07/02/2008

The Festival will be taking place from 2 to 10 February 2008 in Antwerp at the Cinéma Lumière and also in Bruges. This will be the twentieth time that Antwerp has hosted the event and the tenth time it has been held in Bruges – and to mark these anniversaries the Festival will have more of a festive feel than ever. In addition to a fantastic range of films for children and adolescents, there will also be workshops and various activities on offer.

The projections will be divided up into a number of sections: a selection of feature films, all European, from countries ranging from Portugal and Sweden through to Lithuania, open to those aged 8 and above; a section dedicated to young children from 3 years of age, including the short films Petit à Petit from France and Sweden and Miriam and the crazy chicken from Estonia; a selection of films for young people aged 14 and above, such as Just About Love? by Lola Doillon or This is England by Shane Meadows. The event therefore continues to offer an ambitious selection of films, ensuring there is something for young people of all ages.
To celebrate its anniversary, the Festival will be offering its audiences a number of special screenings: old films that are worth rediscovering, such as The Red Balloon or White Mane, as well as recent productions (Peter Bell or Kidz in da Hood).
Films created by very young directors, aged between 6 and 18, will also be shown and a jury will award prizes for its preferred films in each category.

As far as activities are concerned, a number of workshops will be organised for children and their parents. These will relate to films, or to themes such as photography and cinema or animated films.
Young festival-goers will be invited to take part in all kinds of entertaining activities. The Stop Motion Machine will give them the opportunity to create their own film. Very young children will be able to play with sounds on the wonderwall, a musical wall. Or, after having tried their hand at a little piece of choreography in front of the Film Machine, they will be able to head home with a personalised flipbook immortalising their own dance routine.
In short, the Festival will be a major celebration of cinema for children and young people, and an event at which there will no doubt be plenty to amuse parents too!
For more information please go to: www.jeugdfilmfestival.be