CIAK JUNIOR

CIAK JUNIOR – THE CINEMA MADE BY CHILDREN is an international TV project which aims at introducing children, age 12 to 16, to the language of audiovisuals.

CIAK JUNIOR encompasses both the making and broadcasting of short films (10 minutes each) written by school children and produced by TV networks of participating countries. Stories written by children are collected within each country, and 1 to 6 maximum are chosen for production purposes.

The films are produced by the participating TV network. The films produced in each country will be made available by each TV network for broadcasting in all the other participating countries. To this day, CIAK JUNIOR has included broadcasts from the following countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Macedonia, the Czech Republic, the People’s Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain and Switzerland.

More than 250 films, covering a wide variety of different topics, have been produced to date.

Thanks to CIAK JUNIOR all the participating countries have the opportunity of broadcasting films which focus on the experiences, dreams, troubles, and hopes of today’s children and teens.
Although each country is completely independent in the advertising, collection and selection of material, and in the film-making process, the CIAK JUNIOR team follows these guidelines:

1. the target is children aged 12 to 16 (entire school classes are involved in some countries) who are asked to write stories for a TV film. Newspapers, radios and TV networks advertise the initiative;
2. a panel of experts, which may include directors, psychologists, and teachers, selects the stories to be produced;
3. a professional crew works in close cooperation with the children who wrote the film scripts.

This particular relationship between children and professionals in the audio-visual field is the absolute novelty of CIAK JUNIOR, and, considering the popularity achieved, the key to its success.

It goes without saying that broadcasting films made in different countries following the same guidelines is an extremely interesting opportunity both for the TV networks involved in the project and for the young audiences, whose numbers are ever increasing. 

CIAK JUNIOR FILM FESTIVAL AND AWARDS

The CIAK JUNIOR project has its climax every year in awards ceremonies, with prizes for Best Film, Best Story, Best Actor and several more.
All winners of the NATIONAL CIAK JUNIOR AWARD compete for the CIAK JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL prizes, awarded by a jury composed of 3 children for each participating country.
A specially formed commission from UNESCO awards the CICT/FELLINI Medal to the film(s) that most closely reflects the ideals of peace, tolerance, and friendship promoted by the organization.

These prizes are awarded each year during the “CIAK JUNIOR FESTIVAL” which is held in Italy. All children (authors and actors of each country selection) are guests of the Festival.

“CIAK JUNIOR” – THE TELEVISION PROGRAM

“Ciak Junior” is not just the name of the International Cinema Festival for Children organized by Gruppo Alcuni. It is also a television program which is aired every year, in parallel with the Festival in Italy. The films are usually also broadcast by the participating broadcasters in all of the countries involved in the Festival.

The program airs the 4 films created annually by Italian schools as well as a Special, filmed during the Festival itself.