The Young Audience Award - this time in Erfurt, Germany - is the counterpart to the European Film Awards for children and young people. Young film fans from all over Europe had the choice between three entries selected by a committee of experts. This year's winner comes from France: The environmental documentary "Animal" by Cyril Dion.
We asked Matthijs Wouter Knol, Managing Director and Director of the European Film Academy since 2021, how exactly this works.
"Young people between the ages of 12 and 14 were invited to watch the three nominated films and Cyril Dion's film 'Animal' was one of them. They watched the films and had the opportunity to discuss them beforehand. And then , a month before the other European Film Awards, voted on their favorite film. And the result is the Young Audience Award."
"Animal" is about the mass extinction of species. Director Cyril Dion and two teenagers, Bella and Vipulan, spoke to scientists and environmental activists from around the world to understand the phenomenon and, more importantly, how we can stop it.
The film competition ran online, but the three candidate films were also shown in cinemas in more than 70 European cities.
Matthijs Wouter Knol: "It's a project that grew especially in the time when screenings were only possible online. It was much easier to reach many young people who couldn't go to the cinema. And actually it's for it's a lot more natural now to either go to the movies or watch the movies online."
In addition to "Animal", the Swedish feature film "Comedy Queen" by director Sanna Lenken and the German feature film "Traume sind wie wilde Tiger" by Lars Montag were also nominated.
The European Film Awards will be held in Reykjavik on December 10th. Euronews will of course be there...
