The Sehpferdchen (Seahorse) international film festival for young audiences, will take place from 21-31 January 2024 in Hanover with great cinema for young audiences and an intriguing credo…
Life takes place between mourning and dancing. This could be the credo for the Sehpferdchen 2024 festival programme. “Most films are naturally linked to the themes of childhood, coming-of-age and parent-child relationships. But the topic of grief is also part of everyday life for children and young people.” Saying goodbye, learning to deal with change (whether in their own bodies or in the world around them) and with dangers lurking out there (from dark forces in the stairwell to fake news on the internet). “These challenges for adolescents are addressed on the big screen at the Sehpferdchen, with the aim of steering them in a positive direction. Parting and disappointment can give rise to self-acceptance and individuality. And so, in everyday life grief becomes dance; SEA SPARKLE and SCRAPPER turn into ALLONS ENFANTS and DANCING QUEEN,” says Eva-Maria Schneider-Reuter
Seven school classes and after-school groups have watched films from the programme a few weeks before the festival. With great creativity, they explored the themes and conceived, shot and edited their own short films thatwill be screened as supporting films in the festival.
While the morning programme mainly offers school screenings and film workshops (a cooperation with Medienwerkstatt Linden), the evening programme is a cross-section of the history of coming-of-age films. Another inspiring event is the screening of EVEN MICE BELONG IN HEAVEN (by Denisa Grimmová and Jan Bubeníček, Czech Republic) with audio description to enable a visually impaired audience to enjoy a cinema experience. For a similar target audience, the festival has compiled a programme of short films without dialogues.
