If you are looking forward to the summer holidays, consider yourself lucky you don’t have to spend it in the company of an embarrassing, eccentric grandmother, like 12 year old Sofia in HOW I LEARNED TO FLY, winner of the ECFA Award in the BUFF festival.
When grandmother takes her to the Croatian island of Hvar for the summer, Sofia is utterly bored. Until she meets her cousin… New friendships, a first kiss and long kept family secrets will turn this summer into an unforgettable adventure. HOW I LEARNED TO FLY by Serbian director Radivoje Andrić, based on a novel by Jasminka Petrović, won this year’s BUFF ECFA Award.
The ECFA Jury were Nicola Jones (Golden Sparrow, Germany), Petra Slatinsek (Kinodvor, Slovenia) and Joe Ursell (Into Film, UK).
BUFF might be the one and only children’s film festival celebrating the comedy genre through a special Best Comedy prize, awarded to NÖFF by Mascha Halberstad, the Netherlands. The City of Malmö Award went to THE PATH by Tobias Wiemann (Germany), an accurate depiction of a family’s odyssey through Europe, fleeing the Nazis during World War II. The Young People’s Jury Award went to the heart-warming LA TRAVIATA, MY BROTHERS AND I by Yohan Manca, France.
After the JEF festival, BUFF was the second European partner in a month to welcome the Inflatable Cinema, facilitated by Portuguese ECFA member Associaçäo Cultural Figura Nacional, bringing special film programmes for the youngest into their own towns and neighbourhoods.