for Children 11-13 years: “Lit- Since we were unable to be certain of the tle Gangster” by Arne Toonen, The Nether- familiarity of students with subtitled presen- lands, 2015. tations, we avoided non-English language www.juniorfest.cz films. Also the age of the students (ap- prox. 13) limited the certificates that could Interfilm Short Film Festival: KuKi; Ber- be shown. We chose three films that were lin, Germany age-appropriate and disability-centred, two Best Shorts for Children, 1st: „Johnny Ex- more recent REAR WINDOW (1998) and press“ by Kyungmin Woo, South Korea, FINDING NEMO (2003), and one older 2014; 2nd: „Opossum“ by Paul Cichon, Freaks FREAKS (1932), allowing the opportunity Germany, 2014. for historical comparisons and reflections people’s lives portrayed in this remake, Best Shorts for Teenagers, 1st: „Overpass“ on the evolution of film techniques as well a film which also allowed them to see by Patrice Laliberté, Canada, 2015; 2nd: as images. The inclusion of NEMO also al- the importance intersections of wealth, „Flea“ by Vanessa Caswill, UK, 2014. lowed the discussion of the merits, or other- gender, social/cultural capital and social Audience Award, Best Documentary for wise, of disability imagery in animation. class with disability. FINDING NEMO Children: „Giovanni and the Water Ballet“ was the film which allowed them to look by Astrid Bussink, The Netherlands, 2014. The post-viewing discussions allowed the most closely at disability in childhood, es- Best Short Films for Schools, 1st: „Tryouts“ students to explore their own experiences pecially in terms of issues such as pro- by Susana Casares Domingo, USA, 2013; of disability as well as comment on the films tection, autonomy and exclusion. 2nd: „9 Meter“ by Anders Walter, Denmark, directly. Several main themes emerged, as 2013. students were able to reflect on the evolu- If you are interested in finding out more www.interfilm.de tion of the appearance in and representa- about our project and our publications on tion of disability in film, and their relation to this research, please email Alison Wilde KINOdiseea – Int. Children’s Film Festi- changing cultural attitudes. FREAKS posed at: [email protected]. (Alison val; Bucharest, Romania the most radical challenge to their assump- Wilde & Stephen Millett) Professional Jury: Best Film: “Labyrinthus” tions of disability and impairment – particu- by Douglas Boswell, Belgium, 2014. Dr Alison Wilde does research (especial- larly in their surprise that disabled people ECFA Award: “Birds of Passage” by Olivier ly on media and disability) and teaches were able to adapt to their circumstances Ringer, Belgium & France, 2015. in Childhood Studies at Leeds Beckett to become competent in areas they would Children Jury: “Paw” by Robert-Adrian University. Dr Stephen Millett is an Inde- have presumed impossible. Although they Pejo, Hungary, 2015. pendent Researcher. This project was tended to find REAR WINDOW the least Audience Award: “Molly Moon and the In- funded by Leeds Beckett and is expected engaging film, they were still eager to dis- credible Book of Hypnotism” by Christo- to be the pilot stage of a wider investiga- cuss the enabling role of technology in pher N. Rowley, UK, 2015. tion into children, disability and film. Short Film 3 - 6: “Llama Drama” by Pablo Vazquez, Argentine, 2013. Short Film 6 - 9: “Freeze” by Maria Peters, DOXSPOT The Netherlands, 2015. Short Film 9 - 12: “The Lion and the Brave Mouse” by Els van Driel, The Netherlands, HOME SWEET HOME 2014. “I didn’t know anything about Denmark. Just Short Film 12 - 15: “Nelly” by Chris Raiber, that it is totally different than Malaysia.” For Austria, 2014. the 10 year old Salimah everything is new www.kinodiseea.ro after her arrival at the Danish airport, her Children & Youth Film Festival Just previous home 9782 km away. Now she Film; Tallinn, Estonia arrives in a different climate, with foreign Source Info: doxs! festival for children & Int. Jury’s Award: „14+“ by Andrey Zaytsev, smells, sounds, colours and many unknown youth documentaries, www.do-xs.de. Russia, 2015. faces. Her father and sister welcome her Contact: Gudrun Sommer & Julia Nies- Young People Jury’s Award: „Heroes of but they are also strangers – Samilah was sen, [email protected]. Evil“ by Zoe Berriatúa, Spain, 2015. just 1 year old when they left Malaysia. For Children Jury’s Award: „You’re Ugly, Too“ the first time she has the chance to build up doxs! festival for children & by Mark Noonan, UK, 2015. a relationship with her family. But will she youth documentaries is dedicated Special Award: „Operation Arctic“ by be able to adapt to the new surroundings in to children & youth documentaries, Grethe Bøe-Waal, Norway, 2014. Denmark? A fresh start with mixed feelings. doxs! supports a unique mission: pre- Grand Prix of the Children’s Rights Jury: Director, Script: Katrine Philp senting contemporary European docu- „The Mask You Live In“ by Jennifer Siebel Denmark, 2015, 26’ mentaries with the aim to create a pro- Newsom, USA, 2015. Camera: Katrine Philp, Talib Rasmussen, found dialogue between filmmakers www.justfilm.ee Sturla Brandth Grøvlen and young audiences. Doxs! is em- Golden Elephant Int. Children’s Film Production: Good Company Pictures bedded in the Duisburger Filmwoche. Festival (ICFFI); Hyderabad, India Contact: Katrine Sahlstrøm: www.do-xs.de. Adult Jury: Best Feature: “Celestial Camel” [email protected]; www.goodcompanypictures.com

