Heads Together - by Job Roggeveen

It's been a while since Job, Joris and Marieke founded their creative studio in 2007, and in the past fifteen years they've snatched accolades such as an International Emmy for their film Kop Op and a nomination for an Oscar for their short film A Single Life. Job Roggeveen, one of the three, is joining us to introduce the creations of Job, Joris and Marieke and the way these three friends started exchanging heads, in real life as well as in imagination.

Playful Machine Learning - by Andreas Refsgaard

Moving on from the imaginary and visionary world of Fiep Westendorp, we will thread into what for many of us still might be an abstract concept: artificial intelligence. Stories can be told across different platforms, but also through various sources and artists. So, how does synthetic creation (content created artificially) relate to authentic (often more traditional) creation? In times when there are so many programmes that can create any kind of image that we want, or even write (often not very appealing) science fiction stories, is it necessary for us to start thinking about the nature of synthetic and authentic creation? Danish creative coder Andreas Refsgaard will argue that everyone in the creative business could use artificial intelligence for their benefit in some way, but not without knowing all the ins and outs of what it can do. In his keynote, Andreas will talk about the intersection between creativity and machine learning and use playful examples to show the audience what the use of AI can mean for our understanding of creativity.

About Andreas Refsgaard
Andreas Refsgaard is an artist and creative coder based in Copenhagen. Working in the field between art and interaction design he uses algorithms, coding and machine learning to explore the creative potentials of emerging digital technologies. His playful, somewhat wacky and often interactive works are characterised by a naive and openminded approach, which questions and exposes both the possible benefits and drawbacks of the applied technologies in a straightforward and unassuming manner. 
His works have been published in New Scientist, Vice, Gizmodo, PSFK and Designboom, awarded by Interaction Awards and Core77 and exhibited in museums and at festivals across the world. 

A Thing or Two We Picked Up on Inclusion and Diversity - Expert Panel

After diving into building worlds and introduction to various examples of content creation, we will explore the current state of media production from a different angle, through a conversation that has already been going on for a while in the entertainment industry. Awareness has been raised about the importance of inclusivity regarding the representation of reality and recognisability of media content, especially in children's media, but it’s a topic we need to keep stimulating to gain further knowledge from one another and give the floor to different perspectives. In this panel we will talk about the improvements that we can see that have already taken place and what still needs to be improved with the utmost priority. What are the immediate challenges in achieving these goals and what have the experiences been of professionals in the industry as of late? The panel will be a measurement of where we are now. We will combine a personal and more structural view on the subjects, by inviting speakers to share personal experiences about dealing with inclusivity and diversity in their daily practice. The focus will be on children's content: how to be inclusive in specifically creating, broadcasting, and showcasing content for a younger audience? What do you need to take into consideration when it comes to creating media for a young audience and how do you navigate the arising challenges accordingly? The aim of the panel is to leave the audience with ideas about what they can improve in their own practice when thinking about inclusive children's content.

With:
Amira Duynhouwer – writer and director
Sebastian Markt – Head of Berlinale Generation
Serlina Boyd – Founder and Publishing Director at Cocoa Publishing
Moderated by Hugo Emmerzael

About Sebastian Markt
Sebastian Markt has been head of the Generation section since September 2022. 
He studied history in Vienna and Berlin and has spent time working in arthouse cinemas. He joined the Generation team in 2013 and has been jointly responsible for coordinating the section’s programme since the 2015 festival, most recently as head of programming for the Generation feature-length film selection. As a curator and festival programmer, Sebastian Markt is also actively involved in the Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg and junges dokfest in Kassel. In addition, he has been a film critic since 2012 for publications including Sissy, Perlentaucher and Die Zeit. He is a founding member of the Hauptverband Cinephilie (cinephilia association) where he works chiefly in cultural film education. 

About Serlina Boyd
Serlina Boyd is the founder of Cocoa, the UK’s first Black children’s magazines (Cocoa Girl and Cocoa Boy). These magazines were driven by a desire to build her then 6-year old daughter’s confidence after she experienced bullying at school because of the colour of her skin. Publishing Cocoa Girl has been an empowering journey for her and her family and especially her daughter (who is also the editor). In 4 weeks, the magazine grew a readership of over 10,000 children! The overwhelming positive feedback and demand for the magazines confirm the crucial need to build a strong community for young Black girls and boys who are often misrepresented by mainstream media.  
As a qualified childcare provider and having worked in the publishing industry for 18 years, launching Cocoa Publishing has given Serlina the opportunity to combine her passion for children and the media. Cocoa magazines are tackling the deep-rooted problem of the underrepresentation of Black people in the media.  

About Amira Duynhouwer
Amira Duynhouwer (28) is an Amsterdam-based screenwriter and director. She enjoys moving between different genres, writing for crime, youth, thriller, romantic and drama series (while very much hoping for a sci-fi project to come her way at some point). In the three years since she’s graduated she’s worked in various writers rooms and directed several short films. She is working on a crime series for Disney+ at the moment while simultaneously developing her debut Sugar. 

Speakers: Lotte Bronshoff & Yiuloon Lee

Curious about the people behind the Netherlands Film Fund? Come meet the film consultants, learn more about what they do and how they work. We will be joined by the animation consultant Yiuloon Lee and youth & family film consultant Lotte Bronshoff. 

