Prize Winner Films
Our CIFEJ Prize Winners Films!
2026
I Accidentally Wrote a Book
Director: Nóra Lakos
I Accidentally Wrote a Book is a heart-warming coming-of-age family film that follows 12-year-old Nina, a young girl who dreams of becoming a writer. As she learns to write, she begins to process her emotions, uncover her family’s history, and face the grief of losing her mother. Through her writing—blending live action and animation—the story becomes a metaphor for life’s challenges including first love, sibling conflict, self-discovery, and emotional growth.
12th Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth (SIFFCY), India, 2026
2025
Football on the Roof
Director: Feiyu Liao
“Football? That’s only for boys,” says the village. But twelveyear-old Aimei refuses to accept that rule. With a grapefruit as their ball and the roof of her house as their field, Aimei and her friends reinvent the game in their own way. Through courage, creativity, and teamwork, they gradually build a team that challenges tradition—and discovers the true spirit of play.
30th SCHINGEL International Film Festival, Germany, 2025
Seeds
Director: Eliana Niño
A magical-realist coming-of-age story set in the Colombian plains, Seeds follows Shaira, a young girl whose grandfather sells her beloved horse after a family tragedy. To comfort her, he tells her the clouds have taken the horse and only rain can bring it back. Determined, Shaira embarks on a journey to find a special seed that will make it rain—and reunite her with her horse.
30th SCHINGEL International Film Festival, Germany, 2025
Miss Boots
Director: Yan Lanouette Turgeon
When an orphaned girl loses her grandmother, her uncle — a once-famous opera composer with only one hit to his name — suddenly finds himself her temporary guardian. As he awaits the arrival of a foster family, he must navigate the chaos of caring for a child while struggling to rediscover his creative spark and complete his next great work.
International Film Festival for Children and Youth (ICFF), Iran, 2025
Sunshine
Director: Antoinette Jadaone
Sunshine is a talented young rhythmic gymnast on the verge of joining the national team when she unexpectedly becomes pregnant. In a society where abortion is illegal, she struggles to protect her dreams while navigating the pressures of her sport, her relationship, and a world that offers little room for deviation.
Filem’On – International Film Festival for Young Audiences, Belgium, 2025, and 28th Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People, Greece, 2025
2024
The Replacement
Original Title: Djaneshin
Director: Abdollah Alimorad
The Replacement is a stop motion animated short depicting life in an old oil mill. When the mill’s camel becomes ill and unable to turn the millstone, the miller installs a mechanical engine as its substitute. As the machine takes over the work, the sidelined camel reacts with jealousy— highlighting the tension between tradition and technology. Using rich stopmotion puppetry, the film
evocatively examines how replacing natural, living labor with machinery affects relationships, emotions, and the soul of rural life.
13th Tehran International Animation Festival, 2024
The Mountain
Original Title: Te Maunga
Director: Rachel House
The Mountain is coming-of-age drama centered on Sam, a spirited young Māori girl living with cancer. Believing in the healing power of Taranaki Maunga—her ancestral mountain—Sam escapes the hospital to begin a journey of hope and reconnection. Along the way, she teams up with two misfit companions: Bronco, a bold boy steeped in Māori tradition, and Mallory, a quiet newcomer grieving his mother. Together, they navigate wild terrain and inner landscapes, forging bonds of friendship and courage. Set against the stunning backdrop of Aotearoa, the film beautifully explores themes of cultural identity, healing through nature, and the transformative power of connection.
29th International Film Festival for Children and Young Audience SCHLiNGEL, Germany, 2024
Icarus and the Minotaur
Original Title: Icare
Director: Carlo Vogele
Icarus and the Minotaur is an animated mythological adventure / drama film which tells the story of young Icarus who apprentices in his father Daedalus’ sculpture workshop on Crete, and secretly befriends a gentle boy with a bull’s head—Asterion, the Minotaur—hidden in King Minos’s palace. Their bond is shattered when Minos imprisons Asterion deep in the labyrinth Daedalus built, and Icarus’ trust in his father crumbles. When Prince Theseus arrives to slay the creature, Icarus makes a desperate attempt to save his friend. But a night of betrayal and tragedy forces him into a heartbreaking choice between light and darkness
10th Smile Int’l Film Festival for Children & Youth (SIFFCY), India, 2024
My Wild Friend
Original Title: Moy Dikiy Drugd
Director: Anna Kurbatova
My Wild Friend tells the story of seventh-grader Sasha Menshikov, who is finishing the school year at a new school and lives with his aunt Nina in a small picturesque town. Sasha’s mother, a famous scientist, brought him here from Moscow for the duration of her next expedition. Things didn’t work out with Sasha’s classmates; after school, he often walks alone in nature. One day in the forest, Sasha finds a little fox caught in a trap. Having learned that poachers are hunting for the fox cub, the boy hides him in a dugout deep in the forest and begins to nurse him. This begins a touching and adventurous story about friendship, responsibility and justice.