48th International Film Festival for Children and  Youth Zlin
2008, June 1–8
www.zlinfest.cz

The Ecumenical Jury at the 48th Zlin International Film Festival for Children and Youth 2008, composed of

Christine Weissbarth (Germany) – president of the jury
Jan Eliáš (Czech Republic)
Mikael Sjöberg (Sweden)

awards its Prize
to the film in the section of Feature Films for Youth

Vikaren/The Substitute
by Ole Bornedal, Denmark 2007

An alien is quest of love takes the form of a substitute teacher. The children soon discover her true identity, but she manages to manipulate the adult world. Through convincing acting and special effects, this film of suspense virtuously plays with different realities to demonstrate that empathy and love are the essential human qualities.

The Ecumenical Jury awards a Commendation
to the film in the section of feature Films for Children

Waar is het Paard van Sinterklaas?/Where is Winky’s Horse?
by Mischa Kamp, Netherlands/Belgium 2007

for a subtle expression of a 6 year-old girls emotions and adventures.

Friendship, love and outsiders
Report from the 48th International Film Festival for Children and Youth Zlin

by Mikael Sjöberg (Sweden) and Christine Weissbarth (Germany)

The International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Zlin is one of the oldest and largest in the world. During eight days at the beginning of June, more than 550 films were screened. The festival focuses on films of high artistic quality. As visitors of the festival, we were impressed by the enthusiasm and joy of the many children who attended the festival.

The Ecumenical Jury considered eight films in the International Competition of Feature Films for Children and eight films in the International Competition of Feature Films for Youth. Recurrent themes were friendship, love and outsiders. After intensive discussions, six films emerged as the most interesting, artistically and with regard to their message.

From the section of children’s films, Frode and all the Other Rascals (Denmark 2008) tells how a group of children together rescue the summer party, with the help and resistance of adults. Set in the late 1950s, Gabai Granny (Japan 2006) portrays the relationship between a grandmother and her grandson Akihiro, who enjoy life although they are very poor. From the Youth section, two teenage comedies deal with the struggle to „be yourself“. Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger (Australia 2008) is about a Jewish girl torn between different loyalities, and the Norwegian Switch (2007) is about Mikkel who learns to snowboard in order to win the love of a girl.

The Ecumenical Prize

The jury was unanimous in its decision to give the Ecumenical Prize to the film Vikaren (The Substitute, Denmark, 2007, by Ole Bornedal), from the section of Youth, with the following motivation: „An alien in quest of love takes the form of a substitute teacher on earth. The children soon discover her true identity, but she manages to manipulate the adult world. Through convincing acting and special effects, this film of suspense virtuously plays with different realities to demonstrate that empathy and love are the essential human qualities“.

The jury also gave a special mention to the film Waar is het Paard van Sinterklaas? (Where is Winky's Horse?, Netherlands/ Belgium, 2007, by Mischa Kamp) for a subtle expression of a 6 year-old girl's emotions and adventures.

Working in the jury gave us the possibility to get close to and appreciate a part of the Czech Republic. Wherever we went in the city, we were met by friendliness. It impressed us to see the respect paid to children and children’s culture by the festival.