Speakers: Margreet Cornelius & Jolijn Peters

Film education in the Netherlands is expanding by the minute and it’s a unique example of implementing arts and culture into the school curriculums. To discuss the possibilities and what still needs to be done we talk to Margreet Cornelius, the senior project leader of Netwerk Filmeducatie as well as Jolijn Peters, the project leader of the film hub Noord at Forum Groningen. 

Speakers: Dries Phlypo & Marleen Slot

In the animation film “Oink” 9-year-old Babs receives a piglet named Knor from her grandfather as a birthday gift. Babs and Knor were both created by the animation studio Holy Motion and recently became the first feature length animation film to ever win a Golden Kalf, the most important award for Dutch film. Co-producer Dries Phlypo will join us to tell us more about the long production and animation process of “Oink”, how they brought Knor to life and overcame all obstacles on the way.

About Dries Phlypo
Dries Phlypo (° 1977) is producer and managing director of A Private View, Lemming Film Belgium and Mockingbird Productions. He started his career as a youth programmer for the Cultural Capital of Europe Brugge 2002 and launched the school programme ‘Lessons in the Dark’. He has produced a dozen films including "My Dad is a Sausage" (2021) by Anouk Fortunier, "Zagros" by Sahim Omar Kalifa (2017, Grand Prix Filmfest Ghent), and "Oxygen" by Hans Van Nuffel (2011, Best Discovery - EFA). Dries co-produced more than 30 international films, including "Dirty God" (2019) by Sacha Polak and "Cobain" (2017) by Nanouk Leopold. He is currently in production on "Zeevonk" by Domien Huyghe, "Crossing" by Jacqueline Van Vugt, and "Inside" by Vasilis Katsoupis starring Willem Dafoe. 
Dries also produces television series such as "Amigos”, “A Good Year”, “Storm Lara”, “Rintje” and “Mister Paper”.  

He is a board member of the Flemish Producers Association (VOFTP). He is a graduate of ACE PRODUCERS and Inside Pictures. Recently he took part in the ACE PRODUCERS “leadership special”. 

About Marleen Slot
With Viking Film producer Marleen Slot thrives to be a nurturing home for talents from all across the world. Telling stories for audiences to strongly identify with, by filmmakers with whom she is closely connected. Since its establishment in 2011, Viking Film wants to create high-quality films for both the national and international market with a special focus on arthouse and animation films. Together with director Mascha Halberstad, Marleen opened in 2020 the Holy Motion Studio in Arnhem. The 600m2 animation studio is specialized in stopmotion animation and just released their first feature film, OINK that was awarded Best Film of the Netherlands in 2022.  
Besides her work as a producer Marleen sees the importance of actively taking part in (inter)national film policy making. From 2016 until 2020 she has been chairman of the Netherlands Producers association and currently she is part of the board of ACE. 

Speaker: Peggy Driessen

About Peggy Driessen 
During my Film- and television studies traineeship, in 1997, I started at production company Isabella Films, where I learned how to develop smaller Dutch films and set up international co-productions for bigger films.  After this I went from working at a dotcom, to commercial production until I started working for film financing organization Film Investors Netherlands (FINE) in 2003. Since 2007 I’ve worked at the Netherlands Film Fund. The last seven years I was responsible for minority co-productions until I left the fund in 2020.   
After a gap year, 2021 marked the start of my involvement with ROSE stories. Where I work at ROSE’s training and development department, ROSE academy as a project manager for the talent program Generation Inclusion.   

Speaker: Ashar Medina

„Kofi's Tori“ is an online series about an important part of the infamous Dutch history in which young Kofi tells about his life on a plantation in Suriname through vlogging and social media, so that current and future youngsters may experience the history through the eyes of someone their own age. As head writer of the vlog-series „Kofi's Tori“, Ashar Medina will talk about the insights you can gain when you approach these subjects from a perspective of a child, and how that influences the creative process and the narrative.

About Ashar Medina
Ashar Medina is an Amsterdam based screenwriter, producer and director of films and series. His work includes award winning titles such as “Mocro Maffia”, “Tom Adelaar” and “Mees Kees de Serie”. As an author, Medina released the critically acclaimed graphic novel “De Neukpiet” in 2020, which will be produced into a live action film adaptation. In 2022, Medina founded production company Saturnino & Kongo, which focuses on high end, inclusive films and series for local and international audiences. 

Speaker: Denis Vaslin & Anette Unger

This year, Cinekid Festival will open with the world premiere of Sander Burger’s film Totem. Totem tells the story of Ama, an 11-year old girl, and daughter of Senegalese asylum seekers in Rotterdam. In this session, producers Denis Vaslin (Volya Films) and Anette Unger (Leitwolf film) will talk about the development of the film and their wish to reach diverse audiences. How do you create positive role models for children in the audience? What clichés should be avoided? Denis and Anette will share their experiences and talk about the challenges involved in getting this story in the cinemas. 

About Anette Unger
Majoring in cultural studies, Anette gained a comprehensive understanding for a film‘s lifecycle through working in the various fields of the film industry.  She is now managing director and producer at Leitwolf Filmproduktion, a Hamburg based independent production company run by Rüdiger Wolf, Anette Unger and Sven Rudat, founded in 2016. Our focus is high quality content for TV and cinema. Leitwolf Filmproduktion tells original, moving stories for a broad audience. We work with the whole spectrum of creatives - promising young talents to multi-award winning filmmakers.

