European Children's
Film Association
Association Européenne du Cinéma
pour l'Enfance et la Jeunesse
Claus Räfle’s docu-drama tells about four young Jews going underground in Berlin, after the Nazis officially declared the city to be “free of Jews” in February 1943. Of those 7000 “invisibles” 1700, mainly young people, managed to survive in a climate of fear, insecurity and ill-founded hope. With fake identity papers, without food rations or safe accommodations, relying on their brave aides.
Daniar (12) lives on a farm in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, in an endless, open landscape. One day his father gives him a wild, young stallion to tame. Overjoyed and proud, Daniar takes on the challenge but his beloved horse has a bad temper and has to be put down after a dramatic incident. Daniar loses what he loves the most… Jens Pedersen met the boy while travelling the Silk Road.
A hot summer under a burning sun… it’s impossible to escape from the heat on a film set. While working on BINTI, Frederike Migom’s first feature-length film, actors are constantly looking for shelter under large parasols. “Fortunately, I function better in the heat than in the cold. And soon the young actors will get a chance to cool off in the neighbours swimming pool.”
Chuskit has a very simple dream – going to school. That dream is cut short when she is rendered a paraplegic after an accident. She’s confined to life indoors in the company of her strict grandfather, who tries to make her understand that school can’t handle her needs. As life at home gets harder, she starts rebelling against the traditions of her family members and other elders in her remote Himalayan village.
A giant spacecraft traveling with only two passengers on board: 12-year-old Gladys and her little brother Keaton, lingering around all day, heading towards a planet that never seems to come in sight. Until an unknown object crashes into the ship… Suddenly they are not alone in space anymore.
INVISIBLE SUE tells a hectic story about an unlikely superhero and her odd friends. The pace is rapid, the storyline complex, there’s flickering lights and sinister locations. The film by German director Markus Dietrich premiered at the Cinekid festival in Amsterdam.
In our world things often reach a point where all you want to do is turn your head and look away. But, fortunately, plenty of short films for children actually do deal with those issues. The current trend is: take a closer look where it hurts, and where the protagonists never give up. One example is Nils Hedinger’s KUAP, about a tadpole who somehow misses out on becoming a frog and is left behind.
“With a drop of nostalgia – like summer when it’s almost over”Summer, 1989. Sunlight softly falls in delicate rays over the village where city girls Paula and Laura come to spend their summer holidays. Four girls in flowery skirts, unattended, playfully imitating the life of adults, while in the background the signs of a national uproar against the Russian occupier can no longer be denied. At the Filem’on festival in Brussels, director Madara Dislere can’t emphasise enough how deeply the film is based on her own childhood experiences. “It’s about a young girl’s farewell to the life she had so far, and the start of a new era.”