59th THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL [1-11/11/2018] || 1-11/11/2018
Discussion: Films for Kids in Southeast Europe
On Saturday, November 10, 2018, at Warehouse C’, a discussion on films films for kids in Southeast Europe took place as part of the 59th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, in the presence of TIFF’s General Director Elise Jalladeau.
Mrs Jaladdeau thanked all participants and said she is hoping that the discussion will act as a starting point for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to the subject.
Next to speak was Eleni Chandrinou, director of the study conducted by Thessaloniki International Film Festival over the last few months around the film for kids’ production in Southeast Europe, which gave the opportunity for this discussion. Mrs Chandrinou highlighted the importance of TIFF’s initiative, noting that it is time to give emphasis to young audiences, since they will become the film viewers of the future. “The facts we are about to show you are about ages 6-12. It is very important to classify each film based on the appropriate age group”, she said. Before presenting a series of very interesting statistics, she cited the countries involved in the study: Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Kossovo, Montenegro, FYROM, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
Which are the main elements of a film for kids?
- At least one of the lead characters (preferably the main one) must be a preteen.
- The story must unfold through the eyes of the kid (POV), which is the main difference with the family movie
Which are the statistics as to the production of films for kids in the forementioned countries?
- In a total of 1,088 productions in these countries during 2013-2018, only 22 were for kids (the four of them completed this year)
Which are the funding sources of kids’ films?
- Mainly state funds
- TV plays an important part, as always
- The distribution network
- It is remarkable that European distributors, as well as European TV, tend to prefer models previously tried in the US market, as a move to minimize the risk
Why don’t young film directors and producers make a shift towards films for kids?
- First of all, there is no guideline leading them to such a decision, either academic or in the form of vocational guidance
- Young filmmakers tend to focus on their age group, which they feel they can depict better and whose recognition and appreciation they rely on
- When they finally have kids -if ever- they will possibly get more interested in making films for kids, but until then either they will have established themselves with a different recipe (so it won’t be easy to change), or will not have managed to build recognition (which is why they will hardly resort to a film for kids)
- The most efficient way to make young professionals make a shift to films for kids is offering them financial or logistical support
Which are the policies on the matter on national and European-wide level?
- Only two countries of those that took part in the study have an official policy to support films for kids. Greece, where 25% of the Greek Film Centre (GFC) budget gets spent on film for kids support, and Slovenia
- Via Creative Europe, 24 films for kids were funded in the period 2014-2017
- In the same period, four more films were funded by Eurimages
- Scandinavian countries, mainly Denmark, are steady supporters of films for kids
- Germany is the biggest supporter on a pan-European basis
- Netherlands has promoted a support policy on kids documentaries in the last 20 years, with spectacular results
Consequently, the Olympia International Film Festival’s deputy artistic director Pantelis Panteloglou talked about its activities and initiatives. “It is our goal to create a young audience for the future and offer them quality films. The 21th Olympia International Film Festival will take place on December with two new events: the pitching forum, aiming to bring together all film professionals, with films for kids as a common denominator, and the creation of a grant amounting to 2,000 euros for a short film no more than 20 minutes long. Our goal is to show that films for kids must be dealt with as a distinctive creative genre with a potentially large and very collaborative audience. As part of our festival, apart of the pitching forum, presentations and lectures will take place in a bid to achieve the goal of creating a global network promoting the films for kids”, he mentioned.
Consequently, Mrs Sannette Naeyé, director of Cinekids Film Festival in the Netherlands for the last 20 years, stated that all film professionals must disengage the outdated view that films for kids are simple. Then she cited a number of very interesting data as to a film for kids’ building structure. "We have to consider the fact that kids spend an inconceivable amount of time, much more than they spend at school, on online platforms. The reasons for this are related to their need for fun, relief from stress and constant contact with what is happening. Producers must turn to co-productions, funding sources, reciprocal collaborations and specialized sections of film production”, she noted.
Which is a film for kids’ secret of success?
- Its duration must not be long.
- The script must have structure and proper construction and not be overly naive
- The story must unfold through the eyes of the kid
- It must be understandable, with no babbling and complex analysis
- It must be fun and close to a family movie, without being such
What are the specific traits of a script for a kids’ film?
- It must not have strict moralistic content
- It must promote proper values
- The cultural framework must be filtered through specific codes which render it understandable
- It is not forbidden to collide with the adults’ perspective, when it is necessary
- The main character must have psychological depth
- Parents must not be depicted in a negative way
How are kids being categorized?
- In the ages 2-4, they develop speech and language skills, apprehend the concept of symbols, but still have no skills in empathy
- In the ages 4-7 they develop logical thinking, looking for answers, need for recognition, structured curiosity
- In the ages 7-12 they develop social and emotional skills, value judgement and problem-solving ability
- We must keep in mind that there are about 2.2 bn kids in the world and deviations are chaotic (financial status, cultural background, social features, entourage)
- We must respect the codes applying in each society about children age. For instance, in the US it is forbidden to show erotic scenes on screen in a film for kids, while in Europe you hardly see films for kids with religious or political background.
- In any case, all films are about the same topics, family, friends, school and the feeling of growing up and maturing
In the last part of this very interesting discussion, the Serbian producer Milan Stojanović, founder of the NGO “FilmKultura” aiming at studying ages 5-14, intervened saying: “The motive behind the creation of this NGO was the failure of the film Barbarians a few years ago, which was addressing a target audience of 17-19 year olds, but largely failed to attract their interest. We were so deeply troubled by this failure that we decided to get involved in a series of actions so as to convince younger audiences to turn to something different from blockbusters, animation and horror movies”, he said. In addition, Mr Stojanović talked about his latest attempt, the film How I Learned to Fly, based on the book of the same name by the author of children’s books Jasminka Petrović, which poses big challenges as to marketing and promotion, since it is a Serbian film by a Serbian film director based on a Serbian book, that will be shot exclusively in Croatia and will be Croatian-speaking. “In Serbia there is no official funding for films for kids in any of the two bodies for film funding, the Serbian film centre and the municipality of Belgrade. The only chance for a kids’ film to succeed is by making a career in international festivals, or having a special feature which appeals to the local audience. We all have to fight for adding a third parameter to those two, quality content”, he concluded.