About Denis Vaslin
Born and raised in France, Denis Vaslin has a background in distribution and production, before moving to The Netherlands in 2000. After four years working as line producer (a.o. for THE TULSE LUPER SUITCASES by Peter Greenaway), he started Volya Films. Denis is a graduate of the Binger Lab in 2004, EAVE 2006 and EURODOC 2007. He is a member of the European Film Academy. He is also member of the Produire au Sud pedagogical team from the 3 Continents Festival in Nantes/France. In 2011, he created Mandra Films in France. 

Speaker: Fadua El Akchaoui 

The creator of some of the biggest hits of Dutch cinema and television (Meskina, Zina), Fadua El Akchaoui is currently working on her first feature film. Romaissa is a story about a modern day superhero, a 12-year-old girl planning to save her neighbourhood from being teared down. Fadua has always been working on bringing a different perspective through her stories while keeping her authenticity. Focusing on stories underrepresented in the everyday life, she shows us how colourful real life can be and why we urgently need to make space for characters such as Romaissa. 

About Fadua El Akchaoui
Fadua (she/her) became well known for her role in the play Melk & Dadels. In 2021 she played her solo Wrak. As an actress Fadua’s filmography includes acclaimed movies and tv-series such as: Meskina, My Little Big Brother, Joardy Season 2 and Follow the Soa. Fadua was involved as a co-writer for the projects Meskina, Zina, and NOOD (season 1). She co-directed the series Seef Spees and Meer Soundos. Vakkenvullers, directed by Fadua, is now streaming on NPO3.nl. Fadua makes her feature directorial but with Romaissa –the superhero from Rotterdam, for which she wrote the screenplay together with Yücel Kopel. 
Photocredit: Caro Lenssen 

Speaker: Mark Higham

About Mark Higham
Mark is Head of the European Film Club project for the European Film Academy. He also produced the Academy’s last two Young Audience Summits involving young people from 25 countries. European Film Club, is being co-created with young people and film education partners in over 40 countries.  
Mark was founding Chief Executive of FILMCLUB to 2013 (now called Into Film) overseeing growth of the programme across the UK to a weekly audience of 250,000 young people. Mark has been a film festival director, music promoter, cultural venue director and produced more than 50 live TV and radio events.   

Speakers: Youth Council Members

About Iman
My name is Iman and I'm a 16 year-old girl from Bosnia and Herzegovina. When I was 7 years old, I starred in a movie called The Chicken, which won many awards as well as me but the best thing I got from the whole experience was that I got to meet and work with other teens from all over Europe to co-create the European Film Club in which I am now a Youth Council member. I've been involved with EFC for over a year and we've done a lot of cool stuff ever since. In general, we make podcasts, help create our website, we have meetings with Consultation Group members who are also an important part of this and above all, we hosted the Young Audience Summit which happend this year in June in hybrid form with YC members being in Berlin and CG members joining online. Apart from that, I was a Youth Jury member at Sarajevo Film Festival as well as at Ajyal Film Festival and I hope to continue on this path. 

About Thomas
My name is Thomas (he/him) and I was born in 2005. I’ve been a part of the Youth Council for almost two years now. I first found contact with the project by being a Jury at the Young Audience Awards of 2019. I loved the experience, especially since it brought me here. I’ve worked on the past two summits, the online one and the last one, June 2022, in Berlin. I’ve always loved films, since I was a kid. At the moment I’m especially interested in cinematography. It’s really difficult to name a favourite movie, but one I really love is Sing Street by John Carney. I hope this helped you get to know me a bit better!   

Speakers: Youth Council Members Anissa & Ahmad

About Anissa
I'm Anissa. I'm fifteen and I represent the UK on the Youth Council of the European Film Academy. We work to connect young film lovers across Europe and we are currently creating a European Film Club. I've been a Young Audience Award jury member twice. Recently I've enjoyed watching Wolfwalkers, which has beautiful animation, La casa de papel to try and improve my Spanish (season two was a bit disappointing though) , and Athena, which has amazing cinematography. 

About Ahmad
Hi, my name Ahmad. I am a 17 year old Swedish streamer and content creator who has been part of the European Film Club project for a year and a half now. Ever since I heard of the idea after the Young Audience Awards in 2020 I got very excited because I am a huge fan of European films. When I was around 11-15 I took cinematography lessons after school so that I could learn how to make my own movies. That connection to the culture is probably the reason I am part of the Youth Council. 

Speakers: Youth Council Members Iman & Anissa

About Iman
My name is Iman and I'm a 16 year-old girl from Bosnia and Herzegovina. When I was 7 years old, I starred in a movie called The Chicken, which won many awards as well as me but the best thing I got from the whole experience was that I got to meet and work with other teens from all over Europe to co-create the European Film Club in which I am now a Youth Council member. I've been involved with EFC for over a year and we've done a lot of cool stuff ever since. In general, we make podcasts, help create our website, we have meetings with Consultation Group members who are also an important part of this and above all, we hosted the Young Audience Summit which happend this year in June in hybrid form with YC members being in Berlin and CG members joining online. Apart from that, I was a Youth Jury member at Sarajevo Film Festival as well as at Ajyal Film Festival and I hope to continue on this path. 

About Anissa
I'm Anissa. I'm fifteen and I represent the UK on the Youth Council of the European Film Academy. We work to connect young film lovers across Europe and we are currently creating a European Film Club. I've been a Young Audience Award jury member twice. Recently I've enjoyed watching Wolfwalkers, which has beautiful animation, La casa de papel to try and improve my Spanish (season two was a bit disappointing though) , and Athena, which has amazing cinematography. 

