Are you ready for chasing chickens, driving a tractor, a serious entrepreneurial venture with eggs and chickens and some cool hockey practice! Time for a special look at the selected films in the "SIFF Kids" programme of the 28th Sofia International Film Festival which have travelled all over the world and will be seen on the big screen in Sofia in March. The main selector of the children's section is the director Andrey Hadjivasilev.
Winner of the Annecy Award for Best Animated Feature Film and nominated for a Cesar, "Chicken for Linda!" (trailer) is one of the painted gems in our festival programme, a co-production between France and Italy by directors Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach. The story follows all sorts of difficulties - including closed shops and crowds of people jamming the streets - that confront Linda's mother in her attempt to keep her promise and find her daughter's favourite dish, chicken and peppers.
The new film by Czech writer and director Dan Pánek is titled "Big Dreams" (trailer) and takes several generations back to the turn of the last century and the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Back then, the Czech ice hockey team won the desired Olympic title and all the youngsters in the homeland wanted to be like their idols. The 11-year-old Dom has organised a team to take on the hockey players from the neighbouring village and they are bound to win.
German director Stefan Westerwelle's film "What the Finn!?" (trailer) is an empathy-filled and adventurous coming-of-age story about Finn who feels lonely and forgotten after his parents' divorce, especially when he has to travel between his mother's and father's houses. After being robbed on the train, Finn meets 12-year-old Jola, the two steal a tractor and take it to the sea, managing to become friends and have unforgettable adventures along the way.
"Coco Farm" (trailer) is the work of Canadian director Sébastien Gagné, who received two awards for Best International Children's Film at the SCHLiNGEL Festival - the MDR and the Festival Kids Club. Audiences in Sofia will meet the enterprising 12-year-old Max, who enthusiastically works to create a farm with hundreds of laying hens in his cousin's barn, with his help and the assistance of a young influencer who shares videos about... home farming.
Don't miss the fun film stories through which young cinephiles can travel among unknown worlds and let their imaginations run wild!
Andrey Hadjivasilev, who for the second year in a row is the chief selector of the programme, has a BA in film directing and an MA in production. He is a member of the European Film Academy, the European Children's Film Association (ECFA), and has participated in the 5-member International Selection Committee of the European Film Academy (EFA) for the Young Audience Award 2022. In recent years, he has dedicated himself to the children's audience and has taken it as a personal cause to revive the golden Bulgarian children's cinema.
"SIFF Kids" at the 28th Sofia Film Fest - screenings in March!
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