Young4Film

Published: 19 December 2024
Young Programmers for Young Audiences! European Film Festival Network Expands Its Mission with a New Member
We are excited to announce that our Young4Film Network has been granted support by the Creative Europe MEDIA programme for another two years of joint activities. This ensures the continuation and expansion of our mission to engage young film programmers in shaping six international film festivals, with a new member joining in January 2025: Seminci or Valladolid International Film Week, a renowned film festival held in the Spanish city of Valladolid.
Since its creation in 1956, Valladolid International Film Week (Seminci) has established itself as one of the most prestigious festivals in Europe and a showcase for both established and up-and-coming filmmakers, offering a plural and versatile overview of contemporary cinema. The 69th edition of SEMINCI, held from 18 till 26 October 2024, attracted almost 100 000 cinema-goers. We are thrilled that the festival will join our network with its milestone 70th edition! Learn more about Seminci.
Seminci will join an already established network, consisting of five other film festivals: Kino Otok – Isola Cinema International Film Festival, the Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival, the Vilnius Short Film Festival, Piccolo Grande Cinema and the Cinehill Film Festival (previously Motovun Film Festival). In the first two years of our network, we have worked together to transform how young audiences engage with film programming, building on the Moving Cinema methodology, developed since 2014 by A Bao A Qu in collaboration with international partners. With this renewed support and a new partner on board, we are more motivated than ever to continue our mission and achieve even greater milestones.
One of the most exciting developments in 2025 will be the creation of an International Young Programmers group. Two Young Programmers from each country will participate in bi-weekly online meetings and attend the 70th edition of Seminci in 2025 to present their film selections. These selections will then travel across the countries within the network. This event will also mark the tenth anniversary of Moving Cinema Young Programmers, making it a truly special occasion.
While we await the start of our new groups of young selectors on their journey, we warmly invite you to explore the online catalogue featuring the Young Programmers’ film selections from 2023. The 2024 catalogue is still in the making. However, ten groups of Young Programmers selected over thirty films, both feature and short, that enriched the exciting programs of five established European film festivals.
The young programmers’ selections were also showcased on various VoD platforms. Kino Otok – Isola Cinema IFF and Beldocs used the Beldocs+ VoD platform, while Piccolo Grande Cinema utilized its own platform. Additionally, the Vilnius Short Film Festival forged an innovative partnership with Lithuania’s national broadcaster and its VoD service, LRT Epika. Films screened on the VoD platforms included:
- Girl Gang(Susanne Regina Meures, Switzerland, 2022)
Fourteen-year-old Leonie is a successful influencer who is showered with promotional products by companies. But a life dictated by brands and the pressure to create content comes at a high price.
- The Legend of Goldhorn(Lea Vučko, Slovenia, 2022)
Possessed by greed, a heartbroken hunter goes againts the mythical power of nature.
- And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine(Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck, Sweden, Denmark, 2023)
From the birth of the camera obscura to the screening of the first moving picture and from the invention of the webcam to the first viral video, the witty and thought-provoking documentary chases the rise of image culture as we know it.
- Shānzhài Screens(Paul Heintz, France, 2020)
Shenzhen at night, copyist painters recount their daily lives and their craft. Their acts shift alternately between an artistic and blue-collar imagery, from new technology to classical techniques. Here, another history of painting is being drawn.
- Hedgehog’s Home(Eva Cvijanović, Canada, Croatia, 2017)
A warm and universal tale for young and old that reminds us there truly is no place like home.
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Published: 18 October 2024
Celebrating Milestones of the Young Programmers for Young Audiences! European Film Festival Network
In January 2023, we have created a network of European film festivals consisting of the Kino Otok – Isola Cinema International Film Festival, the Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival, the Vilnius Short Film Festival, Piccolo Grande Cinema and the Cinehill Film Festival (previously known as Motovun Film Festival). We embarked on a mission to reverse the established practice of programming for young audiences exclusively by adults and organized activities that actively involved young programmers in the creation of five established international film festivals, utilizing the already established Moving Cinema methodology, which has been developed since 2014 by the team of A Bao A Qu in collaboration with several international partners. After laying the groundwork, we are thrilled with what we have accomplished so far and motivated to continue our mission.
