Berlin International Film Festival 2000

When the truth comes to light, a new reality breaks into the lives of the Kinderfilmfest's young protagonists. But although that reality presents a challenge, facing up to it helps them achieve a new level of maturity.

The opening film, Tsatsiki, Morsan Och Polisen (Tsatsiki, Mum And The Policeman) by Ella Lemhagen, tells the story of eight-year-old Tobias, who lives with his mum in Stockholm. The boy has an idealised vision of the father he never knew, and would give anything to meet him one day. But when the encounter actually takes place, events take a surprising turn as Tobias finds out what his father is really like. The director successfully portrays a loving and unusually honest mother/son relationship, bringing top Swedish children's film screenwriter Ulf Stark's story to the screen with charm and wit.

Dokhtari Ba Kafsh-haye-Katani (The Girl In The Sneakers) introduces us to 15-year-old Tadai, a girl torn by intense emotions. Her love for her boyfriend is unwavering, but her family and the authorities keep the two apart. After her mother deeply hurts her, Tadai leaves home. She wanders the streets of Tehran, seeking understanding and someone to confide in. The experiences of one day and one night as well as the bitter realisation that her boyfriend doesn't share her feelings disillusion but eventually strengthen the girl. Director Rassul Sadr Ameli gives his star Pegah Ahangarani full rein to sweep the audience along in the title character's touching plight.

A blind boy 'experiences' sight and reawakens senses in Rang-E-Khoda (The Colour Of Paradise). It's finally summer, and Mohammed can join his beloved grandmother, father and two sisters in the mountains. If only he could stay and go to school there... Breathtaking imagery shows how the blind boy still manages to experience nature's beauty. A touch of the hand speaks volumes, for instance. Director and screenwriter Majid Majidi (The Children Of Heaven) has created a poetic and dramatic work.

Fucking Åmål (Show Me Love) star Rebecca Liliberg shines as a fanatical horse lover in Sherdil. Writer/director Gita Mallik emphasises human relationships and conflicts as much as action in her directorial debut, based on a true story about a young girl who unearths political intrigue but also makes a more significant personal discovery that of horse-girl Sanna's previously untested capabilities.

Man Van Staal (Man Of Steel) is what 13-year-old Victor becomes in his dreamworld, where he encounters his dead father. It's how Victor tries to cope with his painful loss. But he also needs his father's advice on a matter of life and death: how to kiss a girl. Vincent Bal's film balances tragedy and comedy, the real and the imaginary to great effect.

"It's what you do that counts." These words constantly ring in the head of Owen, who faces death on a daily basis in Mr Rice's Secret. His best friend Mr Rice (David Bowie) imparted this wisdom, but it's hard for the cancer-stricken boy to see the meaning for his own life. But he overcomes his fear and makes a miraculous discovery which resurrects his will to live. Director Nicholas Kendall doesn't shy away from infusing his serious story with magical elements.

The authentic air of Tri Brata's (Three Brothers) story necessitates the neo-realist film style employed. Three boys live in a Kazakh steppe village, surrounded by scrapped locomotives near a military installation. Their austere existence is alleviated only by the stories an old man tells of beautiful girls in picturesque landscapes. Serik Aprymov's film shows how children become victims of power politics.

Summer in a small Japanese town the right time for three friends, Hachib, Mo-chen and Hakase, to finally find out what the mysterious Mr X is up to in Zukkoke Sanningumi-Kaito X Monogatari (The Adventures Of The Hilarious Trio). But what starts as fun and games ends in a dangerous adventure as the children unearth mayorial machinations and shake up the townspeople's lives. The film is directed with both verve and sensitivity by Tsutomu Kashima, the film's message is complex, and the ending is certain to surprise.

Blinker centres around three boys' friendship. With a light touch, Filip van Neyghem depicts one summer in the lives of a likeable family characterised by mutual acceptance and the way they allow space for each highly individual personality to thrive. The film has comedic elements, but becomes suspenseful when a criminal case is solved almost by chance.