ECFA Journal No. 1 - 2016 - 2 - TONDO Adult Jury: Best Feature: “Celestial Camel” In Script Lab development by Jury Feting, Russia, 2015, also awarded as Best Director. Best Animated Feature: The Cinekid Script Lab teams up the authors of 7 children’s film scripts in devel- “Song of the Sea” by Tomm Moore, Ireland, opment with highly experienced script coaches over a course of four months. Luxembourg, Denmark & Belgium, 2014. During the Berlinale it’s showdown time! We asked Bianca Boege and Hilde Hag- Best Animated Short: “Bear Story” by Ga- erup, Norwegian authors of TONDO, one of the projects in development, how they briel Osorio, Chile, 2014. experienced this process. Children Jury: Best Feature: “Labyrinthus” Amber Nefkens (Cinekid): “You can divide by Douglas Boswell, Belgium, 2014. Best the process into three key moments: Short: “Matilde” by Vito Palmieri, Italy, - During the Cinekid Festival the partici- 2012. Best Animated Feature: “Song of the pants and three coaches (Rasmus Holsk- Sea”. Best Animated Short: “A Town Called jaer, Boudewijn Koole and Jolein Laarman) Panic” by Vincent Patar & Stéphane Au- meet for the first time. The authors also bier, Belgium & France, 2013. evaluate each other’s projects, so the feed- www.cfsindia.org back is very diverse. Castellinaria Festival Int. del Cinema - Until January the coaches and authors bination! Boudewijn put the script aside Giovane; Bellinzona, Switzerland keep in touch, monitoring all steps of the for the first half of the workshop, concen- Competition 6 - 15: Best Films, 1st: „The creative process. trating on us writers. He systematically Little Prince“ by , France - To finalise the project, authors and coach- stripped the script of characters, find- & USA, 2015. 2nd: „My Skinny Sister“ by es meet again at the Berlinale’s Talent ing out how few we needed to make the Sanna Lenken, Sweden & Germany, 2015. Campus.” story work. Henrik and Ted were chipping 3rd: „Microbe and Gasoline” by Michel What’s the importance of your presence in in constantly. They have a great eye for Gondry, France, 2015. Berlin? Nefkens: “The Berlinale Genera- comedy. For us, this mix of philosophical Aspi Award: „Iqbal: Fearless Child” by tion programme is the perfect environment and hands-on input was a real boost. We Michel Fuzellier & Babak Payami, Italy & for participants to show themselves to the created a new tweaked synopsis in one France, 2015. industry. The festival is an inspiring place, week and finished the next draft.” Competition 16 - 20: Best film: „Mustang“ by Deniz Gamze Ergüven, France, Turkey, as we can invite festival guests (producers, How will this project evolve? Germany & Qatar, 2015. sales agents...) to share experiences and Boege & Hagerup: “We have Norwe- Life Quality Award: „La Bella Gente“ by advise our authors.” gian production company Maipo Film Ivano De Matteo, Italy, 2009. and producer Kristin Ulseth on board. TONDO, a feature film script by Bianca Utopia Award: „Maybe Tomorrow“ by Alex Together we’ll pick a director. Then we’ll Boege & Hilde Hagerup is a project running K. Lee, France & Austria, 2013. seek production funds and possibly find in this year’s Cinekid Script Lab. Best Short: „Yaar“ by Simon Gillard, Bel- a European co-producer. Although set Bianca Boege & Hilde Hagerup: “TONDO is gium, 2014. in a suburban community outside Oslo, about the most super-secret and spectacu- Audience Awards: Best Feature: „Standing this story is very universal. Most coun- lar martial arts in the world. Noah (8) adores Tall“ by Emmanuelle Bercot, France, 2015. tries are familiar with exotic martial arts his brother Adrian (10), and together they Best Short: Inspection“ by Gala Sukhano- practiced in local run-down sports halls. practice their tondo-skills, a mixture of sumo va, Russia, 2014. There is a certain poetry to this image. wrestling and taekwondo, but with higher www.castellinaria.ch kicks and louder screaming. When Adrian We would love to find a high profile actor finds a new friend, he suddenly thinks tondo with a martial arts background for the role Int. Children’s Film Festival; Vienna, is embarrassingly childish. Now Noah only of tondo master Toshiba Ten.” Austria has grandma to practice with. He soon finds Amber Nefkens: “The Script LAB projects Children’s Jury Award: “Rainbow” by out that tondo isn’t a game at all. It is, in fact, can eventually seek financing and co- Nagesh Kukunoor, India. very real and very dangerous! TONDO is production partners through the Cinekid UNICEF Award: “Confetti Harvest” by Tal- about the magic of childhood and how you Junior Co-production Market and, in a lulah Hazekamp Schwab, The Netherlands must fight not to lose it when growing up.” later phase, be screened at the festi- & Belgium, 2014. val. In this way Cinekid contributes to Audience Award: „Song of the Sea“. How did the work in the Script Lab influ- the full cycle of a project. Now seeing www.kinderfilmfestival.at ence the script? BLUE BICYCLE, SIV SLEEPS ASTRAY Boege & Hagerup: “The enthusiasm of and YOUNG WRESTLERS entering the Film Festival; Zagreb, Croatia other writers and mentors was a real inspi- film market, we’re so happy to know that Best Film in section for young people: ration. It confirmed our idea that this story Cinekid helped those films being made.” “Prince” by Sam de Jong, The Netherlands, is very international, and we could see how 2015. the comedy elements really worked. We al- How would you evaluate the useful- Audience Award: “The New Kid” by Rudi ways wanted to tell Noah’s story, but a lot of ness of projects like the Script Lab? Rosenberg, France, 2015. side characters were taking up space and Boege & Hagerup: “Writing can be a www.zff.hr shifting the film’s focus. Through the Lab lonely exercise. Participating in the Script Lab is great at any point in the develop- El Meu Primer Festival; Barcelona, we got encouraged to focus on the real core Spain of the film – childhood vs. adulthood – and ment process. When bringing together so many creative people, and creating Audience Awards: 2 +: “Zebra” by Julia understood how Noah could drive the story Ocker, Germany, 2013. 4 +: “Wombo” by forwards. As a result, we now have fewer an atmosphere where everybody feels secured, this opens up very dynamic col- Daniel Acht, Germany, 2013. 7 +: “Tigers characters and a stronger lead. With profes- Tied Up in One Rope” by Benoit Chieux, sionals from seven different countries react- laborations. Our experience is that film writers are incredibly generous, and hap- France, 2014. ing quite similar to our story, we gained a Jury’s Awards: 4 +: “The New Species” great feeling of ‘being on the right track’.” py to share ideas. Basically, we all had the same goal: to make all the scripts the by Kateřina Karhánková, Czech Republic, How did you cooperate with your coach? best they could possibly be.” (GH) 2013. 7 +: “About a Mother” by Dina Ve- Boege & Hagerup: “Our mentor was likovskaya, Russia, 2015. Boudewijn Koole, which was a real treat, Contact Cinekid Script Lab: Nienke www.elmeuprimerfestival.com/?lg=2 as we both love KAUWBOY. We received Poelsma (Head of Cinekid for Profes- additional input from the Swedish authors sionals) & Amber Nefkens (Producer Henrik Stahl and Ted Kjellson, a great com- Script LAB), [email protected].

