Springtime is the ECFA Award season! Over the past few months, films in all categories (feature, short & doc) have been awarded by ECFA Juries in Poland, France, Germany (x3), Norway, Italy and the Czech Republic.
The Let’s Doc Documentary Film Festival for Young Audiences in Warsaw, Poland, has a mission: to engage youngsters in discussions after watching documentaries. “Each such conversation gives young people a sense of community and a belief that reality, although sometimes difficult and complex, can be changed and shaped.” In the second edition (13-20 April) the ECFA Award was given to the feature documentary NEUROTYPES (Maija Hirvonen, Finland), a story about Aida, a clever elementary school student on the autism spectrum. Is it fair that some have to face hardship because of being different? Inspired by Greta Thunberg, righteous Aida wants to change what people think of those kids on the spectrum.
The ECFA Jury were Tanja Tlatlik (Germany), Joanna Zak (Poland) and Chloë van Baar (the Netherlands).
At the Ciné-Jeune de l’Aisne Festival (France), the ECFA Short Award went to the French-Moroccan ON MY FATHER’S GRAVE (Jawahine Zenar), in which Maine travels to the land of her father… to bury him according to ancestral traditions. Tomorrow, the men will carry the coffin to the cemetery while the women will stay at home. But that’s not how the little girl understood it…
The ECFA Jury were Liviana Lunetto (France), Alicia McGivern (Ireland) and Madeleine Schmidt (Germany).
This year’s festival dedicated a separate section to feature films about inventors and their work, which hosted titles like PAT & MAT (Marek Benes, Czech Republic), THE BOY AND THE WORLD (Alê Abreu, Brazil) and FRANKENSTEIN (James Whale, US), among others.
The Internationales Frauen* Film Fest Dortmund + Köln (Germany) has been presenting an ECFA Short Award since 2020. This year’s ECFA Jury were Julia Fleißig (Germany), Tessa van Grafhorst (the Netherlands) and Hilde Steenssens (Belgium). They gave an award to PUFFERFISH (Julia Ocker, Germany), exploring how a small, peaceful fish manages to chase away large, threatening fishes… “In her unique humoristic, graphic and compact style, Julia Ocker succeeded in telling a subtle and multi-layered story and created a jewel in her own universe.”
In the Kristiansand Int’l Children’s Film Festival (Norway) both the award of the Professional Jury and the ECFA Jury went to GREETINGS FROM MARS (Sarah Winkenstette, Germany). Josep Arbiol (Spain), Marta Jodko (Poland) and Atle Hunnes Isaksen (Norway) awarded “a film that deals with the important topic of how to integrate diversity into real life, presented in an appealing, accessible way, offering the audience a wide range of emotions, from laughter to tears. All characters are going through a process. Even if we sometimes seem to come from different planets, we can still communicate and be close to each other.”
That jury also handed out an ECFA Short Award. In HOOFS ON SKATES (Ignas Meilūnas, Lithuania – Photo intro), two friends are having a blast ice-skating on a frozen lake in a winter wonderland, when suddenly a strange and unfamiliar world cracks open underneath them. Now they must learn how to deal with the otherness, not letting fear rule.
In the Int’l Short Film Festival Oberhausen (Germany) the ECFA Jury awarded the Norwegian short IRIS (Jon Vatne), starring a mischievous young girl and a toddler, setting off on a road movie filled with pills, cash and a unicorn! “In its highly imaginative and unpredictable plot, the film delves into a child’s view on everyday life experiences and ultimately legitimises this particular perspective on the world. (…) A surreal, yet familiar and relatable journey of discovery through a world beyond the adult mindset that empowers children in a non-conformist way,” said Martina Genetti (Austria), Claudia Schmid (Switzerland) and Agnieszka Sinicka (Poland), aka the ECFA Jury.
Prizes from the Children & Youth Juries went to NOODLES AU NATUREL (Matteo Salanave Piazza, France), MY SCHOOL (Keitaro Oshima, Japan) and BEYOND FAREWELL (Jackie Shijie Xing, US).
The Cactus Int’l Children’s & Youth Film Festival in Aosta (Italy) celebrated its fourth edition by enhancing its profile as a ‘green festival’. “The very essence of the festival is: being an encounter that looks to the future of the planet and the young generations that inhabit it; a promise of beauty and security that, to be maintained, necessarily needs to pass through the responsible choices of today.”
The ECFA Short Award was given to ORAGE (Benoit Michelet, France) about the siblings Paul and Céline. Their daily lives are like that of any other family, with ups and downs, fighting and reconciling. However, this harmony is shattered one day, and silence takes over everything. “This carefully and elegantly made film has an original style to tell a coming-of-age story, while respecting the sensitivities of the children and sharing an empathetic approach to their lives at a delicate time of transition,” wrote the ECFA Jury, consisting of Elisa Giovannelli (Italy), Teresa Lima (Portugal) and Alfred Sesma (Spain).
The Zlin Film Festival for Children & Youth (Czech Republic) is the only festival that exclusively dares to put all its bets on feature length documentaries for the ECFA Doc Award, which went to TELL THEM ABOUT US (Rand Beiruty, Germany/Jordan). “ In these days of conflict and migration, a film with vivid and real personalities feels refreshing. In this story about dreams and ambitions of young women. This film gives a voice to those who are seldom being heard. With various themes emerging in an organic way, the film raises important questions without giving one simplified or ready-made answer,” said Noy Levin (Israel), Bregt Van Wijnendaele (Belgium) and Calliope Charambalous (Greece).
The most remarkable winner in the 64th festival edition was YOUNG HEARTS (Anthony Schatteman, Belgium). After 10 festival appearances, the film collected… 10 awards! Two of them were handed out in Zlin: the Golden Apple Audience Award and the prestigious Golden Slipper for Best Feature Film in the Junior Category. The jury’s motivation: “Exploring sexuality and scrutinising stereotypes is at the centre of this emotionally easy-to-relate story. The film contributes to encouraging adolescents to stand by their feelings against all reservations. (…) The story’s positive perspective is motivating, heart-warming and emboldening.”
With an ECFA Short Award for YUCK! (Loïc Espuche, France) this years’ edition of the Mo & Friese Festival (Germany) was all about kissing. Because that’s what the film is all about: There is the time when you can’t imagine that kissing is fun, there is the time when the desire for kissing awakens and there is the time when it becomes a completely natural way to express love and affection. On a hot summer day, a self-confident little girl asks an insecure boy if he is ready and then they try it out together. For the first time and hopefully never let it go. Kissers of service were Eva-Maria Schneider (Germany), Lisbeth Arto Juhl (Denmark) and Lucia Dubravay (Slovakia).