SCHLINGEL International Film Festival

Schlingel (Usually written: SCHLINGEL) is an international film festival for children and young audiences. The festival began in 1996, and has taken place annually in Chemnitz ever since in the week before the Saxon Fall Break. The festival gives an overview of the newest international productions in the area of children and youth films. The festival is organized by the Saxon Children and Youth Films Association in Chemnitz. In addition, since 2006, the Saxon Institution for Private Broadcasting and New Media has also helped to organize this event. The patrons of SCHLINGEL are the Prime Minister of the Free State of Saxony, as well as the Mayor of Chemnitz. The festival is under the directorate of Michael Harbauer.

The foundation for the present day International Film Festival for Children and Young Audiences SCHLINGEL was laid in 1996 with the first Chemnitz Children’s Film Exhibition SCHLINGEL. This first festival ran for one week in the Chemnitz Culture Centre, and showed "Kraftwerk" films for children aged 5 – 14. In 1998 the venue was changed to the CineStar Luxor-Filmpalast, where it still occurs today. The first award ceremony emerged in 2000 with the prizes being awarded based on public opinion. That year the award went to Tomás und der König der Falken ["Thomas and the King of the Falcons"] by Václav Vorlíček.

The first competition category, the International Children’s Film Competition, was created in 2001. Today, the ever increasing number of applicants for this category confirms its importance among the SCHLINGEL awards. Also in 2001, the first monetary prize was given in this category from the city of Chemnitz – 10,000 DM to the best children’s film. This prize went to the Italian film Iris by director Aurelio Grimaldi.

In 2003 came, for the first time, an appeal for a European Children’s Jury. Within the International Children’s Film Competition, children of different European nationalities (i.e. from Denmark, France, Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary) gave the "Europäischen Kinderfilmpreis" (European Children’s Film Prize). The Saxon State Minister for Science and Art donated €5,000 to be awarded as the prize in this category.

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