26/09/2005

Yesterday, the 28th Lucas Children's Film Festival (25 September – 2 October) organised by the Deutsches Filmmuseum, the federal BJF, and LPR Hessen, began in Frankfurt. The event, created in 1974, is the oldest children's film festival in Germany; it has become a unique opportunity for film professionals to meet the young public, especially children from five to twelve.
The Seventeen movies from seventeen countries (including four short films) in competition will be judged by a mixed jury of five children and five grown-ups and the best two films will receive 2,500 euros each. This responsibility and trust given to children is a unique feature of the Lucas Festival, which also allows them to widen their perspectives by emphasizing variety, introducing them to young George, Kid, Skän, Kallisto, etc. to make them discover France, Norway, Sweden, or further destinations such as Asia and Africa. A special sidebar is dedicated to European classics for children, from Heidi by Luigi Comencini (Switzerland, 1952) and The War of the Buttons by Yves Robert and François Boyer (France, 1961) to The Pocket-Knife by Ben Sombogaart (Netherlands, 1991) and Into the West by Mike Newell (Ireland, 1992).

This event runs simultaneously with another children's film festival organised in Hamburg (23-28 September) by the private TV channel Super RTL. The Hamburg festival opened on the night of the 22d with the European premiere of Der Fisher und seine Frau (The fisherman and his wife), in which Doris Dörrie tackles the question of whether men and women can actually get along in a world where the latter always want more, while the former are passive. This film will be released in Germany on the 13th of October (Constantin Film).