The International Film Festival for Children and Young Adults is celebrating its 21. Jubilee and opened today with the German premier of the Russian production “The Pitch” by Eduard Bordukow. In attendance were Petra Köpping, the State Minister for Equality and Integration with the Saxon Ministry for Social Affairs and Consumer Protection, Philipp Rochold, the Mayor for Education, Youth, Social Affairs, Culture and Sport Chemnitz, and Christoph Waitz, Vice President of the Saxon State Institution for Private Broadcasting and New Media SLM. The opening ceremony took place in the Chemnitz Opera House with about 350 secondary students from Chemnitz, Burgstädt and Olbernhau as well as national and international festival guests.

Petra Köpping said, “As Minister for Equality and Integration, I am honoured to welcome you all to this year’s 21.International Film Festival - in short SCHLINGEL.” A Schlingel is cheesy, clever and curious. Pictures and words, different cultures and stories from all around the world, once again the young audiences will be able to experience all these things throughout the festival week. They will be amazed and reflect on what they see.

Nowadays, teenagers are much more involved with the current events and social-political challenges than we think and look at our future in artistic and open-minded ways. This is also the topic of this year’s opening film “The Pitch”, which I am very much looking forward to watch. It is about home, origins and war and shows how very different generations perceive the world. I am wishing you and the organizers a wonderful festival week with memorable impressions and I am happy that the Free State of Saxony is a permanent host of this unique festival.”

Over the entire week, 181 films from 54 countries will be screened at the CineStar in the Galeria Roter Turm. The visitors have the opportunity to experience productions from New Zealand, Nepal, Iran, Libanon, Ethiopia, Ecuador and Canada as well as outstanding national films. In total, there will be four world premiers, one international premier, 2 European as well as 26 German premiers, which are presented to moviegoers from Chemnitz and the region.

The films are part of the following competition categories: Children’s Film, Junior Film, Youth Film, Animation Film, German Focus and Short Films. In this category, 116 films compete for one the popular SCHLINGEL-trophies. Further to the competition films, there are films out of competition that are included in the sections of Panorama, CineStar meets SCHLINGEL, SCHLINGEL on holidays and a short film programme named “Neighbourhood”, which was set to life by the SCHLINGEL-partner festivals in Zlín and Poznán. The festival’s jubilee counts 21 festivals in total. This year the country-specific focus is on Slovenia. Many directors and actors will visit Chemnitz and the audience have the unique opportunity to get exclusive and first-hand answers to their questions.

In addition to Chemnitz, the festival also expands to the Passage Kinos Leipzig, which screen SCHLINGEL-films from 27.-29. September.

In total eleven children’s, youth and expert jury plus the audiences are spoilt for choice to award the winner in the different categories. Sixteen prizes sum up to a total awarding price of 63.000 Euro. The awarding ceremony will take place on 1.Oktober at 5:30 pm in the small saloon of Stadthalle Chemnitz.

Since 2006, the festival awards outstanding performances in the category of children’s and youth films with the so-called Ehrenschlingel (SCHLINGEL-of honour award). This year it is awarded to script writer and director Herrmann Zschoche. He directed many DEFA-films, especially for children and teenagers, and created a classic with the film “Sieben Sommersprossen” (Engl.: “Seven Freckles”). The awarding ceremony is held in Volksbank Chemnitz on 28.September at 8pm.

Alongside the screenings, SCHLINGEL offers a media-pedagogical programme that is offered to kindergarten and primary schools. The workshops are designed according to the children’s age. They can handicraft film-related arts and crafts to develop stories and learn to view the films in depths. Teachers and educational experts are welcome to attend the pedagogical conference that informs them on current developments. The conference covers the topics of globalization and intercultural competence.

In its third year the festival’s “ComingSoon” has become an established event that gives German and international filmmakers the opportunity to give work-in-progress presentations of their current projects to an audience of film professionals.

All film productions run in their original languages and raise awareness for different cultures and languages. For the producers, directors and actors the first screening of their film is a very special moment. 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, Filipo or Finish. To ensure the full understanding of the film the festival provides a voice-over in German.

You can get tickets for only 5 Euros at the CineStar at Galeria Roter Turm, Neumarkt 2 in Chemnitz or at all Freie-Presse-Shops. The ticket does not only guarantee you the entrance to the movie of your choice but also serves as a ticket for public transport with the Verkehsverbund Mittelsachsen (VMS). The festival is organized by Sächsische Kinder- und Jugendfilmdienst e.V. Chemnitz and its partner, the Saxon State Institution for Private Broadcasting and New Media SLM. The festival is under the aegis of Saxony’s Prime Minister, Stanislaw Tillich. It is expected to welcome about 18.000 guests and among those 250 national and international experts.