The “International Children’s and Youth Film Competition” is at the heart of Kikife. Films for children and young people from all over the world are screened throughout the year. The films can have thematic focuses that introduce children and young people, as well as adults, to foreign perspectives and artistically staged plots. As the competition films are shown in their original language, they are spoken live during the screening – a very special film experience. Every language always conveys a certain feeling, which can often be lost through dubbing. A total of five current productions will be viewed and evaluated by our children’s jury and a jury of experts and film critics. Each jury awards an endowed “Prize of the Kreissparkasse Ostalb”. There is also a prize for the best child actor or actress donated by Lochmann Filmtheaterbetriebe (Traumpalast). The winners will be announced at the grand closing gala.

Competition

The focus of the Kikife is the “International Children’s and Youth Film Competition”. For this purpose, children’s and youth films are screened all over the world throughout the year. The films can contain thematic focal points that introduce children and young people, but also adults, to foreign points of view and artistically staged actions. Since the competition films are shown in their original language, they are spoken live during the screening – a very special film experience. Every language always conveys a certain feeling, which can often be lost through dubbing. A total of six current productions will be screened and evaluated by our children’s jury, as well as a jury of experts and film critics. Each jury will award a “Prize of the Kreissparkasse Ostalb”. In addition, there is the prize for the best child actor or actress donated by Lochmann Filmtheaterbetriebe (Traumpalast). The winners will be announced at the grand closing gala.

Panorama

In the Panorama, we show films outside of the competition. They represent the entire spectrum of contemporary filmmaking in the field of children’s and youth film. The films are very different and therefore cover a wide range of themes and production styles. The focus is on offering a film selection that is as varied as possible, supporting the wide range of film education programs and contributing to the teaching of media skills.

Jury

In the “International Children’s and Youth Film Competition”, the children’s jury, the specialist jury and the critics’ jury each decide which of the participating children’s and youth films will win. The winners of the endowed “Prize of the Kreissparkasse Ostalb” will be announced by the jury at the closing gala.

This is what Kikife is all about

When the Kikife took place for the first time, the diverse media and communication offerings on the Internet, characterized by streaming services, social networks, but also the simple possibility of becoming a producer of media content oneself, was still pure fiction. In the course of almost 30 years, techniques, formats and demands on the media user have changed fundamentally at ever shorter intervals. Kikife has always followed this development and has oriented itself to the respective media reality of the children and young people through new formats and offers. Despite all the changes, however, the most important value of cinema is still the shared experience in a group, the discovery of new worlds and the fostering of empathy and understanding for foreign ways of seeing and acting. It is a place of encounter and, within the framework of the festival, can also provide a forum for a comprehensive examination of the media world of children and young people.

The Kikife provides the framework for this communicative aspect and promotes critical engagement with cinematic media and their modes of action essentially through:

• Screenings of children’s and youth films from Germany and abroad, in the Competition, Panorama and Filmland Baden-Württemberg sections.
• Workshops for children and young people on the practical use of film as a medium, as well as further training in media education for teachers.
• The development and implementation of playful and informative accompanying programmes and teaching materials for selected films by students of the University of Education for the preparation and follow-up of the films in schools.

Media Education

Self-active, action-oriented and enjoyable – this is how children and young people at Kikife are to acquire a wide range of media skills in an interdisciplinary sense and thus become active, thoughtful and attentive media users and creators. We live in a visually dominated world, images and films have become the communicative element of our society. And not only since PISA we know how important it is to learn to read those as well as texts made of written characters. The more visual or kinaesthetic types of learners and children from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds also benefit greatly from information and sensory impressions conveyed by images.

In addition to a wide range of workshops for active engagement with media and their effects, we offer an informative and playful accompanying programme for selected films. This is developed and carried out by students of the University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd. The students work in groups on the pedagogical treatment of the films and, based on this, design a short pre- or post-programme for the film shown. For teachers there are teaching suggestions and materials for use in the classroom.

Tickets and reservation

Tickets for the Kikife film screenings and events can be purchased directly from Brazilkino or Traumpalast soon. Reservations can also be made from this date by telephone, online or in person at the cinema. Changes in the program and the playing times are not intended, but possible.

Admission: 5,50 €
School performances: 4,00 €
Readings: free

Registration for teachers

You can find the overview of available films and playtimes at our program

To register for an event for your class or group, please send us an email as usual to: walter.deininger@kikife.de

Please be sure to include the following details:

Registration for all films with fixed playing times at the Traumpalast

1. Film title with date and time
2. School and class(es)
3. Number of pupils
4. Number of accompanying persons
5. Mail and telephone number where you can be reached

Please note that for organisational reasons registration can only take place in this way. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. After processing by our team you will receive a binding confirmation email with all information.

Thank you very much

The festival has always enjoyed great support from sponsors and partners from the film and media industry as well as from companies in the region. They have all recognised how important contemporary critical media education of children and young people has become. We thank all participants for their loyal support:

Main sponsor

Supporters

Team and contact

Festival Office

Children’s cinema festival Schwäbisch Gmünd
Hirschgäßle 7
73525 Schwäbisch Gmünd
General inquiries: walter.deininger(at)kikife.de
Reservations for school classes and groups: walter.deininger(at)kikife.de

Festival Cinemas

Brazil Cinema
Hirschgäßle 7
73525 Schwäbisch Gmünd
07171 9782957
www.brazilkino.de

Traumpalast Schwäbisch Gmünd
Türlensteg 29
73525 Schwäbisch Gmünd
0711 55090770
www.traumpalast.de

Festival management

Walter Deininger
Program and organization
walter.deininger(at)kikife.de

Gerhard Klein
Program and film acquisition
gerhard.klein(at)kikife.de

Team

Jana Thiem
Organisation
hallo(at)brazilkino.de

Ralph Häcker
Short film production
ralph.haecker(at)schwaebisch-gmuend.de

Dr. phil. Christian Weissenburger
Scientific supervision and student support programme
christian.weissenburger(at)ph-gmuend.de

Dr. Henriette Hoppe
Scientific supervision and children’s jury
henriette.hoppe(at)ph-gmuend.de

Prof. Dr. Claudia Vorst
Wissenschaftliche Betreuung und studentisches Begleitprogramm

Vanessa Sigg
Website 

Florina Jenessen
Graphic / Layout

Evelin Brodt
Guest services