ECFA Journal No. 1 - 2016 - 3 - Int. Children’s & Youth Film Festival; PRODUCTION Oulu, Finland Children Jury, Best Films, 1st: “Little Gang- ster” by Arne Toonen, The Netherlands, FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE 2015; 2nd: “The Island of Secrets” by Taavi FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE (original title: ENTE GUT! MÄD- Vartia, Finland, 2014; 3rd: „Oddball” by Stu- CHEN ALLEIN ZU HAUS) is a new project within the context of the art McDonald, Australia, 2015. ‘Besondere Kinderfilm’ support plan for German children’s film. Young People Jury: “Fair Play” by Andrea Sedlácková, Czech Republic, 2014. Vietnamese sisters Linh and Tien, living in the German city of Halle, ECFA Award: “Operation Arctic” by Grethe are suddenly forced to take care for themselves, when their mother is Bøe-Waal, Norway, 2014. compelled to return to their homeland to deal with an urgent matter. Church Media Foundation’s Award for Best Of course nobody must know about this – especially not the German Finnish Short or Feature: “If I Ruled” by Jen- youth welfare service. But then Pauline, a solitary girl next door, dis- ni Kangasniemi & Aino Suni, Finland, 2015. covers the secret and threatens to reveal it. The initial conflict between www.oulunelokuvakeskus.fi/lef the girls grows into a true friendship that is put to the test when the authorities are slowly starting to see through their game. Int. Documentary Film Festival IDFA; Amsterdam, The Netherlands Casting the German-Vietnamese main actresses was a difficult process, according to direc- Award for Best Documentary for Children: tor Norbert Lechner. “We did castings, visited schools, etc. but found it difficult to get access „Ninnoc” by Niki Padidar, The Netherlands, to the Vietnamese community. That changed when we did a street casting in Berlin, handing 2015. out flyers in Vietnamese. We quickly found two perfectly suitable girls. For the adult charac- www.idfa.nl ters we invited Vietnamese actors to work with us, popular superstars in their homeland.” Int. Film Festival, Children’s & Teenag- Lechner travelled to Vietnam for some on-the-spot research on atmosphere, colours, etc. ers’ Section “Enfant Terribles”; Gijon, “Vietnamese immigrants often hold on to the decorations from their homeland. Two colours Spain dominate the homes of German-Vietnamese people: green and pink-red. This was the Audience Award for Best Film - 12: „The In- basis of the colour concept that we consistently maintained throughout the movie.” On the visible Boy” by Gabriele Salvatores, Italia, other hand there is Pauline’s quasi-Hitchcockian apartment, with lots of windows, through 2014. which in ‘Rear Window’ style she keeps an eye on the neighborhood. Another location is a Audience Award for Best Film + 13: „Des- Vietnamese restaurant, “We converted an existing restaurant, as such locations often carry sau Dancers” by Jan Martin Scharf, Ger- a certain sense of tristesse we tried to cheer up the place with original Vietnamese design many, 2014. elements, even if the result seen through western eyes might look somewhat cheesy.” Young People Jury: Best Feature: „Nasty FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE, a production by Kevin Lee Film (supported by German Baby” by Sebastián Silva, USA, 2014. Best children’s television), was shot last summer and will have its German release in May 2016. Short: „Madam Black“ by Ivan Barge, New Zealand, 2015. World Sales: Attraction Distribution, [email protected]; www.gijonfilmfestival.com www.attractiondistribution.ca; http://entegut.weebly.com Kodomo Int. Film Festival; Okinawa, Ja- pan Grand Prix: “Lola on the Pea” by Thomas OTTAL Heinemann, Germany, 2014. OTTAL has been sweeping the top awards www.kiffo.kukuruvision.com at all Indian festivals, including the children’s Festival Int. de Cinéma du grain à dé- jury prize at the Mumbai Film Festival. moudre; Gonfreville l’Orcher, France Monica Wahi, curator of the section: “Jury Jury’s Grand Prix: Best Long Film: „Sleep- members aged 9-15 voted unanimously. ing Giant“ by Andrew Cividino, Canada, They were moved by Kuttapayi’s deeply 2015. Best Short: „Perrault, La Fontaine, felt earnest relationships– with his grandfa- My Ass!“ by Zoran & Ludovic Boukherma, ther and with the river itself. The reality of Hugo P. Thomas, France, 2014. middle class children in Mumbai is so far Audience Awards: Best Long Film: „The Indian director Jayaraj Nair’s 40th (!) film removed from that of Kuttapayi – both from Here After“ by Magnus von Horn, Sweden, OTTAL (The Trap, an adaptation of Anton that kind of vulnerable poverty but also from 2015. Best Short: „Father“ by Lotfi Achour, Chekhov’s short story ‘Vanka’) is selected that beautiful expanse of nature. At the heart Tunisia & France, for the Berlinale’s Generation section. The of the film lies a deep sense of respect for Awards of Young People’s Juries: Best Long film, set in the backwaters of Kerala, de- those who lead difficult lives at the margins Films: „Krisha“ by Ted Edwards Shults, picts the bond between an old duck herder of our society.” USA, 2015; „Sleeping Giant“. Best Shorts: and his grandson Kuttappayi, destined to The film tenderly captures scenes from vil- „Lukas and the Aspies“ by Anders Gustafs- work in a fireworks factory far from home. lage life: the small talk on porches, the wa- son, Denmark, 2015; „Crocodile“ by Gaëlle OTTAL tells about Kuttappayi’s loss of ter lily’s blooming on the lake under a starlit Denis, UK, 2014. childhood, and about the abundance of sky, the coming and going of characters that www.dugrainademoudre.net beauty that he is going to be deprived of add a charm to the languid rural life, like a Int. Children’s Film Festival; Graz, when he’ll work in the city. postman who never delivers a single letter Liezen, Kapfenberg, Eibiswald, Austria OTTAL radiates a beauty that is pure and and an old angler who never catches a fish. Award of the Children’s Jury: “Operation natural, showcasing the subdued splendor Such scenes profit from the appearance of Arctic”. of Kerala, captured in languorous shots. K Vasudevan, playing the grandfather. One Audience Award: “The Christmas Family” True to its tradition, the film breathes hon- afternoon, while director Jayaraj Nair was by Carsten Rudolf, Denmark, 2014. est authenticity. Watching OTTAL you’ll feel on a boat on a lake in Kerala, he noticed an www.kinderfilmfestival.at/steiermark like a privileged witness of something hap- elderly fisherman with a luxurious salt-and- pepper handlebar moustache approaching. Olympia International Film Festival for pening, something very special in its own When his eyes fell on fisherman K Vasude- Children and Young People smallness and modesty. The film is driven van, the filmmaker decided to do away with Pyrgos, Greece by a deep and touching love between an the audition routine as his lead actor just Int. Jury Awards: Best Feature: „14+“ by An- old man and his grandson, but also the love for beauty, dignity, and education. “rowed his way into the project”. (GH)