How Research Contributed to a Family Format

Speakers: Sandra Kooij & Margriet Noordhuis

How can you make sure that the content you create meets the viewing needs of children? Sandra Kooij and Margriet Noordhuis, researchers at the Dutch broadcaster NPO Zapp, will talk about the importance of conducting research amongst target audiences and how you can benefit from it as a content creator. With use of an example from their daily practice, Sandra and Margriet will show how research has contributed to the development of a family programme for television.  

About Sandra Kooij
As a qualitative researcher at NPO Sandra is gathering valuable insights for kids channel NPO Zapp. To stay relevant in children’s lives we need to involve them. Although interviewing this young generation with a small attention span is sometimes a challenge, Sandra loves the honesty of children and to explore what goes on in those mini-minds. By learning what drives them, how they perceive and evaluate Zapp content and platforms she ensures kids opinions and needs are incorporated in the Zapp strategies and decision making. 

Speaker: David Kleeman

Today’s kids are the iCan generation. Those under 12 have never known a world without mobile, touchscreen media, and it shows in their desire to control and create, which influences their choices of device, platform and content. How do kids consume content, and what’s changed since the start of the pandemic? Children’s media strategist David Kleeman will present insights from Dubit Trends, a deep dive into children’s media and technology habits and preferences. Trends takes kids’ pulse twice-yearly in the US and UK, and roughly annually in 20 other countries.

About David Kleeman
Strategist, analyst, author, speaker, connector — David Kleeman has led the children’s media industry in developing sustainable, child-friendly practices for more than 35 years, looking worldwide for best practices. He began this work as president of the American Center for Children and Media and is now Senior Vice President of Global Trends for Dubit, a strategy/research consultancy and metaverse studio. When he began, “children’s media” meant television. Today, he is fascinated by kids’ wide range of possibilities for entertainment, engagement, play and learning. David uses research, insights and experience to show that much may change, but children’s developmental path and needs remain constant. David is advisory board chair to the international children’s TV festival PRIX JEUNESSE and on the board of the Children’s Media Association. 

Speaker: Lily Yan

Nelvana is a global kids entertainment company focused on television and film animation production, distribution and merchandise. Their content won multiple Emmy Awards and can be seen in over 180 countries around the world. As Head of Brands, Lily Yan and her team are the hub between the development, production and sales teams. How can you make a plan that takes into account the specific needs of a certain project to become successful?  Nelvana’s core target audience is children between 2 and 11. How do you market products for various age groups? Lily will talk about how a well thought out strategy can strengthen your brand. 

About Lily Yan
Lily Yan serves as Head of Brands for Nelvana, a multiple Emmy® award-winning studio producing some of the world’s favourite animated and live action series. In this role, she is responsible for creating and driving the brand, PR, and creative services strategies and campaigns for Nelvana’s portfolio globally. 
Prior to this, for over 10 years, Lily oversaw Nelvana’s consumer products programs in Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East working on brands such as Beyblade, Fairly OddParents, and Babar. Lily has also held positions in marketing and business affairs. 

Speaker: Maryanne Redpath

Are we lost if we regard young people as a commodity? Yes, says Maryanne Redpath (Head of Berlinale Generation 2007-2022). In this session, she will talk to the participants about being challenged by young audiences to make extraordinarily relevant films available for them to watch together, on the big screen, with surround sound - and on some of the inherent challenges involved in this undertaking. 

About Maryanne Redpath
An ex-pat New Zealander, Maryanne Redpath arrived in Berlin in 1985 with a BA in classical studies and a post-grad Diploma in Drama - and she ended up staying. Maryanne began work at the Berlinale in the mid-nineties and was Head of Berlinale Generation from 2007-2022, where she developed that brilliant platform, giving young and young at heart audiences access to challenging, state -of- the- art films that matter from around the world, and at the same time offering key film industry players valuable insight into those audiences.  A member of both the European Film Academy (EFA) and the Asian Pacific Screen Academy (APSA), Maryanne is presently working as mentor and consultant for different projects in the field of cinema -   in Europe and in Australasia - and she continues to develop her knowledge and her passion for young audiences everywhere, for Indigenous and feminist cinema - and for diverse extraordinary film-making. 

Speaker: Dagmar Heeg

Children encounter Artificial Intelligence (AI) everyday – such as the toys that “chat” with them or TikTok algorithms that select videos for them based on their previous viewings. While these examples may seem harmless at first glance, they can hold some risks too. For instance, the toys that children chat with can also be used as listening devices by others, invading their privacy, or algorithms may present biased information. Therefor it is necessary to teach children basic AI skills early on in their education. How do we help them do that? During this session, we will discuss potential and suitable AI topics for young learners, various best practices of AI educational materials, and we will look at free accessible and fun AI tools that you can use to create your own educational AI content. 

About Dagmar Heeg
Dagmar Heeg is a researcher at the Institute of Science Education and Communication at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Her research interests are centred on the use of Artificial Intelligence in education and how we can support people in becoming critical consumers of AI technologies. She is also the project manager of the Erasmus+ project ‘Generation AI: Teaching Kids about Artificial Intelligence', where together with partners from Greece, Cyprus, Spain, and Ireland, she is developing an e-learning platform for AI, including primary school AI curriculum, a Toolkit for teachers, and best practices (www.generation-ai.eu). 