Manolito Gafotas (Manolito Four Eyes) is a well-known character in Spain through Elvira Lindos' books. Director Miguel Albaladejo brings the story to the screen with much local Spanish colour. Manolito's family lives in a working-class Madrid neighbourhood, with three generations sharing just 50 square metres and a bathroom... When summer comes, all Manolito's friends go on holiday, leaving him behind and bored to tears. If only he could see the ocean! Then his wish looks set to come true when his father takes him along on a trucking trip but the journey turns out to be full of obstacles. There's a laugh in every scene, but Albaladejo's warm family portrait is careful not to ridicule its characters.

Pettson & Findus Katten Och Gubbens År are known to German children from Sven Nordqvist's picture books. Albert Hanan Kaminsky's animated film lovingly recreates the world of an old man and his inquisitive cat.

Witty details and ingenious supporting characters make the idyllic Swedish setting colourful and vibrant. The film has an episodic structure based around the four seasons. Despite some menacing situations, the story ends happily and with fireworks.

Special Screening

The Kinderfilmfest presents Maria Peters' Kruimeltje (Little Crumb) as a Special Screening. The mood of this adaptation of the Dutch classic by Chris van Abkonde is reminiscent of Charles Dickens, atmospherically telling the tale of a street boy with much compassion for his pain and suffering as well as joy. The boy's dreams come true when a lucky chain of events reveals that he has parents and a home. (The film will be screened out of competition.)

Surprising twists, invented truths The Short Film Programme

Eleven short films will be screened in a separate competition, six live action and five animated. The directors prove that well-rounded stories with significant statements can be told in just a few minutes.

Convent school life is the fate of the girl in Lisa Chambers' The Calling and the boy in The Breakfast by Peter Sheridan. Both films dissect Catholic authority with dry humour and wonderful punchlines.

Klaus Harö's Nattflykt (Into The Night) gets under your skin. Although the reality depicted is anything but romantic, two young people are able to develop strong feelings for each other. A nightly rendezvous at a hospital swimming pool will prove to be an unforgettable experience for both of them.

Alexander Kott's Pugalo (Scarecrow) uses poetic black and white imagery to show how a boy overcomes loneliness.

A move to the country leaves Alice pining for her friends in Tilbage Til Byen (Going Back Home), until she realises that village girl Inger Marie isn't so bad after all. Director Michael W Horsten shows an uncanny understanding of 10-year-old girls.

In En Djevel I Skapet (A Devil In The Closet), Lars Berg captures children at unselfconscious play. The smallest one has his own rules and turns the tables on everyone else.

Anything goes in the animated films, meanwhile. The imagination has no limits, dreaming up creatures and sassy, funny characters to populate colourful and musical worlds.

Cuckoo, Mr Edgar! features a bird that although carved of wood manages to raise three "real" fledglings, as Pierre M Trudeau's delightful animation shows.

Trompe L'œil by Ingo Panke is just what its name suggests an optical illusion. Only gradually does it become clear where the poor worm in the story has built his house.

Renowned US composer Randall Meyers felt there must be more to classical music for children than Peter And The Wolf. So he composed the children's symphony "Kongen Som Ville Ha Mer Enn En Krone" (The King Who Wanted More Than A Crown), which Anita Killi has set to colourful images and bizarre characters.

Först Var Det Mörkt... (First It Was Dark...) at first seems unassuming, but the tale of a little fellow in a red coat, directed by Gun Jacobsen and Anna Höglund, is actually a picture book for the big screen. The absurd becomes convincing and charming in this cinematic no man's land.

Alexandra Schatz's (Marvellous Milly, Kinderfilmfest 1999) new film, Big Cat, Little Cat, presents a likeable relationship between felines created by British illustrator Tony Ross. The film encourages people to tell the truth.

Renate Zylla/Maryanne Redpath