ECFA Journal No. 1 - 2016 - 4 - FESTIVALS & EVENTS drey Zaytsev, Russia, 2015. Best Short Fic- ANIMAYO INT. FESTIVAL tion: „Milky Brother“ by Vahran Mkhitatyan, Animated Films for Educational Purposes Poland & Armenia, 2014. Best Animation: „Of Shadows and Wings“ by Elice Meng & The Animayo Int. Film Festival of Animation, Special Effects & Videogames will hold its Eleonore Marinoni, Switzerland, 2015. Best 11th edition in Gran Canaria (Spain), in May. The festival, headed by Spanish director Direction & Best Script: Beata Gårdeler for and producer Damian Perea, has positioned itself as one of the major events for creativ- „Flocking“, Sweden, 2015. Best Actress: ity, talent and professional development within its field. Fatime Azemi in „Flocking“. Best Actor: Since its first edition in 2006, Animayo has always fostered its ‘Travelling Educational Gleb Kalyuzhny in „14+“. Festival for Children’, a format that evolved into an educational system that has success- Children Jury’s Awards: Best Feature: fully been tested in Spain, Uruguay, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal. The ‘Animayo Edu- „Labyrinthus“ by Douglas Boswell, Belgium cation System’ is an initiative for didactic training in primary, secondary and high schools. & The Netherlands, 2014. Best Short Fic- tion: „An American Piano“ by Paul Leeming, With more than 200 master classes, workshops, lectures, roundtable debates and projec- Japan, 2014. Best Short Animation: „The tions, the speakers at Animayo are genuine stars from the world of animation and special Present“ by Jacob Frey, Germany, 2014. effects like Max Howard (THE LION KING, THE LITTLE MERMAID, WHO FRAMED ECFA Award: „The Seven Ravens“ by Alice ROGER RABBIT?), Craig Miller (STAR WARS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK), Carlos Nellis, Czech Republic, 2015. Saldanha (ICE AGE), Alexander Petrov (THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA), Tobías Man- CIFEJ Award: „Birds of Passage“ by Olivier newitz (GAME OF THRONES), Bill Plympton (GUIDE DOG) among many others. Ringer, Belgium & France, 2015. Animayo receives more than 1500 competing films each year, of which around 100 titles Kids & Docs competition, Int. Jury Awards: are selected for the Festival. Those films have been showcased worldwide, in a range of Best Documentary: „The Living Fire“ by Os- places from Dreamworks and Walt Disney Animation to festivals in Uruguay, Netherlands tap Kostyu, Ukraine, 2014. Best Short Doc- and Spain, from universities (Berlin, Lisbon) to Film Academies (American Film Institute, umentary: „To School“ by Soe Moe Aung, Los Angeles Film School, Spanish Film Academy). Myanmar, 2015. Contact: Damian Perea, Animayo Int. Film Festival of Animations, Visual Effects & Video- Kids & Docs competition, Children Jury’s games, [email protected], www.animayo.com. Awards: Best Documentary: „A Brave Bunch, The Uprising through Children’s Eyes“ by Tomasz Stankiewicz, Poland, 2015. Best Short Documentary: „No Can- MOVING CINEMA: A COMMITMENT FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE dies From Heaven“ by Vangelis Kalam- Moving Cinema (www.movingcinema.eu) is a bakas, Greece, 2014. European project, based on the experiences www.olympiafestival.gr generated in A Bao A Qu’s programme ‘Cinema Int. Young Audience Film Festival Ale en Curs’ (Spain). Moving Cinema was initiated Kino!; Poznan, Poland in 2014 with two qualified partners in film peda- Jury’s Awards: Best Feature for Children: gogy: Meno Avilys (Lithuania) and Os Filhos “How to Steal a Dog” by Kim Sung-Ho, de Lumière (Portugal). In 2015 the Centre for South Korea, 2014. Best Feature for Young the Moving Image (Scotland) and La Ciné- People: “Flocking” by Beata Gårdeler, Swe- mathèque Française (France) joined in. Mov- den, 2015. Best Debut: „Surfacing” by Lind- ing Cinema is supported by Creative Europe say McKay, Canada, 2014. MEDIA - Audience Development. Children & Teachers Jury’s Awards: “How to Moving Cinema started with a common desire of all partners: to awaken an interest in Steal a Dog”. European cinema –particularly in contemporary and art-house cinema– among young ECFA Award: “Life According to Nino” by people and to develop their capacities to enjoy it. The project is based on a threefold Simone van Dusseldorp, Netherlands, conviction: 2014. - That young people can feel personally addressed by films that talk about their and our Other awards went to „Mustang” by Deniz lives; Gamze Ergüven, France, Germany Tur- - That young people are sensitive to cinematographic styles and recognise filmmaker’s key & Quatar, 2015, and “Secret Society of choices; Souptown” by Margus Paju, Estonia, 2015. - That this encounter should take place between the ages of 10-18, when long-lasting www.alekino.com passions and habits are awoken. Forthcoming festivals & From these convictions we define our general objectives: - To awaken interest in European cinema among young people; events - To connect them with spaces devoted to cinema; Europees Jeugdfilmfestival Vlaanderen; - To make cinema a personal experience (cinema entering their lives); Antwerp, Brugge, Gent & Kortrijk, Bel- - To generate cultural habits for the present and the future. gium January 31 - February 14th 2016 With these objectives we explore five strands of work: screenings and Q&A’s; young www.jeugdfilmfestival.be programmers; film practices with mobile devices; discovering films on VoD platforms, and ‘Inside Cinema’, an online platform for discovering films through ‘making of’ material. Cine Junior; Val de Marne, France February 3 - 16th 2016 These actions are the starting point for Moving Cinema’s other objective: to analyse our www.cinemapublic.org methodologies in order to define working models and share strategies (as you can find on www.movingcinema.eu). Simultaneously, all participants share their experiences through Anima – Int. Animation Film Festival; a Blog: ‘We’re Moving Cinema’. We also conduct training sessions in the countries of all Brussels, Belgium project partners or other European countries. February 5 to 14th 2016 www.animafestival.be Through its activities, Moving Cinema is building a network of festivals, cinemas, schools, institutions, teachers and filmmakers, sharing their desire to make cinema reach out to Int. Filmfestival Generation; Berlin, Ger- young people as a vital, living art form. many Contact: Núria Aidelman, [email protected]; www.movingcinema.eu. February 11 - 21th 2016 Facebook: Moving Cinema; Twitter: MovingCinema_ www.berlinale.de