Educating the Makers of the Future

Speaker: Rufus Baas

In this session we present and discuss the new joint-initiative between six Dutch secondary vocational education schools for the creative industry, and several media companies: de Metaverse Werkplaats (Metaverse Workspace). How do we educate our makers for something that is still continuously developing? How do we prepare our teachers? How can we work together with the industry? We see an answer in collaborating in a hybrid and open workspace, working together with students, teachers and professionals on Metaverse experiments and projects, and where (informal) learning by doing is key. Together we can make it in the metaverse! 

About Rufus Baas
With a background in web and game design, psychology and education, everything fell into place when Rufus got the opportunity to build the XR Lab, a co-creation space for student game developers and artists. As Kwartiermaker Innovatie (project manager for innovation), Rufus now works together with his team on scaling-up this space to a future-proof innovation hub with a national ambition. 

Speaker: David Kleeman

‘Gamification of learning’ is a concept that refers to game design features and mechanics being used to deliver a curriculum in a playful way. By contrast, today teens and even tweens are creating games and experiences around subjects that interest and inspire them. Children’s media strategist David Kleeman (Dubit) will explain this turn to ‘learnification of gaming’ and talk about how it could potentially change the way children experience their education.  

About David Kleeman
Strategist, analyst, author, speaker, connector — David Kleeman has led the children’s media industry in developing sustainable, child-friendly practices for more than 35 years, looking worldwide for best practices. He began this work as president of the American Center for Children and Media and is now Senior Vice President of Global Trends for Dubit, a strategy/research consultancy and metaverse studio. When he began, “children’s media” meant television. Today, he is fascinated by kids’ wide range of possibilities for entertainment, engagement, play and learning. David uses research, insights and experience to show that much may change, but children’s developmental path and needs remain constant. David is advisory board chair to the international children’s TV festival PRIX JEUNESSE and on the board of the Children’s Media Association. 

Speaker: Ahmet Polat

As the founder of Studio Polat, Ahmet Polat aspires to build bridges between different cultures, identities and histories. His vast experience has proven the importance of inclusive programming, and brining the wonders of art to an audience as broad as possible. Through their project in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Studio Polat has embarked on a research that has ultimately brought them to a very simple fact – everyone experiences art differently. Many believe that you only experience or connect with art through your eyes. But for some, it’s through touch, scent, memory, and place. Your impression of the space in the museum, the prevalence of light, and how you approach a work of art also influences your experience at the museum and your connection to the works of art. By acknowledging these different sensory experiences and respecting that everyone experiences art differently, inclusivity is authentically present. The result is a new visual positioning that presents the museum and its visitors in an authentic and exciting light.

About Ahmet Polat
With a keen eye for the political, cultural and social issues of our time, Ahmet Polat works on the stories that are not yet being told. 
Through his photography and fieldwork, Ahmet Polat aspires to build bridges between different cultures, identities and histories. He is a photographer and filmmaker whose work is linked to his habit of observing and directing. Ahmet Polat is motivated to capture the unexpected and integrates his bi-cultural perspective into everything he does. After living and working in Istanbul for ten years he returned to the Netherlands in 2015 and was awarded the Laureate Photographer of the Nation the same year. His work is internationally exhibited, including in the Rijksmuseum, Istanbul Modern, Stedelijk Amsterdam and BOZAR Brussel. With Studio Polat Foundation, Ahmet wishes to instigate, stimulate and support collaborations and mutual benefits between various disciplines and creative worlds. 
In the same years, Ahmet worked on his first directing career with cinematic installations such as "the Myth of Men" at the 2017 Istanbul Biennale with finally his first documentary "I am a Bastard" which had its debut this year during 'Movies that Matters' and is selected for the Dutch Film Festival NFF 2022. He’s currently working on his next documentary working titel ‘Ara’da” and an international play called ‘More then a thousand words’. 

Speaker: Andreas Refsgaard

In this interactive session, the audience can experience themselves what it is like to work with Artificial Intelligence. Creative coder Andreas Refsgaard will show how you can train a machine learning algorithm to classify things and how miss-classifying can have unexpected results. The audience at the table will learn about combining inputs and outputs and get introduced to new ways in which they might use AI in their own daily practice for generating text and images. 
To make the most of this session it is recommended to bring your own laptop/device.

About Andreas Refsgaard
Andreas Refsgaard is an artist and creative coder based in Copenhagen. Working in the field between art and interaction design he uses algorithms, coding and machine learning to explore the creative potentials of emerging digital technologies. His playful, somewhat wacky and often interactive works are characterised by a naive and openminded approach, which questions and exposes both the possible benefits and drawbacks of the applied technologies in a straightforward and unassuming manner. 
His works have been published in New Scientist, Vice, Gizmodo, PSFK and Designboom, awarded by Interaction Awards and Core77 and exhibited in museums and at festivals across the world. 

Speaker: Sander Veenhof

The Meta Morph is an AR workshop/installation commissioned by Cinekid’s MediaLab and developed by Sander Veenhof together with Zoe Reddy. With digital fashion comes a lot of freedom since you can create many kinds of outfits that don't have to follow any rules. But how much of this freedom are we willing to embrace? That's both an aesthetic matter and a question that relates to the social aspects. What does it mean that our semi-digital identity is out of our control, dependent on what AR users around us project on us? Sander will use examples from The Meta Morph and some of his other works as a case study in which he will talk to the participants about the unforeseen aspects of digital fashion. 

