Young Audience Film Weekend to celebrate the launch of new European Film Club

The public part of the Young Audience Film Weekend kicks off with the Young Audience Film Summit 2023, now in its 3rd edition, on the subject of “The Future of Humanity”.

The Summit is co-created and hosted by young people, with 30 young people from more than 15 countries attending in person in Erfurt, Germany and 100 more interacting online. Young people co-creating European Film Club have chosen to explore sub-themes including climate change, human rights, the societal impact of the pandemic, especially on young people’s mental health as well as looking at visions of utopia and what dystopian future we may face if we do nothing.

The European Film Academy has been co-creating and developing the European Film Club for more than two years with the backing of Creative Europe MEDIA. The European Film Club launches on 5 November 2023 at Cinéma Galeries in Brussels. The event will be streamed live to more than 25 countries and will be hosted by some of the young people that have co-created it. The launch will be followed by a simultaneous screening of EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE in more than 35 cinemas, film discussions in every cinema and a streamed Q&A session where young people will ask questions to creative minds behind the film: director Martin Persiel and leading actor Paul Raymond.

European Film Club is a digital platform that makes a curated catalogue of European films easily accessible for teenagers between 12-19 years old. It builds on the success and experience of the Academy’s Young Audience Award (since 2012) and will give young audiences year-round access to continue their journey into European films. Having worked on a prototype, the project is now ready to roll out across Europe.

“Films tell every conceivable human story, providing an insight into the lives of others, into different cultures and what it means to be European. Through European Film Club, the Academy is building a love of European film that is not just an investment in the future of the film and young people’s cultural futures but in the present: young people are a hugely important audience in their own right.” Matthijs Wouter Knol, CEO and Director, European Film Academy

“I feel like I’m growing up right now, and I just am really uncertain with who I want to be. And that is why I love to watch movies and just to try to see different perspectives on the world, and to really discover new worlds. I feel like a film can help us to get a bit closer to each other.” Konstantin, 17, Consultation Group member, Germany

“I want the European Film Club to be a space where me and other people can meet and communicate in a safe environment about their perspectives openly and honestly and learn more about their own culture and the culture of others.” Maria, 18, Youth Council member, Portugal

The Young Audience Film Weekend also includes the Film x TV Lab on Friday 3 November, taking the opportunity of 30 young Europeans being in one place to meet with commissioning editors of several of Europe’s broadcasters. The potential for authentic content creation is only going to grow as European Film Club expands across Europe. This gives an opportunity to create a very rich magazine programme about film for young people that celebrates European culture and young people’s passion for it in a fun and accessible way.

Film is one of Europe’s greatest cultural assets and opening it up for young people to explore different cultures and ideas fits not only with the European Film Academy’s mission but also the ideals of public service broadcasting and commercial sector’s interest in innovative ways to reach audiences. It also fits well with the objectives of Creative Europe to develop young audiences and “safeguard, develop and promote European cultural and linguistic diversity and heritage” as wells as the European Broadcast Union’s strategy to facilitate “content that inspires, educates and entertains our communities and reflects their diversity.

For those unable to attend in person, there’s still a chance to be a part of the action by joining Europe’s Biggest European Watch Party screening EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE. This will offer an immersive film-watching experience for everyone and will sample the European Film Club collective watching experience. By registering for this exclusive event, participants can join a lively discussion after the screening, connecting with fellow film enthusiasts from all corners of the Europe.

To top it all off, there will be the announcement of the three Young Audience Award Nominees. Audiences will be able to apply to join the 99-strong European Film Club jury to select the winning film. This highly anticipated moment will reveal the 3 films that have captivated young audiences and earned nominations for this award, which is an official category of the European Film Awards. The winner will be presented during the ceremony of the European Film Awards on 9 December 2023 by three of the young jury members.