Elephant III: Selection of Contemporary Slovenian and European Animation Films

For children from the age of 11

Modern mass media have profoundly changed children's lives. The media have become a wide sphere of various prejudices and the main culprit for numerous bad habits that children have today. A series of studies made as an answer to this has shown that if children are taught to use them appropriately, the media can be their allies and help them widen their horizons, pick up new information and develop important skills and values.

It is the conviction of many that there is no such rewarding public as children because they will accept anything that is offered, which is why they are uncritically invited into the world of the media with offers of seemingly attractive and entertaining content but which has no real message or even has a misleading one. The films youngsters get to see are often full of special sound and visual effects trying to cover up for a scrappy plot. Older school children can hardly be prevented from watching them and the choice is completely up to them. Although they can fully distinguish between good and bad products and they purposefully decide according to their understanding of the content and its attraction and appeal, their selection is often influenced by fashion rules and peer pressure.

To attract them to see a quality film, and an animated one on top of that - a form appropriate only for the youngest as they believe - the right methods have to be found. We need to offer them a content they feel familiar with and characters they can identify with, all wrapped in an amusing and appealing form accompanied by the kind of music they listen to.

The films presented unite all of the above. They feature the topic of relations between the sexes, which is what youngsters at this age find most fascinating (Lupe & Bruno), they invite them to contemplate moral dilemmas arising in their environment (Delivery) and in themselves (The Genie in a Tin of Ravioli). The films The Courtyard and Bravefarts - Love is in the Air have an additional appeal - they are home-made, Slovenian products. It is a characteristic of older children that, if possible, they choose films taking place in their geographical and cultural environment. Here they identify the familiar behavioural and communication patterns, which can stimulate them to think about their meaning and appropriateness, remind them of their own experience and, given an appropriate and encouraging content, help them find a place in the dynamic life we lead today.

Martina Peštaj