About Sander Veenhof
Since 2010 after graduating at the Gerrit Rietveld art academy in Amsterdam Sander Veenhof has been living in an AR universe. His fore most fascination with this technology is using the technology as a mechanism to turn the world into a fully programmable environment, materials and people included. Although his curiosity is about the impact AR will have in our day to day life, his projects are often not the regular AR use cases we hear about day by day. By taking off in directions where the technology is not yet ripe nor suitable helps Veenhof to enter domains that are not yet restricted by 'best practices' or other constraining insights. 

Speaker: Marc Delalonde

Awareness of the state of the world and its future has increasingly grown among the youth. To this urgent need to rethink our relationship with the Earth, we respond with this year’s Cinekid Medialab theme: ‘We are Generation S!’ 
The mission of 'Gen S' is to usher society in the Symbiocene, a term coined by philosopher Glenn Albrecht to designate a new era of companionship between species. Together with others, Marc Delalonde (independent researcher and curator) translated this concept into a sociocultural initiative (‘Generation Symbiocene’, 2019-2020) aiming to develop emotional connections between humans and other-than-human forms of life. He will talk about the necessary transition from the Anthropocene narrative to the Symbiocene and how art, culture and community-building practices can be as many invitations to join Generation S. 

About Marc Delalonde
Marc Delalonde is an independent researcher and curator based in Paris and working at the intersection of arts, environmental philosophy and political ecology. He holds Masters in Ancient History (Toulouse/Athens, 2016) and Cultural & Artistic project management (Lyon, 2018). He has worked for years in Greece where he approached the environmental crisis through the prism of language and (lack of) emotional connection, pushing forward new narratives, hence new representations, of the relationship between humans and the natural world. His latest research projects were conducted in the frame of residencies at Onassis AiR (Athens, 2021/2022). 
Photo credit: © Emma Kyriakopoulou for START - Create Cultural Change 

Speakers: Tonnie & Lennart Dinjens

André en Alfred is a live action adventure series with puppets, where witty son André and his impulsive father Alfred love to go on adventures! 
The show is created by children and professionals, which makes it inventive and surprising. It is shot at location at the home of the creators, with help of the whole family. The uniqueness of the creative process and respect for each other talents in storytelling and creating is catching. Father Tonnie and his son Lennart will introduce themselves in a clip and give the viewer an inside in their productive way of working, the fun they have when creating stories and explain that if your target audience is kids, the best way of producing is to let them tell the stories!  

Speaker: Christian Lo

“Mini Zlatan and Uncle Darling” was definitely not the first time director Christian Lo has worked with children on set, and he has gathered quite some experience with this in the past years. Working with a younger cast requires a different approach than working with adults. Christian will talk about his approach during filming Mini Zlatan, for example what were the tricks in overcoming the language barrier? How did they deal with long days? How do you make a safe environment for children to bloom and what are his tips for young directors starting in this field? 

About Christian Lo
Christian Lo is a Norwegian director of family film and is part of the production company Filmbin.  He aims to tell fun, challenging, dramatic and character-driven stories, at children's own eye-level. Christian had his feature film debut RAFIKI (BESTEVENNER) selected for the Berlinale in 2010 and in 2018 Christian was back again in the Generation competition with his third feature LOS BANDO. LOS BANDO became the most-winning Norwegian feature at festivals in 2018 and was in 2019 nominated for the European Film Awards  – EFA Young Audience Award. Christian made THE TOUGH GUYS (2013) that premiered at Cinekid and is now back with MINI-ZLATAN AND UNCLE DARLING. 

Speaker: Dija Kabba

This year we are launching a new concept at Cinekid Festival: Radio Cinekid! On the festival grounds, children will be making live radio and podcasts with a different artist or radio maker every day. Radio Cinekid is run by the Stratenmakers collective and project leader Dija Kabba will talk about how they get kids to participate in the radio making process. How do they approach the children and how do they work with them? In this session, Dija will talk about her experiences with the kids at Radio Cinekid and lessons she learnt so far. 

Speaker: Sanna Lenken

How to approach a difficult topic as a filmmaker when you are making films for a younger audience? Can you show everything, or do you hold back? Does the subject matter of the film influence the way you work with actors? Director Sanna Lenken worked on stories with various difficult topics, from the death of a parent to eating disorders. How do you take your target audience serious, but also make sure that it is suitable for them? In this session, Sanna will talk about her approach during her latest film Comedy Queen and her previous work.

About Sanna Lenken
Born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1978, Sanna went on to study at the National Film School in Stockholm and at the European Film College in Denmark. After several successful short films such as  “Eating Lunch” and the youth series “Double Life” she had her feature debut in 2015 with “My Skinny Sister” for which she was awarded with the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival as well as the Audience Award at the Gothenburg Film Festival. 
Her most recent work is the critically acclaimed tv-series “Thin Blue Line” for Swedish Televsion and the Viaplay series "Thunder in My Heart". Her film Comedy Queen (2022) won a Crystal Bear at the Berlinale and will screen at Cinekid 2022. 
Photo credit: Håkan Schüler. 

Speaker: Madelijn Strick

Madelijn Strick is an associate professor and behavioural scientist at the Psychology Department of the University of Utrecht focusing on humour as one of her research areas. What is the role of humour in the cognitive development and social skills of children? Children seem to intuitively use humour in difficult situations more than adults do. Madelijn will talk about how humour can be used to emotionally connect with children that are under a lot of stress or going through a difficult situation. 

