HISTORY

The Videotivoli festival has its roots in 2004. That was a theme year (called “Filmihillo”, Film Jam) celebrating children’s and young people’s cinema and came with a special allocation from the Ministry of Education.

Pirkanmaa Film Centre had began media education under Reijo Kupiainen in the mid- nineties. Schools and day care centres were offered different workshops, in which short films were made. Maikki Kantola joined the organisation in 2002. She already had a solid background with working with children and youngsters and a two-year experience of organising the festival.
The executive director of the Pirkanmaa Film Centre, Jukka-Pekka Laakso, on his part had a very close connection with the Tampere Film Festival. From their first year together, the Tampere Short Film Festival offered a wonderful framework for Videotivoli and its screenings.

This combination grew into a yearly event for kids. Even during the first year, we received over 500 films from all around the globe. The event was seen as valid and important, and so it has flourished.

The thought behind Videotivoli is to respect young film makers and media education organisations around the world by enabling them to show their work on the big screen.
The emphasis has been in films under 10 minutes long that have been made under 16 year olds. The event also includes seminars, workshops, screenings for the professionals’ children and making music.

In 2008 The Nordic and Baltic Kids for Kids competition was held for the first time in connection with Videotivoli. Behind KFK is the international children’s cinema organisation CIFEJ (Centre International du Film pour l'Enfance et la Jeunesse) and a larger international KFK event for under 16 year olds that is organised from Canada.