Throughout the year, we at SCHLiNGEL are on the road at other major film festivals around the world and also in Germany to screen possible films for the upcoming festival edition and, especially after the past pandemic years, to once again network and exchange more with the international film industry. This is also the case at this year's Berlinale, which has already taken place since 16 and will run up to and including 26 February 2023. But our activities do not end there.

Last Saturday, 18 February, we once again organised a "Meeting of the European Children's Film Scene" at the Representation of the Free State of Saxony to the Federal Government in Berlin. Numerous guests from all over the world, representative of the film industry, came together to exchange views on current developments in the children's film scene, to network and to lay the foundations for future joint cooperation. The highlight of the evening at the reception was the presentation of the film awards of the European Children's Film Association - the ECFA Awards - in the categories short film, documentary and feature film. The nominees were productions that were awarded the ECFA Jury Prize at selected European children's and youth film festivals in the course of 2022.

"In todays times cooperation and active exchange in the field of children's film is more important than ever. Because this is the only way that valuable films for children can continue to find their way onto the screen and with that provide insights into other worlds and cultures," says our festival director Michael Harbauer. "That's why we are very pleased that our partners are supporting us in creating the right setting for this important task again this year with the industry get-together." The event took place in cooperation with the European Children's Film Association ECFA based in Brussels, the State Representation of the Free State of Saxony as well as the Federal Association of Youth and Film (Bunderverband Jugend und FIlm), the German Children's Film Association (Förderverein Deutscher Kinderfilm) and MFA Film.