ECFA Journal No. 1 - 2016 - 5 - Youth Film Festival; Glasgow, Scot- FILM HISTORY, FUTURE AUDIENCE land February 12 - 15th 2016 There is no need in convincing you that www.glasgowfilm.org/gyff film is one of the century’s most influ- ential media. Many of us watch film to SehPferdchen – Kinderfilmfest; Han- have an aesthetic experience, to get an nover, Germany insight into culture or in new ways of February 21 - March 2nd 2016 thinking. If you want to be up to date www.filmfest-sehpferdchen.de on social media, you rush into the latest City Film Festival; Luxembourg box office hit. So why should anybody February 25 - March 6th 2016 watch old films? As Bordwell & Thomp- people. If you want them to be engaged with www.luxfilmfest.lu son point out in their ‘Film History, an film history, be engaged with them. Learn introduction’ (1993): “for one thing, about their goals and the possible similari- Int. Children’s Film Festival; New York, they offer the same sort of insights ties with yours, visit places where you’ll find USA that we get from watching contempo- them (offline and online) and where they can February 26 - March 20th 2016 rary movies. Some offer intense artis- find you. www..com tic experiences or penetrating visions of life in other times and places. Some ABCinema is a European collaboration in Int. Children’s Film Festival FIFEM; of them are documents of everyday ex- which EYE participates, together with Cine- Montreal, Canada istence, or of extraordinary historical teca Bologna (IT), Cinematek (BE), Water- February 27 - March 6th 2016 events which continue to reverberate in shed (UK), Deutsche Filminstitut (DE), and www.fifem.com our times.” Les Enfants du Cinema (FR). ABCinema Cartoon Movie; Lyon, France started in September 2014 with the objective For a film archive and film museum like March 2 - 4th 2016 to explore new approaches to film literacy, EYE (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), the www.cartoon-media.eu inspiring the next generation of movie goers value of film history is evident. By study- to get curious about cinema as an art form ing old films, one can discover how films Youngabout – Int. Film Festival for and as part of Europe’s cultural memory. AB- were made and received. But there is Young People; Bologna, Italy Cinema’s key tasks are to: March 5 - 12th 2016 more. One can also discover traces of so- - R&D into young audience development www.youngabout.com cial and cultural elements of the society in - create an online catalogue of film literacy a particular time. EYE is sometimes called activities related to film titles BUFF Film Festival; Malmö, Sweden ‘the cinematic memory of the Netherlands’. March 14 - 19th 2016 - editorialize contents (focus on movies, con- But EYE does not only focus on the past: Financing Forum: March 15 - 17th textualization, educational tools…) it also closely follows the latest develop- ThinkJam at the Open Industry Day: - engage children, young people and teach- ments in film. The concept of history only March 15 - 16th ers in the development of the catalogue and exists with the idea of today and tomorrow. www.buff.se in “hands-on” activities about cinema. How to engage young people with films The whole range of performed activities and Cine-Jeune – Festival Int. de Cinéma; from different periods? This is one ques- film titles is included into the online cata- Department of Aisne, France tion that the educational department of logue, which will be further developed and March 21 - April 23rd 2016 EYE is dealing with. Since the opening of increased in the second year of the project. www.cinejeune02.wordpress.com the museum in 2012, EYE has organised Up to September 2016 we’ll focus on the many activities for young and old, often Young People’s Film Festival; Leeds, role of peers as ambassadors in engaging successful. Children and young adults UK young audiences with old films. All partners enjoyed watching old films, created new March 24 - 31st 2016 will share their experiences; EYE will focus projects with old films and delved into film www.leedsyoungfilm.com on our work with young adults aged 12-30. pioneers such as Oskar Fischinger, Fed- Where did we find them and where can they TIFF Kids – Int. Film Festival; Toronto, erico Fellini and Jean Desmet. Canada find us? How did we communicate? How do April 8 - 26th 2016 The best lesson learned: collaborate. It is we integrate their goals into joint activities? www.tiff.net/festivals/tiffkidsfestival in our nature to find partners similar to our (Florine Wiebenga) organisation. They speak the same lan- More info: Florine Wiebenga, head of edu- Int. Film Festival Junior; Stockholm, guage, and pursue the same goals. But cation at EYE, FlorineWiebenga@eyefilm. Sweden sometimes it is more effective to find a nl; www.eyefilm.nl/en; https://www.facebook. April 11 - 16th 2016 new sort of partners. Especially if you are com/eyefilm; https://twitter.com/EYE_film. www.stockholmfilmfestival.se/sv/junior/ creating activities for schools and young Filmfest – Int. Festival for Animation & Short Films; Dresden, Germany April 12 - 17th 2016 Film Jr.: an exciting new initiative by Montreal’s FIFEM ! www.filmfest-dresden.de For its 19th edition, the Montreal Int. Chil- regions, and qual- Int. Youth Film Festival “Plasencia En- dren’s Film Festival FIFEM is launching ity children films corto”; Plasencia, Spain Film Jr., a new initiative offering qual- are rarely commer- April 14 - 16th 2016 ity family films in 20 cinemas / cities all cially released out- www.plasenciaencorto.com over the Quebec province, every Sunday side the few major morning, all year long. This initiative aims cities. There is a huge demand from regional Int. Children & Youth Animation Film at raising awareness and appreciation cinema owners to offer their audiences ac- Festival; Varaždin, Croatia among young audiences, and spreading cess to rich and diverse films as the ones April 19 - 24th 2016 cultural diversity within Quebec’s regions. screened at FIFEM. www.vafi.hr Film Jr. is a great opportunity for families FIFEM will host a Film Jr. website and will from remote areas, to have access to high Indie Junior; Lisboa, Portugal coordinate a national promotional campaign, quality cinema programming. April 20 - May 1st 2016 to be relayed by each cinema in their local www.indielisboa.com FIFEM has become a major annual meet- media. Launched during the festival, Film Jr. ing for young cinema lovers in Montreal, will start Sunday March 13. but is not accessible to families from other http://fifem.com