About Madelijn Strick
Madelijn Strick is a social psychologist at Utrecht University. She received her PhD cum laude for a dissertation on humour in advertising and she has continued her research on humour ever since. In 2020 her book "Humour is one of the four pillars of the universe (I forgot the other three)" was published. Previously, with Ap Dijksterhuis, she wrote a children's book on psychology titled "Between Your Ears.” This year, she is leading a nationwide study of the role of humour in conveying a serious message, based in part on excerpts from children's television program Het Klokhuis.

Speaker: Ineke Houtman & Martha Mojet

Matties is a film about 12-year old Ilias who is mourning the death of a good friend, while trying to resist the dangerous life of fast money and criminality. In this session, director Ineke Houtman and casting agent Martha Mojet will talk about the importance of the right casting process when creating a story like this. How can you make it as realistically as possible? And how can you present such a difficult topic in a film for a younger audience? 

About Martha Mojet
Being born in The Hague (1965) and raised in Drenthe, Martha went to a college of education to become a teacher for primary school. After a few years of teaching she started in 1993 as a children’s coach on the set of Madelief, a series after one of her favorite children’s books, directed by Ineke Houtman. She discovered there had to be someone to find the children in series and films and when Ineke made Madelief 2 in 1995, Martha asked if she could do the casting. Since Madelief 2 aired people started calling and they never stopped. So… Martha Mojet Kindercasting was born! Martha and her team did the children’s casting for several productions including Minoes, Het Paard van Sinterklaas, De Daltons, Polleke, Aanmodderfakker, El Houb and Matties. 
Photo credit: Nizar Haji. 

About Ineke Houtman
Ineke Houtman, graduate of the Dutch Film and Television Academy in 1981, makes films and television programmes. Madelief, Krassen in het tafelblad, Polleke and De Indiaan were shown at many festivals, including the Berlinale, and received numerous awards. Mijn opa de bankrover, Toen was geluk heel gewoon and De ontsnapping all received a golden film. Besides making films, Ineke also directs series, short films and television programmes, for which she received a Kinderkast multiple times.  
Ineke’s latest work is the telefilm Matties. At this moment she is also working on Het Boek van Alle Dingen, after a wonderful book by Guus Kuijer.  

Speaker: David Kleeman

When children use different media online, not all of the platforms integrate very well. Can the Metaverse lower frustration barriers young people feel in virtual spaces? Children’s media strategist David Kleeman (Dubit) will talk about how the Metaverse could enable kids to engage in the ways they want with devices, platforms and content. To what extent are children able to create their own coherent online world? What consequences will the emerging Metaverse have for kids’ current media use?

About David Kleeman
Strategist, analyst, author, speaker, connector — David Kleeman has led the children’s media industry in developing sustainable, child-friendly practices for more than 35 years, looking worldwide for best practices. He began this work as president of the American Center for Children and Media and is now Senior Vice President of Global Trends for Dubit, a strategy/research consultancy and metaverse studio. When he began, “children’s media” meant television. Today, he is fascinated by kids’ wide range of possibilities for entertainment, engagement, play and learning. David uses research, insights and experience to show that much may change, but children’s developmental path and needs remain constant. David is advisory board chair to the international children’s TV festival PRIX JEUNESSE and on the board of the Children’s Media Association.

Speaker: Jessica Piotrowski

For many children around the world, growing up today means growing up digitally. And as the digital space continues to intertwine itself within the lives of children, we increasingly feel the need to empower them and protect them. The question is: how can we empower them to maximize the digital space, but also protect them from potential misuse in the space? During this roundtable session, Jessica Piotrowski (Professor, Communication in the Digital Society, University of Amsterdam) will present several cases to stimulate discussion and brainstorming on this topic. 

About Jessica Piotrowski
Dr. Jessica Taylor Piotrowski is a Professor in the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) where she holds the Chair Communication in the Digital Society. Dr. Piotrowski’s research asks how individual and socio-cultural differences influence children’s media selection, use, processing, and subsequent effects, with a particular focus on the contexts that support young people’s experiences with digital media. 

Speakers: Zofia Krzyzanowska & Luiza Miranda Rosa Awad 

Zofia Krzyzanowska and Luiza Miranda Rosa Awad (Interactive/Media/Design students at the KABK) created The Social Media Bodies, an interactive VR experience that will be shown at Cinekid's MediaLab this year. The installation visually deconstructs the pitfalls and perils of social media for a younger audience (8-14 yrs). Zofia and Luiza asked co-student Sandra Veerman to join the project, since her thesis focuses on (the lack of) representation of diverse bodies in social media and the consequences for a younger audience. During this session, Zofia and Luiza will present the context of the project, how it came about, and involve the participants by sharing some of the AR features of the installation. 

About Zofia Kryzanowska
Zofia’s artwork combines working in a variety of software and mediums: 3D world building, sound mixing alongside singing and playing instruments, collage, animation, haptic interfaces, also including her extensive experience in photography, but especially focusing on Augmented Reality. What inspires her visually is brain work during night dreaming, which are whole deformed masses, spirited characters and bizarre behaviours, creating together miraculous, oneiric aesthetic. What she strives for, is to create a sort of mental refuges, spaces, therapeutic environments, experiences dedicated to highly saturated, overstimulated digital culture. 

