JESOLO LIDO (Venice) – In a fun and moving ceremony marked by the contagious enthusiasm of the hundreds of young attendees at the Vivaldi Auditorium, the Ciak Junior Awards were presented on Saturday, May 27, first to the 4 selected short films written and performed by Italian students, then to the best 4 international films.
The Ciak Junior project and International Festival were created by Sergio and Francesco Manfio, founders of Gli Alcuni. In Italy CANALE 5 then broadcasts the short films developed and produced with schools. For 31 years, since the birth of this project, Ciak Junior has been giving voice to the thoughts, hopes and anxieties of the younger generations, channeling them into short films with the help of film industry professionals.
The project’s producing partners for this year’s Festival were Bavaria Filmstadt – Middlewood e.V. from Germany, City Schools Antwerp in collaboration with Sound with Vision from Belgium, Sylvain Biegeleisen – Zen Productions from Israel and new partner Intercultural Project IKHM Association Mannheim.
The 4 Italian shorts were produced with students from Treviso, Trento, Reggio Emilia and Andria (BT). The short film “POP THE BUBBLE” made by high-schoolers from Treviso, was met with great enthusiasm and saw authors and performers winning the Best Italian Film Award, presented by a jury of journalists, university professors and other childhood education professionals. As Best Italian Film, “Pop the Bubble” was automatically entered in the Best International Film category together with the best films selected by each participating country. The multicultural jury of young people who gathered Friday afternoon in Jesolo awarded ‘Pop the Bubble’ the Best International Film and City of Jesolo Awards.
CIAK JUNIOR AWARDS – ITALIAN CATEGORY
• Best Film: POP THE BUBBLE was produced with members of the Treviso province Student Council and
talks about the Internet “bubble” in which many teens find themselves stuck, and suggests strategies of
how to break out of it;
• Best Story: EMPATHY TEST, produced with students from the Artigianelli Institute of Trento, talks about
young people trying to get back in touch with their feelings after lockdown;
• Best Group of Actors: the young interpreters of TIME TRAVEL, from class 1L of the P. N. Vaccina Middle
School in Andria, show how gender equality and living sustainably can be done in today’s world;
• Best Performance: joint winners CAROLA, protagonist of the short “Time Travel” from the P.N. Vaccina
Middle School in Andria, and CHIEF BULLY from “See-Through is a Color” Produced with students from the Middle School Film Club of I.C. Marco Emilio Lepido in Reggio Emilia and which talks about the very
serious issue bullying;
• Best School Video: MONTE RUFENO NATURE RESERVE, independently produced by the students of
classes 4A and 5A of Artistic High School “Livio Orazio Valentini” in Orvieto.
CIAK JUNIOR AWARDS – INTERNATIONAL CATEGORY
• Best Film: POP THE BUBBLE, Italy
• Best Story: TIME, Germany
• Best Group of Actors: THE FINAL GAME, Belgium
• Best Performance: YURI, in the short “YURI’S GALAXY”, Israel
• Broadcasters Prize – Ciak Junior Prize: THE FINAL GAME, Belgium
• City of Jesolo Award: POP THE BUBBLE, Italy
FOREIGN SHORT FILMS TOPICS:
– “THE FINAL GAME” (Belgium) addresses the topic of gender equality through a girls vs. boys basketball game.
Are we really sure that boys are better basketball players?
– “TIME” (Germany) is about an extraordinary child who is able to stop time and make people live their lives
differently, focusing on the “here and now” rather than on the digital world.
– “SMOKE IN THE MIRRORS” begins with a fire that breaks out at a school and firefighters immediately rushing
to put it out. As the story unfolds we find out that the fire was not accidental. The short film originated from a
cross-cultural project of the IKHM Association in Mannheim.
– “YURI’S GALAXY” (Israel) talks about a little boy’s dream: becoming an astronaut. His friend Valentina will do
everything in her power to help him pursue this dream, even though everyone is trying to convince him that it is
impossible.
Sergio MANFIO, artistic director of Gruppo Alcuni and director of the Ciak Junior shorts: “Breaks, even if they are due to external forces, can be useful times to reflect, but if they become too long, they can dampen interest. And that’s why Ciak Junior is starting again, precisely to emphasise once more the need to foster a process of education in the use of images, which is so necessary for the younger generations in these times”.
Executive producer Francesco MANFIO: ‘We are happy to produce Ciak Junior again. We intended to start from Italy and then open up to other countries, but as soon as we announced our programme, we received immediate support from Belgium, Germany, and Israel. We would like to thank the director of Channel 5, Giancarlo Scheri, who immediately gave his enthusiastic support so that Ciak Junior could immediately be broadcast again on Mediaset’s main network”.
PATRONAGE AND PROJECT PARTNERS
In Italy the Ciak Junior project is realised in the framework of the National Plan Cinema and Images for School, promoted by MiC – the Italian Ministry of Culture and MiM – the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit (www.cinemerlascuola.it). The Festival has received the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Tourism. It is also supported by the Municipal Administration of the City of Jesolo.
