“Abulele” is a film that deals with strong and relevant themes such as grief and prejudice in a manner, which is refreshingly open to a young audience. With a good balance of humor and drama “Abulele” impresses with its nuanced depiction of characters. The audience is continually confronted with the prejudices we may form of certain characters and learn that people (and creatures) are always more than they seem at first glance.
56th Zlín Film Festival
International Film Festival für Children and Youth
27.05.2016 to 03.06.2016
Zlín
Abulele (© Jonathan Geva, Israeli Film Fund)
"Abulele" by Jonathan Geva, a film from Israel, has won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in Zlín 2016. The jury awarded in addition a Commendation to "La vie en grand", directed by Mathieu Valepied, France.
The Zlín Film Festival 2016 celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Zlín film studios. It focussed on French cinema, and screened 192 films in the various sections. For extraordinary contribution to filmmaking for children and youth the festival awarded the Golden Slipper to Dagmar Havlová Veskrnová for her merits for films for children and young people, and the Grand Prix of the Zlín Film Festival for promoting French film and culture in the Czech Republic was awarded to Eva Zaoralová, former artistic director of the International Film Festival Karlovy Vary.
Link: Festival website
Awards of the Ecumenical Jury
Directed by:
2015
Learn by Heart
Directed by:
2015
“Learn by heart” is a beautifully made social drama with a compelling and charming lead character. We follow the troubled but hopeful journey of a young boy trapped in bad circumstances desperately trying to do good for all those around him. The film underlines the importance of altruism for the improvement of life.
More about the festival
The Zlín film festival has since 1961 been showcasing cinematic portrayals of the joys and tribulations of childhood and youth. The selected films came from all around of the world, treating strong subjects of a wide variety. The international perspective provided by a worldwide film selection left a poignant impression of childhood as a universal human experience, says Astrid Skov-Jacobson, member of the Ecumenical Jury in Zlín 2016.
