European Children's
Film Association
Association Européenne du Cinéma
pour l'Enfance et la Jeunesse
“Dumb jokes are the answer to everything ”If the world were full of 100% reasonable people, LAME-OS would probably never have been made. Even if that film offers you the chance to see – amidst a stream of fluorescent colours and kooky nineties fashion references – many things that you’ve never seen before on the white screen. And I mean: never!
“Classic fairy tales contain crucial information about growing up”This summer, city boy Martin is sent to a forest camp. Sleeping in tents, eating from a field kitchen, daily morning gymnastics… life couldn’t get more terrible than this! Oh yes, it could. The forest has secrets to hide, and Martin is the first one to discover the mysterious creatures that dwell here by night: elves, squeaking branches, fighting cones all willing to leave their hiding places and pick a fight as they prepare an uprising against the mining company taking over the forest.
“She’s just a girl trying to fully live her life”Tonight Valentina wants to party until she drops, as tomorrow she’ll be leaving the city. Maybe moving to the countryside will help her escape from the obstacles she is facing everywhere as a transgender teen in Brazil. In her new town, she builds a loyal network around her, only trusting her mother and two dear friends. But when information about her gender identity is leaking, trouble might start all over again. Unless Valentina can firmly look her haters in the eye.
“We did some crazy stuff”On the first day of the summer vacation, best buddies Paul and Max sneak out of their homes and venture into the wilderness. They are on a mission to find a legendary cave hidden in the mountains. The boys follow the traces of Paul’s missing father, who is seen as a madman by everyone in the village. To find the path to the cave, the boys must decrypt his notes about a local legend. As they blaze their trails through the deep forest and steep mountains, both boys experience a newfound sense of freedom and light heartedness.
“Comedy comes in many disguises”Ulja Funk… the name sounds different, cool, almost… funky. Which is not the first impression you get when meeting this rather nerdy girl with a passion for astronomy and a habit of speaking her mind. Her quest is now to travel to Belarus and observe the impact of an asteroid, which she does in a stolen car, with an underage classmate behind the wheel, while being chased by a bunch of religious fanatics.
In Cox’s Bazar, on the Bangladesh coast, a young girl is riding the waves on her surfboard, all confidence and grace. “All my dreams are about surfing”, says Shobe. But those dreams might be different from the future that is awaiting her and her friends. Now that the girls are growing up, sooner or later choices need to be made, and conflicts will be unavoidable. In BANGLA SURF GIRLS Canadian filmmaker Elizabeth D Costa captures this gang of young surfettes at a crucial moment in their lives.
“Slicing tomatoes when preparing a sandwich”When your father is a clown, does that mean your life is about nothing but fun and laughter? Not for 12 year old Laura. She is a good student and a well organised kid, dreaming of a more steady lifestyle instead of this hectic, nomadic caravan existence. For Bill it is not easy to accept how his daughter has her own dreams to fulfil, that might greatly differ from his own. “This story is inspired by my own life. My father was an actor, clown, poet, an artist and rebellious free spirit, while I dreamed about the more regular lifestyle that I saw with other kids in the schoolyard,” says Canadian director Miryam Bouchard.
“We also need a more angry voice”In her first feature documentary YOUTH UNSTOPPABLE, Canadian activist Slater Jewell-Kemker paints a portrait of the global “youth for climate” movement. Since she first took part in a UN climate conference at the age of 15, she has been capturing her impressions on camera over a period of 12 years. The result is a unique chronicle of the development of a political mass movement.