ECFA Journal No. 1 - 2016 - 6 - FILMS ON THE HORIZON Int. Children’s Film Festival; Kris- tiansand, Norway New European films for children or young people which are ready to be discov- April 26 - May 1st 2016 ered for your programmes. More information and more films can be found atwww. www.barnefilmfestivalen.no/english ecfaweb.org/ecfnet/films.php. Producers, distributors and sales agents are kindly Int. Festival of Animated Films, Section invited to inform us of their new releases. “Tricks for Kids”; Stuttgart, Germany Adventurer’s Club April 26 - May 1st 2016 Feature Film, Poland, 2015 Louis & Nolan – The Big Cheese www.itfs.de Director: Tomasz Szafrański Race Int. Short Film Festival; Oberhausen, Prod. & World Sales: Domino Film Animated Film, Norway, 2015 Germany Sokolska 63A/4, 40-087 Katowice, Poland Director: Rasmus A. Sivertsen May 5 - 10th 2016 Phone: ++48-602-772-778 Production: Maipo Films www.kurzfilmtage.de E-Mail: [email protected] World Sales: Sola Media, Filderhauptstr. www.dominofilm.pl 49, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany Prix Jeunesse Int. - Kinder- und Jugend- Phone: ++49-711-479-36-66 The Blue Bicycle fernsehfestival; Munich, Germany E-Mail: [email protected] May 20 - 25th 2016 Feature Film, Turkey & Germany, 2015 www.sola-media.net www.prixjeunesse.de Director: Ümit Köreken Prod.: Drama Film, Istanbul & Papermoon A Perfect Day to Fly Int. Festival for Children & Youth; Zlin, World Sales: Attraction Distribution Feature Film, Spain, 2015 Czech Republic 5455 De Gaspe Ave., Suite 803, Montreal, Director: Marc Recha May 27 - June 3rd 2016 Quebec, H2T 3B3, Quebec, Canada Prod.: Batabat, TV de Catalunya (TV3), www.zlinfest.cz Phone: ++1-514-846-12-22 TV Española E-Mail: [email protected] World Sales: Latido Films, Calle Veneras Int. Short Film Festival - Children’s Film www.attractiondistribution.ca 9, 3rd Floor, 28013 Madrid, Spain Festival “Mo & Friese”; Hamburg, Ger- Phone: ++34-915-488-877 many The Box E-Mail: [email protected] May 29 - June 6th 2016 Feature Film, Russia, 2015 www.latidofilms.com www.moundfriese.de Director: Eduard Bordukov Prod. & World Sales: Telesto, Mosfilmovs- Iqbal: Fearless Child Goldener Spatz, Deutsches Kinder-Me- kaya 1, 119858 Moscow, Russia Animated Film, Italy, France, 2015 dien-Festival; Erfurt & Gera, Germany Phone: ++7-499-143-94-80 Director: Michel Fuzellier & Babak Payami June 5 - 11th 2016 E-Mail: [email protected]/en Prod. & World Sales: Gertie srl, via www.goldenerspatz.de http://telestofilm.ru/en Giovanni Ricordi 13, 20131 Milano, Italy Phone: ++39-02-83-73-551 Animafest - World Festival of Animated The Here After E-Mail: [email protected] Film; Zagreb, Croatia Feature Film, Sweden, Poland, 2015 www.gertieproduction.com/en June 6 - 11th 2016 Director: Magnus von Horn www.animafest.hr Prod.: Zentropa, Lava, Swedish TV, Cin- Siv Sleeps Astray Plein la Bobine – Sancy Film Festival ema Defacto, Opus Film Feature Film, Sweden, Netherlands, 2016 World Sales: New Europe Film Sales for Young People; Massif du Sancy, La Directors: Catti Edfeldt & Lena Hanno Bourboule & Le Mont-Dore, France Slowicza 12/2, 05-075 Warszawa, Poland Clyne Phone: ++48-503-035-163 June 11 - 17th 2016 Prod.: SnowCloud Films, Gilda Film, Sa- www.pleinlabobine.com E-Mail: [email protected] peri Film, Viking Film, Sveriges TV www.neweuropefilmsales.com; World Sales: Svensk Filmindustri, Greta Int. Animation Film Festival; Annecy, www.the-here-after.com Garbos väg 13, 16936 Solna, Sweden France In Your Dreams Phone: ++46-8-68-035-00 June 13 - 18th 2016 Feature Film, Czech Rep., Slovak Rep., E-Mail: [email protected] www.annecy.org www.sfinternational.se Bulgaria, 2016 Film Festival for Children & Youth “Ki- Director: Petr Oukropec Ted Sieger’s Molly Monster nolub”; Kraków + other cities in South- Production: Negativ, Arina, Ceská Televize, Animated Film, Germany, Sweden, Swit- ern Poland Chouchkov Brothers zerland, 2016 June 19 - 23rd 2016 World Sales: Czech TV, Kavci Hory, 14070 Directors: Matthias Bruhn, Ted Sieger, www.kinolub.pl Praha 4, Czech Rep. Michael Ekblad Phone: ++42-2-61-13-70-47 Prod.: Alexandra Schatz Film, Little Mon- Fest; Espinho, Portugal June 20 - 27th 2016 E-Mail: [email protected] ster, Sluggerfilm, Trickstudio Lutterbeck www.fest.pt Rauf World Sales: Global Screen Sonnenstr. 21, 80331 München, Germany Kinderfilmfest; Munich, Germany Phone: ++49-89-24-41-295-500 June 23 - July 2nd 2016 E-Mail: [email protected] www.filmfest-muenchen.de www.globalscreen.de; www.mollymonster.tv More information on all these festivals you will find on our website: Trenk, the Little Knight www.ecfaweb.org/ecfnet/festivals.php Animated Film, Germany & Austria, 2015 Director: Anthony Power Feature Film, Turkey, 2016 Prod.: Blue Eyes Fiction, WunderWerk, Director: Barış Kaya & Soner Caner Universum, ZDF Prod. & World Sales: Peri Istanbul World Sales: Global Screen Halaskargazi Caddesi No. 168 Kent Apt., See address above Istanbul, Turkey Phone: ++90-212-343-94-24 More information on all these films you E-Mail: [email protected] will find on our website: http://periistanbul.com; www.rauffilm.com www.ecfaweb.org/ecfnet/films.php Iqbal: Fearless Child

ECFA Journal No. 1 - 2016 - 7 - SPOTLIGHT ON TWO ECFA AWARD NOMINEES ABOUT A GIRL OPERATION ARCTIC Martin Rehbock: “A target audience is something that mar- A jealous bear diva keting people come up with” OPERATION ARCTIC was not only one of this year’s most suc- Can a young audience be exposed to limitless misery and cessful festival titles. It’s also a film that tickles your curios- sorrow? Is there a place for modern tragedies such as sui- ity about the circumstances under which it was made. Slove- cide, anorexia or a refugee crisis in this generation of chil- nian ‘Kinodvor’ exposed director Grethe Bøe-Waal and main dren’s films? A key question at the second ‘Int. Exchange’ actress Kaisa Antonsen to the young audience’s most urgent in the Brussels Filem’On Festival was: are there limits to questions. With this result… the themes that can be treated for a young audience? Ger- Where did you shoot the film? man producer and co-author Martin Rehbock explained Grethe Bøe-Waal: Together with the young actors we spent 16 days how to make a light-hearted film about a dark theme. in a very remote fjord in Svalbard (aka Spitsbergen) called Isfjorden, “Director Mark at the end of February, when the sun returns after the winter dark- Monheim and ness. All the cabin scenes were shot there. We used a real hunter’s I wrote a solid cabin and most of the props and costumes were authentic. Other script about a less scenes were shot in Vancouver, Canada, in Bodø in the North of conventional top- Norway and around ic: teenage