The Nordic and Baltic Kids for Kids winners 2008

CATEGORY: UNDER 12 YEAR OLDS- ANIMATION:
“Power Pig”
2007 | Norway | 4’32” | dvd | Kristiansand International Children’s Film Festival workshop | Producer: Danckert Monrad-Krohn | d.krohn@krskino.no

It’s another lovely morning at the farm. All the animals are looking forward to another day of grazing and enjoying the good life. Suddenly the butcher’s lorry arrives and everything turns into a nightmare.

JURY:
The film has a creative way of making traditional two-dimensional animation. It is an ingenious and funny work that has a good rhythm and well-characterised animals. The work makes a good general impression with its brilliant realization, in which the music and sound work in a co-supportive way.

CATEGORY: FICTION AND DOCUMENTARIES:
"Why?”
2007 | Sweden | 9’30“ | Mini-dv | Ida Lundgård and Frida Andersson | Söllerö School | Mora Media Center | Producer: Britt-Marie Meyer | britt-marie.meyer@utb.mora.se

Why? is about two girls and three boys who are mean to a girl called Johanna in their class. The girls really don’t understand why they bully her and want them to stop.

JURY:
The theme of the film deals with a difficult subject and due to a well-written, functioning script and good acting it becomes both a realistic, recognizable and touching film. It has a balanced way of dealing with the subject and shows the various sides and possible reasons for a common problem.
The film works on all levels including duration, continuity and editing.

CATEGORY: 13-16 YEAR OLDS- ANIMATION:
“Scarcesmith”
2007 | Finland | 3’03” | dvd | Lasten ja nuorten kulttuuri- ja monitoimitalo Vernissa | Producer: Anneli Nikolajeff | anneli.nikolajeff@vantaa.fi

Fighting on the front of love, in the fields of different youth cultures.

JURY:
The theme of the film is a traditional love story that uses the media in a creative and efficient way.
It shows a realistic aspect of the youth culture with its recognisable, diverse characters and personal humorous details. This touching story has a specific atmosphere and is carried through with great technical skills.

ONE MINUTE FILMs:
"What Comes Around"
2006 | Finland | 1’03” | dvd | Keihäslahden koulu | Teacher: Ritva Kortelahti | Producer: Kelaa vähän

… goes around.

JURY:
The film succeeds in having a good dramaturgy and a simple, clear idea. In the compact work the sound supports the idea and in general the realization corresponds to the category and makes full use of the limited format.

FICTION AND DOCUMENTARIES:
"The Line
2006 | Finland | 1’32” | dvd | Tammerkosken koulu | Teacher: Heli Schultz | Producer: Kelaa vähän

The journey of cotton from fields to fabric.

JURY:
In a successful way the film challenges the traditional way of making a fiction and documentary film and impressed the jury with its brilliant and simple idea. It also has a strong and original visual style and language. Good music.

THE BEST NORDIC AND BALTIC KIDS FOR KIDS FILM 2008:
“MC Doc”
2007 | Finland | 7’ | dvd | Porin Pajaluokka | Työpajan ohjaaja: Jari Forsman & Kim Tapper | Porin Kaupungin kouluvirasto ja Satakunnan Elävän Kuvan Keskus | sekk@sekk.fi

MC Doc lives in the country, drives a tractor and dreams about rapping.

JURY:
Acted comedy with a somewhat serious theme is a difficult genre to work with. The jury has taken special notice of the film from the area of Pori, and it clearly succeeds in that aspect.

The Best Baltic and Nordic Kids for Kids Film 2008 has a good script with a duration of correct and efficient length. It especially succeeds in continuously surprising the jury with its brilliant and humorous way of dealing with the seriousness of a young persons longing and ambitions. The film has believable and good characters and the acting is of good quality. All in all it is a unique, fresh and successful film in the gender of acted comedy.

Strange dreams is a short film 10 minute film and tells the story of 11 children who decide to go and explore an empty church. On entering they get locked in and have to find another way out. What happens to the children as they explore the church? …..is it a dream? ….. or did it really happen? This hilarious film uses sophisticated editing techniques along with an original story to truly entertain in the Monty Python style and was devised, acted, filmed and edited by a group of young children from Crook in County Durham supported by 2 award winning community film makers; Helen Ward and Jane Crawford.

http://www.tvcm.co.uk/strangedreams/

The socially conscious Videotivoli festival continued its dedication to youth education and media this year. During the festival run, Videotivoli arranged a free two-day seminar at the University of Tampere for those interested in social issues and media education; teachers, and people working with children and young people.

The seminar examined social issues and the influence of the media from the point of view of children and young people. The speakers shed light on this question (for example) by different film projects. Through making films, young people can handle and deal with sensitive matters in their lives, and at the same time they can have someone hear their voice. The seminar also dealt with the co-existence of Finns and immigrants and life in the developing countries.

The Thursday March 8th program consisted of four professionals from the film and educational fields who spoke on various aspects of youth and media. Angelo Loy Director of the African Medical & Research Foundation lead a segment titled “How to get young people to video camera about their life experiences.” Samuel Raunio, assistant at the University of Jyväskylä, spoke about young people’s view of the developing countries. Antti Pelttari, lecturer on cultural enterprise, hosted a segment called, “Learning media skills in everyday school life.” Jean Bitar, Director of Bitar Films gave a talk on Young peoples’ experiences of making the “Säpinää Hakunilassa” document film

The following day continued its program, starting with American producer and director, Austin Haerbele (Listen up!) who spoke about "The experiences of one, voice of many: personal storytelling." Chris Shuepp (media pedagogue, Magic-project coordinator, Unicef, Germany) conducted his portion of the seminar with “How to become a critical consumer of media." Director of Jack Drum Arts, Helen Ward & Director of Daisy Arts, Jane Crawford took on a very important and sensitive issue with their seminar segment, “ Invisible Lives, Strong Voices - How media can empower young people who have experienced sexual exploitation and child abuse.”
The following Panel discussion , lead by Chairman: Reijo Kupiainen, included Maikki Kantola (mediapedagog), Sirkku Kotilainen (Senior researcher University of Jyväskylä, Chair of Finnish Society on Media Education), Minna Lindroos (producer, YLE), Linda Haapanen (student)