26/10/2015 - Bo by Esmé Lammers has received the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, while the winner of the Co-Production Market Prize was Tell Me More by Duccio Chiarini; there were also two Special Mentions

Producers Cyprian Marchewka (Kaytek the Wizard) and Guusje van Deuren (Bo) with their awards

Two prizes and two Special Mentions were handed out during the awards ceremony on the last day of Cinekid for Professionals 2015 (20-23 October). All of the winners are European productions or co-productions selected for the Junior Co-Production Market 2015, presented earlier this week at the pitching session in front of industry members and the official juries.

The winner of the €2,000 Junior Co-Production Market Best Project Award was Tell Me More by Italian director Duccio Chiarini. This cross-media initiative, produced by Rai Fiction (Italy) and Tempesta (Italy/UK), is an interactive online game intended to generate meaningful content for a TV series, based on the actions and contributions of an online community of teenage girls. According to the jury, the diversity and quality of the projects presented to them this year was outstanding, but they “unanimously came to the conclusion that one single project stood out for its originality and its capacity to engage with its target audience from the ground up”. The Special Mention in this category went to the Spanish title Mironins by Mikel Mas and Celia Rico, a transmedia project for pre-schoolers in which children learn about art while having fun across different platforms. The jury stressed the “charm and inventiveness” of this idea, based on the works of Catalan painter Joan Miró.

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The Eurimages jury also presented its prizes to two of the eligible projects (those aiming for a theatrical release and the result of a European co-production between at least two member states). The Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (worth €20,000) was handed to Bo by Esmé Lammers. This coming-of-age movie, set in the world of kickboxing, “breaks down stereotypes about teenage girls in society by providing a positive depiction of changing roles”, and was wonderfully presented by its producer, Guusje van Deuren (Waterland Film). Finally, the Special Mention from the Eurimages jury went to the Polish production Kaytek the Wizard by Magdalena Lazarkiewicz (based on a novel by renowned author Janusz Korczak). The story deals with a child who receives magical powers but who is cruelly tested as he tries to help others, presenting a “daring and very powerful contemporary message”.

Another project that had already been awarded (meaning that it was therefore automatically selected for the Cinekid Junior Co-production Market) was The Angel in the Clock by Miguel Uriegas. This animated film is intended to raise awareness of childhood cancer, and it received the Cinekid Pixel Market Award at the Power to the Pixel Market in London.