Luiza Miranda Rosa Awad 
Luiza Awad is an up-and-coming artist from Brazil, based in The Hague, Netherlands highly specialised in new media. In her artistic practice, Luiza investigates the bridge between new technologies and storytelling. By creating intimate digital spaces for more conscious forms of digital interactions, Luiza's work often discusses the contemporary issues surrounding the condition of Digitality. Her explorative approach in world-building as a form of multi-dimensional collage, incorporates elements from both material and virtual worlds. Growing up in the internet generation, whilst residing in various countries, - Luiza’s cultural background brings an extra layer of richness and depth to her body of work. 

Speaker: Arthur van Merwijk

In 2011, Dutch animator Arthur van Merwijk created My Magic Pet Morphle, an animation series for preschool audiences that originated on YouTube where it grew to become one of the platform's biggest kids' shows, garnering tens of billions of views. Morphle has since branched out to other platforms, such as Netflix and Disney+, and various forms of merchandise. The fact that the series originated on YouTube, where watchtime and retention data is freely available, and episodes have a short time from production to publication, means that there is a lot of flexibility for the creators to work with different trends. How are the popular online trends included in the creative process of Morphle? In this round table session, Arthur will tell the origin story of Morphle with examples from his practice and explain how his original idea became a worldwide success story. 

About Arthur van Merwijk
Arthur van Merwijk is the creator of the My Magic Pet Morphle franchise, which has found international success with over 10 billion views on platforms like Youtube Kids, Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime. After the Morphle company was acquired by Moonbug entertainment, Arthur now focuses on the development and production of multiple new franchises with his company Kalio, to share adventurous stories for children and families around the globe. 

Speaker: Sara Sjöö

The new film "Mini-Zlatan and Uncle Darling", directed by Christian Lo, is based on a children's book by the Swedish writer Pija Lindenbaum. How do you turn a book into a film without losing its essence? Co-producer and writer Sara Sjöö will tell all about how Mini-Zlatan was created. What was the starting point of the relationship between Ella and her uncle and how did the writers make sure it translates from word to image? What changes were made for the story to be adapted for the big screen? 

About Sara Sjöö
Sara Sjöö has worked in the film industry for over 20 years and has a broad range of professional experience. Mainly as a producer and line producer, but also as a screenwriter and screenwriter’s coach. She is also frequently hired as a film educator and holds workshops in filmmaking. She has a master’s degree in Children’s film and her main ambition is to produce high quality and entertaining content for children, youth and family. 

Speaker: Tamara Bos

Screenwriter Tamara Bos has over 30 years of experience in writing screenplays for children’s films. Over this time, she found that there are a couple of things that a story requires for it to become a succesfull film for a young audience. One important example is the fact that the story needs to be told from the child’s perspective, which is not as common as you might think. The story needs to be about real children and focus on things that occupy children. How does Tamara incorporate this in her own work? In this session, she will talk about the different projects she worked on and what she thinks are some things that are of vital importance to make a captivating youth film.

About Tamara Bos
Tamara Bos (1967) is a productive scriptwriter and children’s book author. Her stories always have identifiable subjects, often written from the child’s perspective. Apart from her own original scripts, she has also made adaptations of popular children’s books by the famous Dutch writer Annie M.G. Schmidt (the Dutch ‘Astrid Lindgren’). She was responsible for the scripts of the family films MINOES (2001), PLUK AND HIS TOWTRUCK (2004) and THE AMAZING WIPLALA (2014). The feature films based on her own stories have received national and international acclaim, and awards from all over the world. These films are WINKY’S HORSE (2005) (directed by Mischa Kamp), FIDGETY BRAM (2011) (directed by Anna van de Heide), and recently ROMY’S SALON (2019). This last film, based on her own novel, won twenty national and international awards, from Israel to Bangladesh, and from China to Poland.   
Tamara Bos has written eleven (realised) film scripts, and more than thirty children’s books, and worked on several television series and a few theatre plays. She is married to musician Johan Hoogeboom, and they have three grown children. 
Photo credit: Nienke Elenebaas 

Speaker: Tamara Bos

This year, Cinekid is organising a special programme in honour of producer Burny Bos. Burny played an important role in the early success of Dutch children’s cinema and is particularly known for getting the stories of Dutch writer Annie M G Schmidt into the cinemas. Burny’s daughter Tamara adapted Schmidt’s stories Minoes, Otje, Pluk van de Petteflet and Wiplala into screenplays for succesful children’s films. In this session, Tamara will talk about the challenges involved in translating such popular stories and characters to the big screen. 

About Tamara Bos
Tamara Bos (1967) is a productive scriptwriter and children’s book author. Her stories always have identifiable subjects, often written from the child’s perspective. Apart from her own original scripts, she has also made adaptations of popular children’s books by the famous Dutch writer Annie M.G. Schmidt (the Dutch ‘Astrid Lindgren’). She was responsible for the scripts of the family films MINOES (2001), PLUK AND HIS TOWTRUCK (2004) and THE AMAZING WIPLALA (2014). The feature films based on her own stories have received national and international acclaim, and awards from all over the world. These films are WINKY’S HORSE (2005) (directed by Mischa Kamp), FIDGETY BRAM (2011) (directed by Anna van de Heide), and recently ROMY’S SALON (2019). This last film, based on her own novel, won twenty national and international awards, from Israel to Bangladesh, and from China to Poland.   
Tamara Bos has written eleven (realised) film scripts, and more than thirty children’s books, and worked on several television series and a few theatre plays. She is married to musician Johan Hoogeboom, and they have three grown children. 
Photo credit: Nienke Elenebaas