sui- Oslo. cide.” But ABOUT How about the ice A GIRL is funny bears? Were they and has a fresh real? indie feel about Grethe: Apparently it. Charlie (16) is disappointed in life. One day she decides to there is only one po- make an end to it all, just like that, out of boredom. But her act of lar bear in the world desperation is executed too clumsily, so she finds herself in the trained as an actress. waiting room of a psychiatrist. There she unexpectedly bumps Her name is Aggie, and we found her in Vancouver. Aggie is very into one of her classmates... talented. The trainer could make her roar, sit up straight, stand up... “The film was written by two people, together in one room: me like a dog. But she wasn’t easy to work with: the women in the and Mark, writing during the day and reading aloud in the eve- studio were not allowed to directly address trainer Mark Dumas in ning. We used the concept of FightWrite: while both defend- her presence, otherwise she would get jealous, and the studio tem- ing our ideas, something new might come out of it. Mark would perature permanently had to be under 0° Celsius. The young actors become the director and I would be the producer. So we had never met with Aggie. Polar bears are the world’s most dangerous the usual ‘producer / director fight’ already before we went in predators and I didn’t want to expose them to such danger. We production, which made the shooting much easier. What were filmed the bear separately and then composited the shots together the fights about? Our mutual suspicion that the other one would in post-production. But the mother bear and the two cubs you see stick too stubbornly to his own ideas, of course.” are wild polar bears that we filmed in Svalbard. No CGI bears in our movie! “I might be a bad producer, because I never asked myself: what could be the target audience? A target audience… isn’t that If not with wild polar bears, then were you exposed to any other something for marketing people to come up with? Mark and I dangers? had a 15 year old protagonist, and her parents, and a grandma, Kaisa Antonsen: The most difficult scene to shoot was the one in so we thought: ‘Brilliant... 3 generations! We have a film for ev- which I almost drowned, as I had to work two meters deep in a erybody!’ So the target audience would be: everybody. Try to dark container under a foam block. Mentally that was very tough, sell that to a distributor! Then his next question would be: and the feeling of losing control is claustrophobic. The funniest part was what’s it about? “Uhm... teenage suicide.” At this point the dis- when we filmed the scene with the hunter’s diary, and everybody tributor thinks you’re stark raving mad. Nobody wants to see a started teasing me about my own diary and about boyfriends. You film about that. I do realise how difficult it was to market ABOUT won’t notice it on the screen, but we really had lots of fun. A GIRL, but we didn’t do that bad: we had a fine amount of ad- Tell us some more about yourself, Kaisa. missions in Germany, reactions from schools were utterly posi- Kaisa: I`m fourteen, going on fifteen. When we shot the film I just tive and we’re making a successful festival tour.” turned twelve. I love watching movies - my favourite films are THE “Why did we insist on this topic? I guess there is not one single MARTIAN, LIFE OF PI and TITANIC. And my favourite sport is topic in the world that is more conventional than death. If there orienteering: running through a forest with a map and a compass, is one thing in life that is for sure for all of us, it is death. We have trying to find hidden checkpoints. I’m also a member of a theatre 150.000 suicides in Germany every year. I don’t know what else group. Every year we perform one play, like this year’s ‘Oliver Twist’. a topic is if not that!” We act, sing and dance and I like it a lot. OPERATION ARCTIC was my first film experience but I’m hoping for new opportunities, “It’s no coincidence that ABOUT A GIRL reminds people of as making a film was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done, and I JUNO, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE or 500 DAYS OF SUMMER. surely want to do it again. All these films were a true inspiration. These are all comedies about the same topic: failure. This is where Eels comes into the The story is based on a book by Leif Hamre. How did you adapt picture. For each version of the script Mark and I made a ‘mood the original story? CD’ with appropriate songs. Eels were on each of those CDs. It Grethe: The book was more a source of inspiration, as many ele- has to do with their sense of humour. The perfect illustration is in ments were changed. I really love those magical adventure stories: the opening lines of ‘A Line in the Dirt’: a ‘one sentence drama’ Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Golden Compass and the comical answer to it: which all have been adapted into films. My all-time favourite movie She locked herself in the bathroom again is E.T. and I also love the work of . If you’d like to So I’m pissing in the yard see some more Arctic action, you can check out ‘Hjerterått’, a TV- That is the kind of humour we tried to accomplish in ABOUT series that I’ve directed. You can find the clip on YouTube. (PS) THE GIRL.” (GH)

ECFA Journal No. 1 - 2016 - 8 - ECFA EVENTS BUFF MALMÖ - A FILM FESTIVAL CATHY DE HAAN, LUCAS’ NEW CINE-JEUNE’S NEW ADVEN- OPEN TO EVERYONE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR TURES A few years ago we decided to write down Eleven years after she took over the di- The Ciné-Jeune Festival, led by ECFA an explanation of what a typical BUFF film rection of the LUCAS Int. Children’s Film President Céline Ravenel, this year will should be: “films that tell a story from the Festival in 2008, subsequently leading wave goodbye to Saint-Quentin as the perspective of children and young people, the Festival with great success, Petra main festival location and presents itself and that emphasise on themes such as Kappler decided it was time for a new in a totally renewed format. The new Ci- tolerance, alienation and the rights of all challenge. “The Festival, to which she né-Jeune objectives will be: dissemina- children and young people. BUFF aims to dedicated herself with such verve, owes tion (various film programmes screened demonstrate cultural diversity and avoid her its great popularity with the public,” in different locations), media education stereotypical stories and characters. A says Claudia Dillmann, Director of the (artistic partnerships, whether or not with BUFF film takes its audience seriously.” Deutsches Filminstitut. schools) and the Ciné-Jeune LAB for re- search and development.

