2008

Kids for Kids, Unicef screenings and suggestions on how to make a difference

Pirkko the red parrot hovered over the city of Tampere from March 4th till 9th as a sign of the fifth Videotivoli. This year’s Videotivoli received 485 films of which 121 were shown during the festival week. Films came from almost 30 different countries and the makers were between the ages 4 and 18. Festival was held in cinema Niagara and Tullikamari’s Pakkahuone.

Fifth international children’s and young people’s film festival Videotivoli and the first Nordic and Baltic countries’ Kids for Kids competition succeeded over expectations. During the six days Videotivoli had over 2300 viewers. Together there were 34 screenings aimed at children and young people. There were 12 different screenings out of which 11 consisted of films made by children and young people only. The festival had four premieres where the filmmakers themselves saw their film on the big screen. The seminar gathered together an auditorium full of people interested in youth’s media.

Again Videotivoli attracted several video makers and viewers. In addition to the Finnish guests this year’s festival also received guests from Italy, Denmark and UK.

VIDEOTIVOLI SCREENINGS

For the youngest children and kindergartens VT1 screenings offered wonderful animated tales from all over the world. In VT2 the preschool children and the youngest primary school pupils were shown films of adventures and jokes, but also though-provoking ones. VT3 covered different styles from art to fun and robber stories, including more serious subjects like the climate change. VT 4, for secondary- and high school students, was about comedy, romance, tragedy and changes in attitude.

There was also a special music video screening for children and anyone young at heart. It was an exciting mixture of videos both made for and by kids, including the popular puppet dogs Karvakuonot (Hairy Snouts) by Finnish TV2, Täti Monika (Aunt Monika) by the group PMMP and even some Dutch sailors.

UNICEF SCREENINGS

In year 2008 Tampere was a Unicef city. Films collected for Unicef screenings from children and youngsters were shown in three different screenings. Unicef 1: A journey into Africa consisted of little stories about children’s rights, hopes and dreams and fairytales from Africa. Unicef 2: A journey into the word was all about fairytales from Africa, stories about children’s rights and peace, and also a visit to India. Unicef 3:Through the eyes of the young showed films of young people from e.g. Burkina Faso, Palestine and the U.S. telling about their lives. They dreamt, heard words of warning and learned lessons of life.

KIDS FOR KIDS  

This year’s Videotivoli presented the first Nordic and Baltic countries’ Kids for Kids competition for films no longer than 10 minutes in length made by under 16-year-olds. The members of he jury were film director Johanna Vuoksenmaa, journalist and director Olli Laine, norwegian media all rounder Kamilla Krogsveen and Mikael Vuorenmaa, a young man from Tampere representing the children.

In the series of under 12-year-olds the award for best animation went to Kristiansand International Children’s Film Festival workshop’s film Power Pig. The award for best fiction or documentary was given to Ida Lundgård and Frida Andersson for their film Why? which tells about two girls who are trying to stop other people bullying their friend.

Finland celebrated in the series for 13-16-year-olds. The best animation came from Children’s and young people’s cultural centre Vernissa. Scarcesmith, Mennisthedenace is thematically a typical love story. The prize for best one-minute film went to Keihäslahti primary school’s What Comes Around. The award for best fiction or documentary was given to Tammerkoski primary school for the film The Line.

The award for the best film in the first Nordic and Baltic countries Kids for Kids festival was given to Pori’s Pajaluokka for their acted comedy MC Doc. The jury took special interest in good scriptwriting and the good quality of acting.

The competition was organised by Pirkanmaa Film Centre together with CIFEJ, the international centre of films for children and young people. The event received funding from Nordic Culture Fund and Alfred Kordelin’s foundation.

ANGAA – LIGHT FROM AFRICA

ANGAA exhibition was Linda Haapanen’s dissertation from Tampere College’s study programme in audiovisual communication. From March 3rd through 9th animation paintings, photos and finished animations took over the lobby of the cinema Niagara, and the lobby and hallway of Pirkanmaa Film Centre.

The exhibition gave a glimpse to the art behind the animations. It also showed how much work animations call for. The animations, of which the materials for this exhibition were based on, were made in workshops with African children and youth in Africa instructed by Maikki Kantola or Antonia Ringbom.

ANGAA exhibition was carried out in co-operation with Pirkanmaa Film Centre, Photographic Centre Nykyaika, Maailmankauppa Tasajako, Tampere Unicef year, Animation Huset and RIAC.

MEDIA SEMINAR

On Friday March 7th a seminar titled Young people and the media – suggestions on how to make a difference was held at the auditorium of the Finnish Labour Museum Werstas. The seminar discussed how young people could make a difference in the society. The hosts of this bilingual (Finnish and English) seminar were young people aged 15 to 19 from Mediaskooppi network. 
Mediaskooppi network is an operational concept of young media experts in Pirkanmaa. In this network the young aim to carry out media education in trainings and different conversational events by bringing the youth perspective into the discussion on the media education field about the threats and risks of media.

Media instructor Maija Puska from Curly ry and communication educater Maarit Jaakkola from Mediaskooppi network held an activity moment where they tried out some exercises directed at the youth, developed by media educational organisations

Documentarist John Webster gave practical tips on how to make a documentary and the producer of DOKKINO Camilla Drugge told about documentary films as an educational tool.

Education as a means of making difference was the subject of the lecture by web educator Timo Mulari from Life Tastes Better Without Drugs NGO and Johanna Kivelä, Sanjaana Gavalas and Riina Merenluona, students of Humak -University of Applied Sciences. The company director Denise Rose of a charitable non-profit organisation Mouth That Roars talked about films made for the young by the young.

Dvoted held for the first time in Finland a Live Feedback event, which consisted of film screenings, instructors’ meeting and a commentary. Films by young filmmakers were shown and professional directors such as Johanna Vuoksenmaa commented the films.
The seminar was organised in co-operation with the youth’s media professionals network Mediaskooppi and the young Nordic filmmakers’ web site Dvoted.

Videotivoli and the Nordic and Baltic countries’ Kids for Kids competition was organised by Pirkanmaa Film Centre with aid from Nordic Culture Fund amongst others.

The main organisers this year were Maikki Kantola and Elli Pekkola. Others who made the festival possible were Jukka-Pekka Laakso, Juha Lassila, Tomi Peuhkurinen, Anni Linden, Juha Nikkilä, Kati Kaartinen, Muusa Korhonen, Liina Härkönen, Sinikka Junnilainen, Nelli Salmi, Juha Elomäki, Timo Kaaja, Mikko Malo, Arto Alatalo and Petri Syren.