With a festive award ceremony on Saturday evening, the 15th International Film Festival for Children and Young Audiences SCHLINGEL reached its climax. For one week seven juries were spoilt with choices, from which they picked their favourites.

The knowledgeable members of the Jury of International Experts emphasized the importance of the competitions. This year the team was comprised of the editor of the MDR, Beate Biermann, the producer Katja Dor-Helmer, a representative of the “Saechsische Landesanstalt für privaten Rundfunk und neue Medien” (Saxon Regional Office for Private Broadcasting and New Media), Dr. Mathias Günther, actress Renate Krößner, and author and director Bernd Sahling.

112 productions from 37 countries were screened at this year’s festival. In total, prizes worth approximately 25,000 Euro were awarded.

S Children’s Film Competition

The international children’s jury comprised of 18 children from nine European nations awarded the European Children’s Film Award (5000 Euros) from the “Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst” (Saxon State Ministry for Science and Art) for the best children’s film to:

“Zoomers”
Denmark / 2009
Director: Christian E. Christiansen

Honorary mention: “The Rain Fairy“ (Milan Cieslar, Czech Republic 2010)


The “DIAMANT” award – a bike from the “Diamant-Fahrradwerke Hartmannsdorf” in Saxony – is honoured to the most convincing acting performance by a child:

Camille Felton (“Noémie, the Secret“)
Canada / 2009
Director: Frédérik D‘Amours


The five-person International Expert Jury awarded the Chemnitz Top Award in the Children’s Film Competition (5000 Euros) for the best children’s film to:

“The Twelfth Summer“
Russia / 2009
Director: Pawel Fattachutdinow

Honorary mention: “Zoomers“ (Christian E. Christiansen, Denmark 2009)

M Junior Film Competition

The Top Award in the Junior Film Competition (4000 Euros) for the best junior film awarded by the International Expert Jury and the “Saechsische Landesanstalt für privaten Rundfunk und neue Medien“ (Saxon Regional Office for Private Broadcasting and New Media) went to:

“Before the World Ends“
Brazil / 2010
Director: Ana Luiza Azevedo

Honorary mention: “Lucky Red Seeds“ (Anjali Menon, India 2009)


The Junior Film Award (1000 Euros) for the best junior film is awarded by a seven-person jury to:

“Alabama Moon”
USA / 2010
Director: Timothy McCanlies

Honorary mention 1: “Neuilly, Motherfucker!” (Gabriel Julien-Laferrière, France 2009)
Honorary mention 2: “Aurélie Laflamme’s Diary” (Christian Laurence, Canada 2010)

L Youth Film Competition

The eleven-person youth jury awarded the Cinestar Youth Film Award (1000 Euros) from the “Greater Union Filmpalast GmbH” for the best youth film to:

“The Be All and End All“
United Kingdom / 2009
Director: Bruce Webb

Honorary mention 1: “The Boat Race” (Bernard Bellefroid, Luxembourg, Belgium, France 2009)
Honorary mention 2: “The Diary of Carlota” (José Manuel Carrasco, Spain 2010)

D Focus Germany

The DEFA-Foundation Award (4000 Euro) goes to:

“The Dispensables“
Germany / 2009
Director: Andreas Arnstedt


The DEFA-Foundation Short Film Award (1000 Euros) goes to:

“Poverty Tells Many Stories“
Germany / 2009
Director: Isabel Prahl
XS Short and Animation Film Competition


The three-person short film jury awards the Short Film Award (500 Euro) to:

“Nineandahalf Goodbye“
Germany / 2010
Director: Halina Dyrschka

Honorary mention 1: “Poverty Tells Many Stories“ (Isabel Prahl, Germany 2009)
Honorary mention 2: “3x3“ (Nuno Rocha, Portugal 2009)


The six-person animation film jury award the Animation Film Award (500 Euros). The award for the best animation went to:

“Duck, Death and the Tulip“
Germany / 2010
Director: Matthias Bruhn

Honorary mention: “The Sandpixies – Hip.Hop.Hippityhop” (Ralf Kukula, Canada 2009)


Other Awards

The „Lichtenauer-Audience Award“ was chosen by the visitors during the festival week. The award went to:

“Skellig”
United Kingdom / 2009
Director: Annabel Jankel


The Fair Play Award - chosen by the pupils of the „Zwönitzer Gymnasium” (Grammer school in Zwönitz) – went to the film that best champions the issues of children and youth. This year it was awarded to:

“Closer Than Blood”
Germany / 2009
Director: Oliver Kienle


The “Ehrenschlingel” for exceptional commitment to the European children’s film was awarded to Zdeněk Miler, the illustrator of the “little mole”. After the war the trained painter and graphic artist worked as an animator. The mole was born, because of the simple fact that Miler stumbled over a mole hill. From that moment on, the “little mole” experienced a lot of adventures and bewitched people all over Europe. Zdenka Deitchova accepted the award in place of the 89-year-old Miler. She is the producer of all “little mole” films.

About 9.000 visitors from all over the world arrived in Chemnitz. Directors, actors and producers from Brazil, Germany, Finland, United Kingdom, India, Canada, The Netherlands and The USA met to exchange ideas. The director of the festival, Michael Harbauer, looks back on the successful festival week: “The festival was enriched by lots of great films. The competitions with films coming from almost all continents fascinated the young audience and the experts of the film and TV industry alike. The international films that almost exclusively were German or European premiers aroused the German distributor’s interest this year, so we’re very delighted. After today’s ceremony, the winners will soon have the chance to be dubbed. This is necessary to show the film on the big screen or on German TV. Thereby the International Film Festival SCHLINGEL has a prominent position in the area of film.”