Young4Film: Young Programmers for Young Audiences! European Film Festival Network

Young audience development is firmly anchored on the agenda of all key players in the European film industry. Moreover, European film festivals are increasingly developing programmes for young audiences to secure loyal adult visitors.

The Young Programmers for Young Audiences! European Film Festival Network project aims to overturn a common film festival practice, where young audience programme curation is done exclusively by grownups. In contrast, our project’s main mission is to actively include young people in the creation of five established international film festivals as Young Programmers, who will co-curate festivals’ onsite and online programmes.

The network is coordinated by Kino Otok – Isola Cinema International FF (Slovenia, since 2004), its members are International Documentary FF Beldocs (Serbia, since 2008), Vilnius International Short FF (Lithuania, since 2006), Piccolo Grande Cinema (Italy, since 2008) and Motovun FF (Croatia, since 1999). The network brings together two general and three specialized European film festivals (documentaries, shorts, young audiences). The deliberate diversity of its membership is thoughtfully mirrored in a widespread geographical coverage.

The festival network proposal includes coordinated and collaborative activities for young audience development, plus onsite and online circulation of European films. Its overall approach of developing participatory activities for young audiences is based on the original Moving Cinema methodology for discovering, appreciating, and enjoying European cinema, that has been since 2014 cultivated by a Barcelona-based cultural organization A Bao A Qu in collaboration with several international partners.

As an important innovation in the field of young audience development, the project will also focus on research and design of open-source Sustainability and Social Awareness Charter for Young Film Audiences in European festival context and beyond. [Source: FTOP.]

Funded projects

LIVEUROPE – 2017–2021 (4. year)

LIVEUROPE – 2017–2021 (3. year)

LIVEUROPE – 2017–2021 (2. year)

Soft Control

Future Architecture Platform – 2017–2021 (4. year)

Future Architecture Platform – 2017–2021 (3. year)

Future Architecture Platform – 2017–2021 (2. year)

Future Architecture Platform / FuturA – 2015–2017 (2. year)

Aerowaves – 2017–2021 (4. year)

Aerowaves – 2017–2021 (3. year)

Aerowaves – 2017–2021 (2. year)

Aerowaves – 2014–2017 (3. year)

Aerowaves – 2014–2017 (2. year)

Story Time – Connecting People with the Power of Art

European film screening in 2024

European film screening in 2023

European film screening in 2022

European film screening in 2021

European film screening in 2020

European film screening in 2019

European film screening in 2018

European film screening in 2017

European film screening in 2016

European film screening in 2015

European film screening in 2014

European film screening in 2013

The Film Corner Clubs 2026-2028. From virtual to real (TFCClubs)

Here I am! (HIA)

EUthentic Detectives – Fostering Media literacy of people who face cognitive challenges, their caregivers and young volunteers

CEE Animation Workshop (CEE AW) – 2026

Film in Hospital 3.0 - a pan-European Film Initiative for Young Audiences in Healthcare Structures

THE FIRST DOG (TFD)

36. and 37. Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe)

The 22nd and 23rd Kino Otok - Isola Cinema International Film Festival in Years 2026 and 2027

The 12th and 13th edition of FeKK - Ljubljana Short Film Festival

Animateka International Animated Film Festival (AIAFF)

Young Stories from the Old Continent (YSOC)

Bookmark – Marking Europe's Best Narratives

No Person Is An Island (NPII)

Immersive European Cultural Heritage Outreach (Immersive ECHO)

European Media Art Platform Extended (EMAP Extended)

EHIN - European Hybrid Intelligence Network

W.Write – Women, Writing, Rights, and Rites: reimagining the ecosystem of Literary Arts

RE-MIND: A Mindfulness-Based Capacity-Building Model for Digital Wellbeing and Intergenerational Audience Engagement in Museums

New Steps: EU’s first steps towards career transition support for dancers

Brave Creative Producers (BCP)

stART point - a platform where performing arts and young people get connected (stART.)

Heritage Understanding & Participation Hackathon: Co-creating Cultural Heritage Experiences with and for youth (Hup Hackathon)

Artificial Intelligence for Artistic Futures and Creative Talents (ARTIFACT)

CULTIVATOR

Architecture With an Approach to Regeneration and Empowerment (AWARE)

Upsala – SUITCASES

Invisible painting (IP)

Building, Revising, Including - Diaspora and Gender Equality (BRIDGE)

Studio Virc – Mini Slate 2025: Izzvenelo bo, Dolasilla, princesa usode, Tujek, Pobeglo srce

NOSOROGI – Mini Slate 2025: Three Waters Meet, The Healers, Liar, Thief, Flea-Eater

Mono O – Mini Slate 2025: The Happiest Day, The Last Roast, After Sunday

Cvinger – Mini Slate 2024: Before the Eyes Turn Black, Reckoning by the Sea, Project North

Venice Eastern Gate

Innovation through media collaboration: Digital assets exchange platform (MEDEXCHANGE24)

Animation HUB (A-HUB)

Word: Enhancing European Graphic Novel Perception, Circulation and Market Development

Roma Soul Food (ROMASOUL)

Tying the European Cultural Landscapes with Knots and Patterns (Knots and Patterns)

Hiking Heritage Trails (INHERIT)

Sensory Artistic Experiences for the Blind (Multisensory Art)

PASS – Pass the Street (Art), Shake the Hand

Slow Performing Arts Festivals for Improved Wellbeing, Mental Health and Social Inclusion (Festival SPA)

Staragara – Slate 2024 (The Colour of the Doubt, Black Swan, Removal, We would have told each other everything, Kozmonavti)

PAGE: Project for Advancing coGnitivE accessibility in publishing

NEB COOLTOURS: Transforming Tourism Through Cultural Innovation and Environmental Stewardship in Alpe-Adria

Bridges

Transition to 8: European societies in flux

ENACT – Easy-to-understand News for Collaborative Transformation

THRIVE – Talent Harvest: Rural Intangible Heritage and Value Empowerment

CAFE: Redefining Historic Cafés as European Cultural Heritage

ArtElevate – Fostering Inclusive Cultural Expression in Europe

CARE – Culture for Mental Health

Glassmaking Between Tradition and Innovation (GTMI)