At the end of the twenty-third edition of the Reggio Film Festival, the popular free entry event dedicated to children and families returns.
Sunday 24 November, in the auditorium of the Loris Malaguzzi International Center in Reggio Emilia, from 10am to 6.30pm is scheduled Family Shorts, the section of the Reggio Film Festival dedicated to animated short films for children and families. This year they are thirty-seven works, coming from eighteen countries, competing for the Family Award, assigned by the international jury composed of the Swiss producer and director Ursula Ulmi (ex-aequo winner of the Family Award in 2021), the school director Alessandra Landini and Cristiana Valentini, illustrator, graphic designer, animator and writer. The works will be grouped into four distinct sessions, designed for different ages: programs A and D, recommended for ages 3 and up, will begin at 10am and 4.30pm; at 11.30 am and 3 pm, programs B and C will be held, recommended for ages 7 and up.
At the end of the screenings, awards will be held and the winning short films will be shown again.
The other prizes will be the Family School Jury Prize, assigned by a jury made up of pupils from the fifth classes of the A. Negri, A. Bergonzi and G. Pascoli primary schools, of the Alessandro Manzoni Comprehensive Institute of Reggio Emilia, and the Popular Jury Prize Family, determined by public votes.
Among the themes emerging from the rich program it stands out friendship, not only between peers, but also between children and the elderly or with the worldas well exemplified by the four works (Abri, Bouquet, L’Amitie, Le Monde) belonging to the French collection En sortant de l’écolewho interpret the poems of the same name by Esther Granek, Robert Desnos, Andrée Chedid and Frédéric Kiesel with different techniques and styles.
Sometimes to find friends you need to take a journey and overcome appearances and prejudices. This is what happens to Peter who, having arrived in the countryside for the first time, is initially frightened by the local peers who jump down from a tree or appear from behind bushes completely covered in mud, and then, after getting to know them better, he finds them allies in facing a mysterious photograph that comes to life at night (in the funny Pilt, mis öösel liigutas by the Estonian Mikk Mägi, 2023 – Italian premiere). In Wüstentier, by Lina Walde (Germany, 2023), however, a small desert animal whose body casts the shadow of a penguin must travel to the pole to find a friend: a penguin with a peculiarity similar to his.
Friendship is also demonstrated through perseverance: as in Siebenschläfer by Julia Ocker (Germany, 2022) in which a bear wants to celebrate the birthday of his dormouse neighbor, or in search of resolution of a conflict, as in the ending of Vems Fel? by Stina Wirsén and Linda Hambäck (Sweden, 2024 – Italian premiere)
The supportive friendship of the entire village is fundamental in light The Boulangerie de Boris, by Maša Avramović (France, Switzerland, Croatia, 2023), winner of the Coup de cœur Benshi pour un court métrage award, at the Festival national du film d’animation (AFCA) in Rennes.
Other shorts include the winners of the Prix du jury junior CANAL+ and the Prix Jeune public at the Annecy Film Festival 2024: Frite sans maillot (France, 2023), by Matteo Salanave Piazza e Ahoj Leto (Slovakia, Czech Republic, France, 2024), by Martin Smatana and Veronika Zacharová.
The initiative, created with the contribution of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and the Emilia-Romagna Region and with the collaboration of Reggio Children, is part of Rights at the Centre, the monthly openings of the Loris Malaguzzi International Center which offer children and families, teachers and educators guided tours, workshops, explorations, narratives, games and entertainment (full program at the link www.reggiochildren.it/centro-internazionale-loris-malaguzzi/visita /children-and-families/).
All screenings are free and open to entry.