As for the festival, this year’s formula is a festival travelling for one month (March 21 - April 29) to cities and villages in the Aisne region. Céline Ravenel: “This should boost our network, mediate our We have further developed these ideas and activities and bring cinema closer to the for the 2016 edition of the festival (Malmö, public. It’s no coincidence that we chose March 14-19), we have tried to keep our ‘new adventurers’ as this year’s festival programme as inclusive as possible. When theme.” Still a competition with juries and selecting films, we look at many different professionals should be the festival high- aspects to make sure our programme will light. Ciné-Jeune is ready to welcome radiate diversity and a good representation its guests from 12-15 April in the town of of children and young people. We believe Guise. Ciné-Jeune on the road, towards it is extremely important for children and new adventures! young people to see themselves mirrored https://cinejeune02.wordpress.com/ in the films we screen. For the second year in our film programme the same number of Film expert Cathy de Haan takes over male and female directors is represented. as new artistic director of the LUCAS We want as many different stories as pos- festival, that from now on will operate sible to be made available. It is not only film under the the Deutsches Filminstitut’s producers who have a responsibility here Film Literacy and Education Depart- but also those who are screening or select- ment. LUCAS was one of the first chil- ing films for festivals. During BUFF 2016 dren’s film festivals in Europe to include this is up for discussion at a seminar where children in the jury. Now they aim to in- we will talk about the responsibility that lies volve children and youth even more in- on film festivals, distributors and cinemas tensively in the festival structure. Cathy to screen films that are not only showing de Haan addressed this note to ECFA: a small fragment of humanity. We are also “In my opinion participation is the key for arranging workshops for teenagers around working with audiences - not only young representation: Who gets to be seen in film ones. The new LUCAS will not only offer and television, and why does it matter? a sparkling programme but as well lots Linked to our focus on diversity and repre- of opportunities for young cinephiles to sentation is the theme of the 2016 festival: participate. Together with my colleague Boundaries. Crossing the line is all about Christine Kopf, Head of the Film Literacy challenging norms. Structures and borders Department, we are working on estab- can always be challenged and transformed. lishing LUCAS as a renowned platform for international Film Literacy Experts Julia Jarl (Director) & Daniel Lundquist and a festival to celebrate the films and (Head of Programming) at BUFF; audiences of tomorrow.” http://www.buff.se http://www.lucas-filmfestival.de

ECFA Awards Titles recently listed for the ECFA Award 2015: - Ale Kino! Int. Young Audience Film Festival (Poznan, Poland): LIFE ACCORDING TO NINO (Simone van Dusseldorp, Netherlands, Belgium) - Olympia Int. Film Festival for Children & Young People (Pyrgos, Greece): THE SEVEN RAVENS (Alice Nellis, Czech Republic, Slovakia)

ECFA Journal No. 1 - 2016 - 9 - FILM IN FOCUS BRUCE WEBB ABOUT ‘SOCIAL SUICIDE’ “We will all end up big and fat” 17-year-old Balthazar constantly films his friends on the streets or at parties and puts his material online. When one morning two teenagers are found dead, Balthazar’s footage becomes important evi- dence for a police officer trying to reconstruct the crime. Will Balthazar become an ECFA Journal indispensable element in the police investigation or will his voyeuristic habits now turn against him? In SOCIAL SUICIDE, vaguely structured as a contemporary ‘Romeo Published by ECFA & Juliet’ story, director Bruce Webb (THE BE ALL AND END ALL) shines a light on European Children’s Film Association youngsters’ abuse of power in today’s world of social media. Rue du Pavillon 3 B-1030 Bruxelles Bruce Webb: Some frightening trends have Phone: +32 (0)2 242 54 09 emerged from youngsters’ changes in me- Fax: +32 (0)2 242 74 27 dia usage. At home Balthazar finds no love. E-mail: [email protected] Still he feels the need to be wanted, which Website: www.ecfaweb.org he tries to achieve through getting famous on the internet. In a corrupted way, he’s Please send press releases, advertise- obsessed by the race for the most clicks ments, questions & information to and hits. Jekino - Gert Hermans Mostly such actions happen ‘under the See address above police radar’. Do we only see the tip of E-mail: [email protected] How do you think the nature of love re- the iceberg? Bruce Webb: While the gov- lationships is going to change through Contributors to this issue: ernment is watching us, we’re all watch- the online world? Will love become ‘pub- Gert Hermans (Editor) ing each other, parents and children alike. lic domain’? Webb: Some things haven’t Adam Graham, Reinhold Schöffel, Felix We’re obsessed about imagery, and it’s changed. Teenagers still send each other Vanginderhuysen, Julia Niessen, Gudrun accelerating faster and faster. In Britain a notes, exactly like when we were young. Sommer, Alison Wilde, Amber Nefkens, trial started against a guy using spyware to What has changed in the last 10 years are Nienke Poelsma, Bianca Boege, Hilde control people’s webcams. With software the visual media. We come from not being Hagerup, Norbert Lechner, Monica he simply bought online, he was filming all able to video anything without a large cam- Wahi, Damian Perea, Raquel Camacho, of his friends masturbating. It’s very real, era, to now videoing with cameras in the Nuria Aidelman, Florine Wiebenga, Jo- it’s happening all the time. size of a pen. And when putting the pictures Anne Blouin, Petra Slatinsek, Kinodvor, One way or another you apply to our online, within 30 seconds billions of people Julia Jarl, Sabrina Jaehner, Cathy de sympathy for Balthazar’s character. could have seen them. This could be used Haan, Céline Ravenel, Bruce Webb. Webb: The original Romeo & Juliet is a to threaten and blackmail people. In the UK Proofreading: Adam Graham very old Roman play about two cousins liv- every week we have another suicide case Design: Sam Geuens & Marc Henneco ing in one room with a wall between them. due to sexting (= sharing sexually explicit ECFA website: Udo Lange They fall in love, seeing each other through messages and pictures on mobile phones), a crack in that wall. Shakespeare took and the numbers for self-harming, eating ECFA’s goal is to support cinema for this idea and made the wall the two dif- disorders and body dysmorphia have hugely children and youth in its cultural, eco- ferent families: Capulets and Montagues. increased. It’s in the interest of the worldwide nomical, aesthetic, social, political and When developing the script I was looking economics to keep us the way we are: the educational aspects. Since 1988 ECFA for something to replace that wall, and that government and the industry want us to stay brings together a wide range of Euro- was Balthazar. at home and consume, and we’ll all end up pean film professionals and associa- big and fat and facing health problems. tions, producers, directors, distributors. How did you translate the computer ECFA aims to set up a working structure screen on to the big screen? Could you, as a UK based director, give in every European country for films for Webb: We were using 5 different types of me one good reason to enter the mine- children and young people, a structure cameras. A lot of thought went into which field that is called ‘filmmaking for chil- adapted to Europe’s multicultural inter- camera to choose for which period in dren’? Webb: In the UK we have no distri- ests. time. We finally decided not to use cam- bution system for children’s film, we have no era phones, as we wanted the film to have government policy for children’s film and we For more information and memberships cinema quality, and to have a longer life. have nobody wanting to finance children’s (€ 200 per year): That’s also the reason for not specifying film. We hardly have a slot for children’s tele- ECFA any social media and not showing their lo- vision! Since British cinemas are some of the European Children’s Film Association go’s, as such elements can quickly become most expensive in Europe, children are find- Phone: +32 (0)2 242 54 09 outdated. ing their entertainment online. They’re only E-mail: [email protected] fed with Hollywood movies with very obvious www.ecfaweb.org The coolest guys in the film are the storylines. These children probably wouldn’t computer specialists working at the po- understand a more art-house-based type of The European Children’s Film Distribu- lice station. Webb: I happen to work on a cinema about a challenging subject. I have to tion Network: long-running TV-show about people being come to festivals like Schlingel or Alekino to www.ecfaweb.org/network.htm murdered, for which I interviewed forensic see young and adult people getting excited Databases on children’s film festivals, experts, psychologists and toxicologists. about European children’s films. Teenagers sales agents, distributors and TV-pro- We would have loved to show lots of com- in Britain don’t see their lives reflected on TV grammers interested in European films puter screens in a central control unit. But or in film in day-to-day life, and that’s why I for children. actually in real life those guys are sitting at think it’s important that films like SOCIAL old computers, doing old fashioned police SUICIDE get to be made. (GH) work. Guys like IT expert Hughie, they do exist. They are civilians, sometimes with Read the full version of this interview on a criminal past, like hackers who have http://www.ecfaweb.org/projects/filmmaking/ changed their ways. Webb.htm.

ECFA Journal No. 1 - 2016 - 10 -