LUCAS – International Festival for Young Film Lovers

#46 from October 5 to 12, 2023

Lights out and film on at LUCAS #46: From October 5 to 12, Germany’s oldest film festival for young audiences presents award-winning cinematic art for everyone from four years old to 18plus. Families and film lovers of all ages can expect outstanding cinema experiences in Frankfurt, Offenbach, and Wiesbaden. School classes, children’s and youth groups in Germany can also access the short films of the competition program via video-on-demand.

21 carefully curated feature films and a selection of short films (all of them German premieres) will compete for the coveted LUCAS awards. In addition to the competition program, LUCAS presents classics of film history, short film programs for the very youngest and other series, some of which are created by children and young adults. During the festival week, a special focus is on film talks, in which filmmakers from all over the world enter into dialogue with the audience.

Participation at LUCAS means “Get involved!”. As moderators, festival reporters, film critics, jury members, or curators – young film fans are invited to participate in a variety of ways throughout the festival.

For representatives of the film industry, conferences and panel discussions take place that deal with topics of film education and current trends in children’s and youth film production.

LUCAS – International Festival for Young Film Lovers is organized by DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum e.V.

Competitions & Awards

Competitions

In the competition sections 8+, 13+ and 16+ | Youngsters, LUCAS presents a selection of outstanding international feature films, documentaries, animations, and experimental films. A total of 21 feature-length films and a selection of short films compete for the coveted LUCAS awards.

The feature films have a running time of more than 59 minutes and have not yet been shown in German cinemas. A selection committee travels to festivals and industry meetings to select competition entries for the sections 8+, 13+, and 16+ | Youngsters from the strongest current productions worldwide. It’s not premiere status, but quality that counts!

With its short film competition, LUCAS has earned itself a special reputation in recent years. From the best international submissions of up to 30 minutes running time, a selection committee puts together several competition programs for the 8+ and 13+ sections, all of which are German premieres.

LUCAS #45 Awards

Awards

Section 8+

Best Feature Film (5,000 €) donated by the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen
Best Short Film (2.000 €)

Section 13+

Best Feature Film (5.000 €)
Best Short Film (2.000 €)
Award for an Outstanding Cinematic Achievement (2.000 €)

Section 16+ | Youngsters

LUCAS Youngsters Award (5.000 €)

Short film competition

»Stadtteiljury« Award

All Sections

ECFA-Award
Audience Award
MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award

Selection Committee

To network LUCAS even better and to strengthen the lively exchange of the program the festival has appointed a selection committee for feature films and one for short films to screen the films and select them for the sections 8+, 13+ and 16+ | Youngsters. In addition to Julia Fleißig, Head of LUCAS Film Festival, the commissions are made up of five other proven film experts.

Selection Committee | Feature Film

Kirsten Taylor
Editor, Film Educator & Author

Kirsten Taylor is a freelance editor at the film education portal kinofenster.de and a film educator, primarily for the project “Filmklassiker sehen – Filme verstehen”, which has been run by the Deutsche Filmakademie since 2013. In addition, she writes film reviews and creates film reports as well as film education materials. One focus of her work is on children’s and youth film.

Stefan Stiletto
Film Educator and Film Journalist

Stefan Stiletto is a film educator, film journalist and editor. He designs and creates film education material, writes for Filmdienst, Kinderfilmwelt, the Kinder- und Jugend-Filmportal and Kinofenster.de. He runs training courses for multipliers and workshops for children and young people on all kinds of educational film 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. With “33 Best Children’s Films” and “100 Children’s Films for All Days” he has already published two books on children’s films. He also gives workshops on children’s films and film criticism.

Selection Committee | Short Film

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 Jugendfilmzentrum and the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, among others.

Dr. Ursula Vossen
Producer & Author / HessenInvestFilm

Dr. Ursula Vossen has long-standing 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.

Jury

The juries 8+ and 13+ are equally composed of young film fans and industry professionals. They decide on the awarding of five LUCAS prizes in the competitions 8+ and 13+. A jury of young European film enthusiasts reward the LUCAS Youngsters Award to a film in the 16+ | Youngsters section.

An ECFA jury also awards an ECFA Award in the 8+ section, since 2018 Cinema without Borders has awarded a prize to a competition film and the audience award is decided by the festival visitors.

Film Guests

LUCAS welcomes numerous film guests on site at the cinema. All film screenings are accompanied by film mediators. In addition, film talks in advance have been recorded of 7 competitive films as part of a “Get Involved!” project. Young LUCAS alumni interviewed international filmmakers in the TV studio of the Medienprojektzentrum Offener Kanal Rhein-Main.

Film talks in advance (LUCAS #45)