• 158 movies from 51 countries in program, 126 in competition
• 1 international, 2 European, 33 German premieres
• Short film award ceremony September 27th 2017 at the cinema Metropol
• New industry event: SCHLINGEL industry forum + ComingSoon
• For the first time Zwickau as venue

The European premiere of the Chilean production Spider Thieves (Niñas Araña // Kletterdiebe) inaugurates in presence of its director Guillermo Helo and the main actress Michelle Mella the 22nd International Film Festival for Children and Young Audience SCHLINGEL at the Opera House in Chemnitz on Monday, September 25, 2017. The movie tells the story of Avi, Estefany and the pregnant Cindy, who crave escaping poverty in their slum. For short times this dream seems to come true – every time they break into the apartments of rich people as spider thieves they are having a great time. The Mayor of Chemnitz, Barbara Ludwig, the director of the art department of the States Ministry of Saxony for science and art, as well as the member of the media council of our co-organizer the State Institution for Private Broadcasting of Saxony and the New Media SLM, Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Steinmetz will be present. About 400 students from Chemnitz and Stollberg as well as invited national and international will follow the official ceremony.

For one week, altogether 159 movies from 51 countries will be presented on the CineStar screens, 126 compete in the following categories: Children’s Film, Junior Film, Youth Film, Animation Film, Focus Germany and Short Film. Additionally films out of competition are included in the section Panorama and a short film program named “Neighbourhood”, which was set to life by the SCHLINGEL-partner festivals in Zlín and Poznán. The retrospective “SCHLINGEL-Classics” reminds of 22 years of SCHLINGEL with this year’s focus Canada. A program during the following autumn holidays completes the offer.
About 900 productions from 87 countries – almost half of which were short feature and animation films – were sighted by the 7 members of the program commission during the past weeks to choose the best ones. Visitors can look forward to productions from for example Australia, Japan, China, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Cuba, Brazil and Chile as well as excellent national films. One production celebrates its international premiere, 2 will be shown firstly on a European and 33 on a German screen. Following the screenings, film teams will be available for discussions.

At the end of the festival week 11 expert, children’s and youth juries will determine the winners and assign 19 awards with a total value of 64.000 Euros. But also the audience gets the chance to decide their favorite and assign the Lichtenauer Audience Award. To strengthen the short films within the festival, a new award structure was introduced this year. From now on animated and feature short films will be distinguished, whereby in each case national and international productions will be honored. The awarding of the short films will take place September 27th 2017 during the short film program “The Long Night of Short Films" at the cinema Metropol Chemnitz, while the long feature and animation films will be awarded September 30th 2017, 5.30 pm at Stadthalle Chemnitz in the “Kleine Saal”.

Due to the fact that all productions will be screened in their original language, almost incidentally the interest for other cultures and foreign languages is aroused. For directors, producers and actors the first presentation in a foreign country is exciting. They are interested in the first reactions and the perception of the film with German audiences. Nevertheless, it is difficult to fully grasp the message of the film if the original language is Farsi, Filipino or Finish. To ensure the full understanding of the film the festival provides a voice-over in German, which is a live translation.

Besides film screenings SCHLINGEL offers an extensive workshop program for kindergartens, schools and day care. Together with its partners the festival answers for example the following questions: How does a camera work? How do I lead an interview with microphone and recording device? How do puppets seem to be alive? What rights do children have? These offers will be supplemented by a coolness workshop for children and youth, information on how to write a film review and the popular creativity area. At different eventful stations crafts, riddles and more are offered. The participants learn how moving images are made, which tricks are used in movies and how optical illusions work. Professionals as well as educators are welcome to attend the pedagogical conference that informs them about current trends and developments. This year’s festival hosts a conference for teachers with the topic “Love Movies and their Value with regard to selected Processes of Socialization of Children and Youth”.

The in 2017 firstly introduced SCHLINGEL Industry Forum widens the offer for experts and creates a platform for the whole children’s and youth film sector. Discussions, round tables with and for experts as well as the format ComingSoon provide the excellent opportunity to network and exchange experiences. Due to the quantitative and qualitative expansion of professional events for accredited guests, the festival meets the needs of its national and international value and therefore records a constant high number of expert visitors from all over the world. The event venue will be the top deck of the “Tuffner Möbelgalerie”.

And just as every year the visitors will be welcomed by the SCHLINGEL-mascot. This year’s mascot is the ten year old Frederik from Chemnitz, who attends 5th grade at the Montessori school. Among other things, his tasks will be the inauguration of the festival, the introduction of the children’s films and the attendance at the official award ceremony.

Altogether 21.000 visitors are expected, among which almost 300 experts visit from within and outside the country. The festival is under the patronage of Saxony’s Prime Minister, Stanislaw Tillich. Co-organizers are the State Institution for Private Broadcasting of Saxony and the New Media SLM.
For the first time the festival fever will burst not only in Chemnitz but also in Zwickau. September 26th until September 28th the Filmpalast Astoria will host a parallel guest performance with the friendly support of Volksbank Chemnitz eG. In the morning, film screenings will take place for local high schools only, while in the afternoon events are available for every interested party.