With the festive Award Show the 12th Edition of the International Film Festival for Children and Young Audience "Schlingel 2007" ended tonight. The awards were given to the best movies in the different categories this evening in Chemnitz (Saxony/Germany).
www.ff-schlingel.de
75 productions out of 32 countries were presented in the week of Festival. Directors, Actors and Producers from Brazil, China, USA, Iran, Hongkong as well as among others from Russia, Italy, and Germany were the guests for the Festival. After presenting their movies, they used the chance to meet each other at comfortable events and to talk shop.
Around 8000 people and more than 120 accredited guests from all over the world ran into the cinema in Chemnitz. Therefore the Festival is the biggest for the audience in this age group in Germany.
One of the big winners was the Italian movie "Red like the Sky" from the director Cristiano Bortone. The young actor Luca Capriotti also was awarded with the prize for the best actor in the children's film competition. He received the award called "Diamond"- a bicycle from the German Manufacture "Diamant."
The international professional jury awards the film with the Main Prize of the city Chemnitz, endowed with 5,000 Euro.
Reasons: The true story of one of ItalyÂ's most famous sound engineers stands representative for many disabled children, who fight for self-determination in life. ItÂ's a stirring but unsentimental and believable reported story about blind children, that doesnÂ't bring you to tears but makes you laugh and think.
The Special Mention from the European Children's Jury is dedicated to Red like the Sky.
Reasons: The movie shows how blind people learn to cope with their fate. Many children don't know that the social integration of disabled persons was not for granted for a long time and this movie, which is based on a real story, shows very vividly how difficult the situation for blind children was in the seventies and still can be today.
Best actor in children's movie: Luca Capriotti
Reasons: The jury is very impressed by the portrayal of the blind boy Mirco, played by Luca Capriotti. Not only the fact of acting as blind person, but also the interaction between Luca as a boy who is able to see and the other children actors, that are all blind, is very convincing and extremely moving.