Co-production from Dresden and Cologne wins next major international film award

Once again, a SCHLINGEL film inspires children's film festivals worldwide! On Sunday, 22.11.,FRITZI - A REVOLUTIONARY TALE was awarded the prize for the best film at the Mexican children's film festival LA MATATATENA. The film was part of the Children's and Youth Film Festival in Chemnitz in 2019 and has already travelled from there with the SCHLINGEL to various festivals. Also at the Busan International Kids and Youth Film Festival BIKY, festival director Michael Harbauer could already receive a trophy on behalf of Fritzi, which was then handed over to director Ralf Kukula at the opening of this year's SCHLINGEL-Festival at the opera house in Chemnitz.

"I am extremely pleased that Fritzi has been awarded again. The film is not only very well made, it tells German history in a wonderful way. But above all it is also about friendship, courage, about sticking together and overcoming boundaries - all topics that are more topical than ever for children and young people all over the world. It is nice to see that German films from the SCHLINGEL, which is based in Chemnitz, always find their way into the world in such a successful way," says Michael Harbauer.

Watch special children's films at home

FRITZI - A REVOLUTIONARY TALE, like many other special children's and youth films, will become part of the new video on demand platform of the SCHLINGEL in the coming year.

"It is important to us that the productions running during the festival week of the SCHLINGEL are also available for the rest of the year. That is why we are currently working on a VoD platform on which we can make them available in the future. This should be a small ray of hope, especially now in times of contact restrictions. Our goal is to be online already in the pre-Christmas period".

FRITZI - A REVOLUTIONARY TALE

That is what it is all about:
Leipzig, summer 1989: More and more people in the GDR flee to the West. Even Fritzi's very best friend Sophie doesn't come back from her vacation in Hungary. Fritzi had already wondered why she wasn't allowed to go on vacation with Sophie and her mother Kati and that the two of them left their dog Sputnik with her. Now school has just started again and the new, regime-loyal and strict class teacher Mrs. Liesegang does not get involved in any discussions about Sophie's absence. On the contrary! For her, "escape from the Republic" is a crime. She also discriminates against her new classmate Bela at every opportunity, just because he is not a pioneer and his father is involved in the peace movement. When Sophie then calls from Hungary and tells them that she really won't be returning to Leipzig, Fritzi makes a momentous decision: she, at twelve years old, wants to travel to Hungary to bring Sputnik to Sophie. When this fails, she plans to cross the strictly guarded border to the West during the class trip. And Bela, to whom Fritzi entrusts her secret, is supposed to help her...