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CINEKID 2019

Cinekid says, “Hello World”

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- The world’s largest media festival for children will kick off its 33rd edition with a showing of Binti

Cinekid says, “Hello World”
Binti by Frederike Migom

The 33rd edition of Cinekid, the world’s largest media festival for children, promising a selection of feature-length and short films, series, interactive workshops and multimedia installations as well as the Cinekid for Professionals industry sidebar, will open on 16 October with Frederike Migom’s Belgian-Dutch feature debut, Binti [+see also:
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film profile
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, about a young, mischievous vlogger living illegally in Belgium with her father, who fled the Congo. Already a veteran of this festival, Migom developed the script while taking part in the Cinekid Script LAB, and the collaboration between production companies Bulletproof Cupid and Family Affair Films started during the Junior Co-production Market.

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The film, as argued by Erik Tijman, head of Film & Television at Cinekid, will also help to spotlight this year’s theme: “Hello World: Express Yourself.” “We are paying tribute to the important stories that children have to tell and are celebrating the power of their creative expression. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, what children do and say still often goes unheard,” he told Cineuropa. “At Cinekid, we want to give our audience the opportunity to learn about the lives and dreams of kids living on the other side of the world. Children are naturally open-minded and should never be underestimated – we want to open up the world to them and present them with all of the tools and the inspiration they need to explore the world and express themselves.”

Binti has also been selected for the Best Children’s Film Competition, along with 14 other titles, including Edmunds Jansons’ animation Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs [+see also:
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(Lithuania/Poland) and the Amanda Award-winning Psychobitch [+see also:
film review
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by Martin Lund (Norway), one of the many selected films boasting a complex female protagonist. The Berlinale Crystal Bear winner A Colony by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles (Canada), Double Trouble and the Magical Mirror [+see also:
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by Marcus H Rosenmüller (Germany), Of Love and Lies [+see also:
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by Julien Rappeneau (France/Belgium), Hacker by Arri Alexa and Poul Berg (Denmark), Here My Village by Abas Aram (Iran), Kings of Mulberry Street by Judy Naidoo (South Africa), My Life as Lotta by Neele Leana Vollmar (Germany), Lane 4 by Emiliano Cunha (Brazil), Running to the Sky by Mirlan Abdykalykov (Kyrgyzstan), Sune vs Sune [+see also:
film review
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by Jon Holmberg (Sweden), The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily [+see also:
film review
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interview: Lorenzo Mattotti
film profile
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by Lorenzo Mattotti (France/Italy) and Too Far Away [+see also:
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by Sarah Winkenstette (Germany) will also be going head to head.

A Colony, Running to the Sky, The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily and Lane 4 will also be shown during the Night of the Lion, suitable for grown-up viewers as well. “The Cinekid Best Children’s Film Competition is our most prestigious competition, and we scout for new titles all over the world,” explained Tijman. “We are proud to present a diverse competition that includes films from five continents, as in more and more countries, children’s filmmaking is seen as a serious form of artistic expression. Our programme includes different genres and accommodates various age groups, but one constant factor is that in all of them, their child protagonist is taken seriously – just like their audience.”

The films will be competing for the Cinekid Lion Award, which comes with a cash prize of €7,500 and is decided on by jurors Ineke Kanters, owner of The Film Kitchen, director Likarion Wainana, Ronald Rovers, editor-in-chief of Filmkrant, and Cineuropa’s very own editor-in-chief, Domenico La Porta. Children will also get the chance to vote for their favourite movies in the competition, with the winner receiving their Cinekid Lion. Other awards include Best Dutch Family Film (€7,500), Best International Short Film and Best Dutch Short Film (€ 2,500), Best Youth Film, Best Dutch Series, Best of MediaLab (€3,000), the Eurimages Co-production Development Award (€20,000), the Best TV Project Award (€10,000) and, finally, the Filmmore Post-Production Award (€5,000).

This year’s edition will unspool from 16-25 October in Amsterdam, and from 12-27 on tour all over the country.

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