The main activity of the Young Programmers for Young Audiences! European Film Festival Network, or in short Young4Film Network, is having groups of Moving Cinema Young Programmers at festivals. In 2023, seven Young Programmers’ groups (77 Young Programmers in total) of different age selected 16 feature films and 11 short films which were presented as part of Young4Film member festivals official program in 2023. As part of their activities tailored to each festival context and following Moving Cinema Young Programmers methodology, they watched 41 feature films and 27 short films during the preselection process. As a result of the process, they selected 16 feature films and 11 short films, which were presented as part of Young4Film member festivals official program in 2023, either of the core festival event or as part of festivals’ year-long activities. Across the Young4Film partnership, a total number of 57 on-site public screenings of Young Programmers’ selections were organized in 2023 in Slovenia, Serbia, Lithuania, Italy, and Croatia. For all selections and public screenings, Young Programmers prepared various communication materials and realized live on-site introductions, in some cases they also prepared and led Q&A with filmmakers after the screenings.
Young Programmers are proud to present their film selections in an online catalogue, which you can see on the link and use it for your own film-education activities.
To better understand the creative processes and the work of every professional involved in filmmaking,
Young Programmers have also produced digital pedagogical materials in form of video capsules:
- Maja Prettner, film director, produced by Kino Otok – Isola Cinema International Film Festival: vimeo link
- Eva Cvijanović, film director, produced by Motovun Cinehill Film Festival: vimeo link
- Marko Grba Singh, artistic director , produced by Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival: vimeo link
- Andrius Blazevicius, programmer, produced by Vilnius Short Film Festival: vimeo link
- Festival director Egle Maceinaite, Vilnius Documentary Film Festival, produced by Vilnius Short Film Festival: vimeo link
- Elena Martin Gimeno, film director, produced by Piccolo Grande Cinema Film Festival: vimeo link
- Brando De Sica, film director, produced by Piccolo Grande Cinema Film Festival: vimeo link
In addition, we are developing pedagogical materials, available on the platform Inside Cinema. The main goal of Inside Cinema pedagogical materials is to explore the creative process of filmmaking with young film audiences in mind: from the initial ideas and notes to the post-production. We warmly invite you to explore the following materials:
- Girl Gang (Susanne Regina Meures, Switzerland, 2022)
- And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine (Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck, Sweden, Denmark, 2023)
- Hedgehog’s Home (Eva Cvijanović, Croatia, Canada, 2017)
- Muyeres (Marta Lallana, Spain, 2023)
- Die Donau (Jaume Claret Muxart, Spain, 2023)
- The Trip (Rimantas Oičenka, Lithuania, 2022)
Exciting Young4Film Festival Network’s activities in 2024
With a strong foundation laid in 2023, all the festivals in the network are eagerly driving our mission forward. Four festivals have already wrapped up their successful 2024 editions, with Piccolo Grande Cinema set to take place this November 9–17 in Milan, Italy. You are kindly invited to explore more about each festival through the following links: Vilnius Short Film Festival, Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival, Kino Otok – Isola Cinema International Film Festival, Cinehill Film Festival, Piccolo Grande Cinema.
From 19 to 22 March 2024, network partner Piccolo Grande Cinema Film Festival and Cineteca Milano as its producer hosted the second annual meeting of representatives of all Young4Film partners in Milan, Italy. The meeting deliberately coincided with the CinemaSarà Forum, the Italian national student consultation on the future of film and cinema, organized by Cineteca Milano. Representatives of the Young Programmers from Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Serbia participated in the moderated exchange on their experience collaborating with different festivals in the network, as well as in the consultation on the future of film and cinema as part of CinemaSarà Forum. Additionally, there was a public presentation of the activities of the Young4Film European Festival Network at the Interactive Film Museum (Museo Interattivo del Cinema) on 21 March 2024, attended by eighty students and teachers from all over Italy who participated in CinemaSarà Forum.
About Young4Film Festival Network
Our aim is to develop our audiences and promote European – especially non-national – films amongst the target groups of primary, secondary and university students. We entrust young programmers with the responsibility of becoming part of the festival teams, while their film programmes and promotional material are shared with young audiences at all the festivals within the network. The selected films are accompanied by original digital educational materials, which are made available to other film curators, film educators and teachers, ensuring that their reach extends beyond the Young4Film network and wider partnership. In addition to the five European film festivals, three cultural organisations working in the field of film education are also involved in the network’s activities: A Bao A Qu (Barcelona, Spain), Meno Avilys (Vilnius, Lithuania) and Kijufi (Berlin, Germany).
Our collaborative approach is based on the original Moving Cinema methodology, which has been developed since 2014 by the team of the Catalan organisation A Bao A Qu in collaboration with several international partners, with the aim of developing active young film audiences. It is precisely this past collaboration that has given us a shared understanding of the importance of developing young audiences and we will further build on our efforts in this area by considering the issues of sustainability, environmental awareness, balanced gender representation, inclusion, diversity and representativity.
The European project Young Programmers for Young Audiences! European Film Festival Network is coordinated by Kino Otok – Isola Cinema International Film Festival with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA and the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia.
