A delegation of the Chemnitz based SCHLINGEL International Film Festival for Children and Young Audience is travelling to Uzbekistan tomorrow in order to present productions of past festival editions at the 3rd Uzbek children’s and youth film festival “Shum bola”. 8 German films from the competition category “Blickpunkt Deutschland” (“Focus Germany”) will be shown, predominantly from 2015, either with a Russian voice-over or Russian subtitles. Further to Tashkent a second venue will be Fergana. The festival is taking place from April 28 to May 5, 2016.

The Chemnitz festival director Michael Harbauer is accompanied by festival assistant Marion Schöffler as well as two media educators who will create animated films with children and adolescents in workshops at local schools. German producer Katharina Wagner, whose fairytale “Nussknacker und Mausekönig” („Nutcracker and Mouse King“) will open the festival, will join the group and discuss her film with the young audience in a Q&A following the screening.

For Michael Harbauer this will be the third visit to Uzbekistan already because he is a co-founder of the annual festival. “There are relatively few cultural offers targeted at children and adolescents for a megacity like Taschkent, which is remarkable insofar as around 40% of the Uzbek population are less than 18 years old. I am therefore extremely glad that with SCHLINGEL-films we can give a little insight into current German cinema.”The festival is organized by Goethe Institut Taschkent in cooperation with the Chemnitz SCHLINGEL International Film Festival and the Uzbek film authority “Uzbekkino”. The Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung MDM (Central German Media Fund), the Saxon State Chancellery as well as German Films support the presentation. Around 5,000 children and adolescents aged between six and 18 years shall be reached.