Young juries in nine European cities elect Dutch film by Vincent Bal.

Teen adventure The Zigzag Kid, directed by Vincent Bal, has won the European Film Academy (EFA) Young Audience Award 2013.

Based on a novel by David Grossman, the film centres on 13 year-old Nono who meets master-burglar Felix on a train and makes discoveries about his family’s past.

It beat Patrice Leconte’s The Suicide Shop and Bernd Sahling’s UPSIDEdown to the top prize.

More than 600 youngsters, aged 12-14, watched the three nominated films on Young Audience Film Day [May 5] before discussing the films and electing their favourite.

The audiences were in Copenhagen (Denmark), Erfurt (Germany), Izola (Slovenia), London (UK), Riga (Latvia), Sofia (Bulgaria), Turin (Italy), Valletta (Malta) and Wroclaw (Poland).

The results were then reported live via Skype video conference to Erfurt where two young German jury members presented the award to Bal. The director thanks the juries in all cities as well as everyone who worked on the film, his family and especially his children.

The EFA Young Audience Award is now in its second year and comprises a network of nine partners: the British Film Institute (BFI), Danish Film Institute, Deutsche Kindermedienstiftung Goldener Spatz (Germany), Latvian Film Centre, MEDIA Desk Malta, National Cinema Museum (Italy), New Horizons Association in Wroclaw (Poland), Otok Institute for developing film culture (Slovenia) and Sofia International Film Festival (Bulgaria).  

Topics