LUCAS – International Festival for Young Film Lovers #48 from September 25th to October 2nd, 2025
Lights out at LUCAS #48: From September 25th to October 2nd, 2025, Germany’s oldest film festival for young audiences presents award-winning cinematic art for everyone from three years to 18plus. Families and film lovers of all ages can look forward to outstanding cinema experiences in Frankfurt, Offenbach and Wiesbaden.
At the heart of LUCAS are the competitions in the »Kids«, »Teens« and »Youngsters« sections. In addition to the competition program, the festival shows classics of film history, short films for the very youngest and other programs, some of which are designed by children and young people. During the festival week, a special focus is placed on the film talks, in which filmmakers from all over the world enter into dialog with the audience.
Participation at LUCAS means “Get Involved!”: As moderators, jury members or film critics, as festival reporters or curators, young people are invited to help shape the festival in a variety of ways.
For representatives of the film industry, specialist conferences and panel discussions are held that deal with topics of film education and current trends in children’s and youth film production.
LUCAS – Internationales Festival is organized by DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum e.V..
Competitions and Awards
Competitions
In the competitions of the »Kids«, »Teens« and »Youngsters« sections, LUCAS presents a selection of outstanding international feature films, documentaries, animated films and experimental films. A total of 21 feature-length films and 18 short films will be competing for the coveted LUCAS awards in 2024.
The feature-length films have a running time of more than 59 minutes and have not yet been released in German cinemas. A selection committee travels to festivals and industry meetings to choose competition entries for the »Kids«, »Teens« and »Youngsters« sections from the strongest current productions worldwide. It’s not premiere status, but quality alone that counts!
In recent years, LUCAS has gained a special reputation with its short film competition. A selection committee puts together several competition programs for the »Kids« und »Teens« sections from the best international submissions up to 30 minutes in length, many of which are German premieres.
Awards
Competition »Kids«
- Award for the Best Feature Film (5,000 €) donated by the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen
- Award for the Best Short Film (2,000 €)
Competition »Teens«
- Award for the Best Feature Film (5,000 €)
- Award for the Best Short Film (2,000 €)
- Award for an Outstanding Cinematic Achievement (2,000 €)
Competition »Youngsters«
- LUCAS »Youngsters« Award (5,000 €)
All Sections
- ECFA Award
- Bridging the Borders Award
- Audience Award
Selection Committee 2024
In order to network LUCAS even better and to strengthen the lively exchange about the program, the festival has appointed a selection committee for feature-length films and a selection committee for short films, which view the films and select them for the competitions »Kids«, »Teens« and »Youngsters« competitions. In addition to Julia Fleißig, the festival director of LUCAS, the commissions are made up of five other proven film experts.
Kirsten Taylor
Editor, film educator and author
Kirsten Taylor is an editor at the film education portal kinofenster.de and a freelance film educator, including for the project “Filmklassiker sehen — Filme verstehen”, which was initiated by the Deutsche Filmakademie, as well as for the SchulKinoWochen. She also writes film reviews and prepares film appraisals. One focus of her work is children’s and youth films.
Stefan Stiletto
Film educator and film journalist
Stefan Stiletto is a freelance film educator, film journalist and editor. He designs and creates film education materials, writes for Filmdienst, Kinderfilmwelt, Kinder- und Jugend-Filmportal and Kinofenster.de, among others, and runs training courses for multipliers as well as workshops for children and young people on all kinds of film education topics.
Rochus Wolff
Film critic, author and lecturer
Rochus Wolff is a freelance film critic and author; his publications include Kino-Zeit, Filmdienst, Kinderfilmwelt, the Kinder- und Jugendfilmportal and his blog kinderfilmblog.de. He has already published two books on children’s films, “33 beste Kinderfilme” and “100 Kinderfilme für alle Tage”. He also gives workshops on children’s films and film criticism.
Holger Twele
Journalist and film educator
Holger Twele is a freelance film journalist and film educator and has worked for many years for the Bundesverband Jugend und Film, the Deutsche Kinder- und Jugenfilmzentrum and the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, among others.
Dr. Ursula Vossen
Producer and author / HessenInvestFilm
Dr. Ursula Vossen has many years of experience as a producer for television and film as well as in film promotion. She is the author of numerous books and articles on film studies.
