Girls look for romance, boys want action – is that still the formula for success when it comes to youth films? It is our belief that these days are gone! According to our observations, the adolescents’ interest in films has clearly changed during the past years, and the choice of films has kept up – not on the same level yet, though: a look at the box-office takings proves that our domestic youth film scene is still dominated by Hollywood blockbusters and lame German productions. But behind this picture, an increasingly colourful world of international works can be discovered. The same goes for us: therefore, the focus of our festival program "youth days" lies on films that consciously differ from the cinema mainstream and that bear a relation to the social realities of adolescence – and/or deal with issues and questions that deeply move and interest 12- to 18- year olds. And if everything falls into place, maybe the occasional film manages to advance the aesthetic abilities of the ado lescents and to sharpen their quality awareness.
Simultaneously, the range for role behaviour of girls and boys in youth films has widened enormously, and the variety of genderspecific character depictions has increased. One only needs to think of films like BILLY ELLIOT – I WILL DANCE, in which a boy achieves his passion for dancing against all odds, or the small masterpiece XXY by Argentinian director Lucía Puenzo, which campaigns for the acceptance of intersexuality and at the same time tells an unusually gripping coming-of-age drama.
We hope that our sixth "exground youth days" can bell contribution to presenting more of these films from all over the world in German cinemas, therefore enriching the choice of youth films in our country.
exground filmfest’s youth-film festival is opened by the WIESBADEN YOUTH FILM CONTEST, in which local directors compete for the best short film award, endowed with EUR
450 – again sponsored by the "Hessische Landeszentrale für politische Bildung".
In the course of the youth days – INTERNATIONAL YOUTH FILM CONTEST, we present seven current productions from all over the globe. A Wiesbaden youth jury again decides which film will win in the end. The prize money of EUR 2,500, sponsored by the Cultural Offices of the State Capital Wiesbaden, will be awarded to the director of the winner film.
download youth days Flyer
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