24. June 2015

LET'S CEE School Cinema 2015

Over the past years of the LET’S CEE Film Festival’s existence the School Cinema has become a significant and integral element of the festival programme.

The aim of this series is not only to present educationally valuable feature films and documentaries in original version with German subtitles to children and teenagers, but also to give them the chance of meeting and getting to know the filmmakers of these productions. In confronting the youth with and making them reflect on Central and Eastern European topics we try to make a substantial contribution towards European integration. The past years’ editions of the School Cinema were able to attract more than 1.400 students and internationally renowned film guests such as Oscar winner Branko Lustig or Allan Starski. In 2015 we would like to top the previous years and programmes with the following three thrilling films:

The Brave Adventures of the Little Shoemaker (Feature film, Croatia 2013, Croatian language with German subtitles and if need be with German voice-over, recommended for age 8 and older, film guest: director Silvije Petranović):

Keywords: friendship, responsibility, adventurousness, courage, helpfulness

The orphan Lapitch, apprentice of a grumpy shoemaker, has to make red boots for a rich client, but the shoes turn out too small. Fleeing from his angry master, Lapitch puts on the boots, which fit him miraculously, and embarks on an exciting journey with his loyal dog Bundaš, where not only a lot of adventures are awaiting him but also the circus girl Gita. The loving and turbulent film adaption of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić’s children’s classic from 1913 is the most successful Croatian family film of the past 25 years and fascinates young and old in the home land and at international film festivals.

Chuck Norris vs Communism (Documentary, Romania 2015, Romanian language with German subtitles, recommended for age 14 and older, film guest: director and screenwriter Ilinca Calugareanu)
Keywords: communism, freedom of press and media, enthusiasm for film, dreams

A group of film enthusiasts smuggle videotapes of Hollywood productions into the locked-down and communistic Romania of the 1980s and organises illegal screenings for a secret audience, making them dream of a life in freedom. “Chuck Norris vs Communism” tells the story of the woman, who gave her voice to those films, Irina Nistor. Still known today in Romania, Irina Nistor, did the voice-over in her national language for the original recordings and thus enabled her fellow citizens to catch a glimpse on heroes such as Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Norris. The documentary illustrates in an impressive and humorous manner, how films can influence the reality even beyond their inherent potential, and shows at the same time, how important human rights – in this case especially freedom of media and press – are.

Destination Serbistan (Documentary, Serbia 2015, Serbian/English language with German subtitles, recommended for age 16 and older, film guests: director and screen writer Želimir Žilnik and producer Sarita Matijević)
Keywords: refugees, migration, solidarity, willpower, hope

No man’s land just before the Hungarian-Serbian border: A man sits at a campfire. He is one of many refugees, who – in the hopes of a better life – took on the journey by foot from Syria via Turkey and Bulgaria to Serbia. He left his home to find a new one in Europe. With his documentary, director Želimir Žilnik brings the stories and the everyday life of refugees in a neutral and sober way to the screen. The protagonists, played by themselves, seem like human flotsam between hope and resignation. The film is dedicated to an extremely controversial topic of our time and it gives a human face to the high number of refugees, often perceived as rather abstract in the media. 

All trailers on: www.youtube.com/School_Cinema

Our offer:

We provide the participating teachers with a comprehensive set of diverse educational material for every film for free (in September 2015), including up-to-date information about the respective countries, interviews with the filmmakers and exercises for preparation. Furthermore, we screen the films of the School Cinema at low prices: 5,00 Euro per ticket, accompanying persons have free entrance. Every child/teenager receives a free LET’S CEE poster as a reminder after the screening.

A newcomer to the range this year is the free series Films & Books, which is devoted to the topics of tolerance, diversity and respect, and where the following renowned authors will personally present their books in Vienna: Sally Perel (“I was Hitler Youth Salomon”), Goran Vojnović (“Southern Scum Go Home!”) and Marcin Szczygielski  (“Flügel aus Papier”). We can inform you about the readings’ dates as soon as they are set.

For reservations, questions, wishes, suggestions and criticisms, please contact us anytime via education@letsceefilmfestival.com.

LET’S CEE you soon!

Your School Cinema Team

Anna Dillinger, Gabi Pachler and Tobias Spöri