FILMS FOR CHILDREN COMPETITION | FILMS FOR CHILDREN COMPETITION 1 (age: 4-7)

FILMS FOR CHILDREN COMPETITION

The year so unconditionally and unequivocally marked by the epidemic has nevertheless brought an exceptional number of outstanding animation films. Perhaps for that exact reason. Perhaps the films made last year were the good side of the epidemic. In the emotions that overwhelmed them, some filmmakers found inspiration for their films. The programme hence reflects the year behind us: several corona-stories, each different and special; many personal confessions; animated thoughts on home, family, the meaning of friendship, freedom and love. I am glad that many films carry a touch of humour and that artists have managed to find tickling rays of sun in those days of lockdown.
If last year I wondered what the upcoming films would be like; will they be different, full of impressions of loneliness, or will they be optimistic, forward-looking? Now I know: they will be wonderful, like every year! Nothing can stop true creativity!

Preschool children programme (age 4-7)
The selection of films for the youngest audience is mischievous and tasty: ice cream on the fish tank glass and in the hands of a wondrous bird who takes it high in the sky. Peas from a homegrown garden embark on a magical adventure and sushi rolls organise a real vegetable concert. A family of snowmen feed hungry bunnies and a little sheep makes sure a hillside blossoms and radiates in scent. A grey wolf tells a boy life is neither black nor white, and two stars in the infinite universe join to explode in thousands of new stars lighting up the sky.

Younger schoolchildren programme (age 7-10)
This programme is a real treasure of inspiring animation techniques to spark curious schoolchildren’s imagination. A little man from a card, all alone in his film, jumps from one technique to another, making this an entertaining and educational lesson in animation. In the stories, animals reveal truths about how a cat and a bird can be together, that crocodiles are not just scary, that even an old gorilla can laugh. A little boy saves a dog, a shipwrecked man gets a lesson on nature preservation, a match makes pancakes and a cat receives a goal. And finally, a short knitted impression of life in the times of an epidemic.

Older schoolchildren programme (age 10-14)
Watching these films, teenagers will get a chance to think and form opinion about migrants, animal treatment and nature. The films in a carefully considered way open up a view on youthful self-perception, autism, eating disorders, the meaning of home and family. The quarantine film is a story about a girl with a microscope, and the cloudmaker is seeking an apprentice for his important, but often scorned profession. He finds his successor in a child!

Young adults programme (age 14+)
The young adults programme is full of life stories portraying emptiness and seeking connection between people. Many times they find it among animals and in nature. The films focus on identity, on the question ‘Who am I?’ and the answers are as many as there are young people seeking their place in the crowd. Some films are impressions of the epidemic times, some depict the relationship between young people and the digital world, and all of them contain little drops of truth and a pinch of humour. They all convey the same message: be yourself – be special!

Dear artists, create! Dear audience, watch and wonder, laugh and cry, think and feel. Now more than ever we need a touch of good culture, especially the children fully engrossed in the digital world. The finest creative animation brings us in touch with the world, people and feelings, in touch with ourselves, and helps us expand our horizons, re-examine our views, opinions, standpoints and feelings, feelings above all, with a broadest possible range of emotions.
Have a pleasant watching experience!

Martina Peštaj, Media psychologist