“FOCUS ON EUROPE – Kidflix Special”
at Malmö (Sweden)
in collaboration with “BUFF 2005”
10-13 MARCH 2005

 

Milan, 11 March 2005

PRESS RELEASE

European films for children and teens were in the forefront during the second day of Focus on Europe – Kidflix Special, that is being held at Malmö, Sweden, within the context of the BUFF Festival.
The morning saw an overview of the European films that are most appropriate for a young public, introduced by Lennart Ström, Director of BUFF. Among the suggested titles, a Danish film, Someone like Hodder by Henrik Ruben Genz, appropriate both for children and teens; a British film by Harley Cokeliss, An Angel for May, and the Swiss production Little Girl Blue by Anna Luif, interesting for its parallel insights into the world of adults and of adolescents. “We are always searching for original films – sustained Ström – to offer first of all to our public, but also to be promoted at an international level: this is the reason behind the collaborations that we’ve undertaken with other festivals and, this year, with MEDIA Salles”.
The participants at Focus then joined 200 students from Malmö at the screening of the film We are the Champions by Martin Hagbjer, a brand-new Danish comedy about football and the importance of having self confidence in order to win.
In the afternoon, a session on the topic of distribution, a crucial issue for exhibitors who wish to offer original programming. The speakers were Mattias Nohrborg of the Swedish company Triangel Film, which every year distributes around twenty titles for the Swedish, and more generally the Scandinavian, market, and Reinhold Schöffel, who explained a parallel system of distribution for full-length films and shorts for children on the German market, based on 16mm film and on the growing use of dvd.
Today was also the occasion for presenting MEDIA Salles' main information tools, including the “European Cinema Yearbook” and the new issue of the Newsletter “European Cinema Journal” (no. 1/2005), specifically devoted to cinema for children and young people and containing a double interview with Lennart Ström and with Åse Kleveland, Director of the Swedish Film Institute, as well as advice by a panel of international experts on the films most suitable for children.
In the evening, during the official closing ceremony of the BUFF Festival, MEDIA Salles' 2005 "Euro Kids" awards were presented to the three cinemas that had distinguished themselves in their programming and in the activities organised for children during 2004. The first prize to theatres (1,000 euro) was awarded to the Facklan cinema of Kungsbacka, Sweden, the second prize (750 euro) to the cinema Falso Movimento of Foggia (Italy), the third prize (500 euro) to Cinemes Guiu of La Seu d’Urgell, Spain.
The 2005 "Euro Kids" award to the European children's film with the highest potential for international circulation was won by the Norwegian The Color of Milk by Torun Lian, a film for adolescents which shows how tiring and how wonderful growing up can be, from a female point of view.

For further information:
MEDIA Salles
Via Soperga, 2 – I-20127 Milan
Tel.: +39.02.66984405 – Fax: +39.02.6691574
E-mail: infocinema@mediasalles.it
Website: www.mediasalles.it

The fact cards of the films presented during the Focus on Europe – Kidflix Special are available in the “Euro Kids” section of the website.

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