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Published: 1 April 2023
Young Programmers for Young Audiences! European Film Festival Network in Full Swing
European film festivals recognise the importance of cultivating loyal audiences, which is why we are increasingly developing programmes for young audiences. To reverse the established practice of programming for young audiences exclusively by adults, we have created a new network of European film festivals consisting of the Kino Otok – Isola Cinema International Film Festival, the Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival, the Vilnius Short Film Festival, Piccolo Grande Cinema and the Motovun Film Festival. We have made it our mission to actively involve young programmers in the creation of all five established international film festivals and have named the network Young Programmers for Young Audiences! or Young4Film for short.
Our aim is to thus develop our audiences and promote European – especially non-national – films amongst the target groups of primary, secondary and university students. We entrust young programmers with the responsibility of becoming part of the festival teams, while their film programmes and promotional material will be shared with young audiences at all the festivals within the network. The selected films will be accompanied by original digital educational materials, which will be made available to other film curators, film educators and teachers, ensuring that their reach extends beyond the Young4Film network and wider partnership. In addition to the five European film festivals, three cultural organisations working in the field of film education are also involved in the network’s activities: A Bao A Qu (Barcelona, Spain), Meno Avilys (Vilnius, Lithuania) and Kijufi (Berlin, Germany).
Our collaborative approach to engaging young programmers is based on the original Moving Cinema methodology, which has been developed since 2014 by the team of the Catalan organisation A Bao A Qu in collaboration with several international partners, with the aim of developing active young film audiences. It is precisely this past collaboration that has given us a shared understanding of the importance of developing young audiences and we will further build on our efforts in this area by taking into account the issues of sustainability, environmental awareness, balanced gender representation, inclusion, diversity and representativity. We are confident that with our expertise and enthusiasm, we will continue to pave the way in the innovative development of young audiences and become a trusted authority in this field, inspiring many other film festivals through our work to involve young people in programming.
Young4Film Festival Network in 2023
You are cordially invited to visit the festivals in our festival network this year and see first-hand or online how we involve young programmers in the creation of our programmes and ensure high quality, diverse and fresh film selection for young audiences. And don’t forget to tap us on the shoulder, if you see us around – it will be our pleasure to chat with you and discuss our project. See you!
Vilnius Short Film Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania, 18-24 January 2023
Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival, Belgrade, Serbia, 10-17 May 2023
Kino Otok – Isola Cinema International Film Festival, Izola, Slovenia, 7-11 June 2023
Cinehill Motovun Film Festival, Motovun, Gorski kotar, Croatia, 26-29 July 2023
Piccolo Grande Cinema, Milan, Italy, 9-17 November 2023
A Professional Seminar Young Film Programmers for Young Audiences!
On 13 and 14 March 2023, Kinodvor hosted a professional seminar on the inclusion of young people in film programming entitled Young Film Selectors for Young Audiences!, as part of the kick-off meeting of the project Young Programmers for Young Audiences! European Film Festival Network. More than 70 film educators, film festival and cinema programmers, youth and cultural workers, policymakers in the fields of culture and education and film education teachers in primary and secondary schools attended the seminar. Over the course of two days, they listened to contributions by national and international experts and had the opportunity to hear the valuable reflections of young programmers, who confidently shared their experience and perspective on the subject.
Young people were unanimous: “Give us responsibility. We will not let you down!” Film festivals, cinemas and other film screeners are increasingly focusing on developing diverse programmes for young audiences, in most cases with adult professionals responsible for designing the content. As a fresh alternative to this established practice, this year’s professional seminar was dedicated to exploring the active involvement of primary and secondary school students in the creation of film events for their peers and beyond.
“Young people will enrich every festival with their unique view of the world” – Rimantė Daugėlaitė representative of the Vilnius Short Film Festival
The professional seminar programme involved experts from five international festivals of the Young4Film network and two cultural organisations working in the field of film education: A Bao A Qu (Barcelona, Spain) and Meno Aviliys (Vilnius, Lithuania). The experience of implementing participatory activities for young audiences was also presented by the staff of Kinodvor’s Kinotrip film programme, which is based on the principle of by the youth for the youth.
“While mentors are the ones who provide the initial motivation, it is our responsibility to approach the task with initiative, respect and responsibility. Give us responsibility. We will not let you down!” concluded the young programmers, highly recommending their experience of co-creating film programmes to all young people, even those with no film background.
We invite you to take a look at the programme, seminar summaries and photographs.
The European project Young Programmers for Young Audiences! European Film Festival Network is coordinated by Kino Otok – Isola Cinema International Film Festival with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA and the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia.