On 21 October, the Cinekid Ball was held at a new festival location in the north of Amsterdam, where both main competition and professional awards were handed out to members of cast and crew. It was clear that everyone was happy to be able to celebrate the event in person. With the Cinekid MediaLab upstairs, grown-ups finally had the chance to explore the impressive art and media installations that form a playground for children during the day.

The Cinekid Lions for Best Children’s Film and Best Dutch Children’s Film were awarded to Maurice Trouwborst’s thrilling science-fiction movie Captain Nova, about a time traveller coming back from 2050 to save the world from environmental catastrophe. It world-premiered as Cinekid’s opening film this year. The movie was produced by Kepler Film and was actually no stranger to the festival, as the project was pitched during the Junior Co-production Market in 2018. The members of the jury, Cornelia Boysen, Paty Colemont, Nick Cunningham, Henri Magalon and Pantelis Panteloglou, unanimously agreed that the “photography, acting, atmosphere, rhythm and plot merge to create a convincing work of art”.

In addition, the winners of the Junior Co-production Awards were also announced. The Hungarian production I Accidentally Wrote a Book by Nora Lakos, produced by Claudia Sümeghy for JUNO11 Pictures, won the Eurimages Co-production Development Award, taking home the €20,000 prize. The call was made by a jury consisting of Charlotte Henskens, Karin Schokweiler and Stian Tveiten. The Dutch project Idje Doesn’t Want to Have a Haircut by Michael Middelkoop, which is being produced by Tom van Blommenstein for Lemming Film, won the Filmmore Post-Production Award for Best Live-action Project and, of course, the €5,000 that came with it. The jury members were Jolande Junte, Freja Nørgaard Sørensen and Yamal Stitou.

Here is a full list of the Cinekid award winners:

Best Children’s Film
Captain Nova - Maurice Trouwborst (Netherlands)

Best Dutch Children’s Film
Captain Nova - Maurice Trouwborst

Best Youth Film
Night Forest - André Hörmann and Katrin Milhahn (Germany)

Best Dutch Short Animation
Reflection - Sanne de Vries (Netherlands)

Best Dutch Live-action Short
Spotless - Emma Branderhorst (Netherlands)

Best Dutch Short Documentary
Why Didn’t You Stay for Me? - Milou Gevers (Netherlands)

Best International Short Animation
Sounds Between the Crowns - Filip Diviak (Czech Republic)

Best International Live-action Short
The Best Orchestra in the World - Henning Backhaus (Austria)

Best Dutch Non-fiction Series
De dikke data show - Emiel Strzeszewski (Netherlands)

Best Dutch Fiction Series
Kabam! - Elisabeth Hesemans (Netherlands)

Cinekid Game & App Award
Traffic Jams - Little Chicken Game Company (Netherlands)

Eurimages Co-production Development Award
I Accidentally Wrote a Book - Nora Lakos (Hungary)

Filmmore Post-Production Award
Idje Doesn’t Want to Have a Haircut - Michael Middelkoop (Netherlands)