Shine Global has announced the nominated films for its first-ever Children’s Resilience in Film Award, which honors filmmakers who highlight and celebrate the power of children globally.
The four nominated films stem from Vietnam, Sweden/Denmark/Norway and the U.S.
The nominated films were selected from a pool of feature-length film submissions from 32 countries and will be screened in New York City from Sept. 16-18, followed by an award show breakfast in Los Angeles on Oct. 20 at which the winner will be announced. The winner will receive a cash prize of $25,000.
The jury panel consists of Kay Wilson Stallings, executive vp of creative and production, Sesame Workshop; Maria Perez Brown, head of kids and family, TIME Studios; Amy Kennedy, children’s rights activist, educator and 2020 Democratic congressional nominee; Jana Sue Memel, Academy Award-winning producer; and The Hollywood Reporter’s senior awards analyst Scott Feinberg.
The inaugural 2022 Children’s Resilience in Film Award is sponsored in part by THR, a media partner.
Shine Global has tackled issues of child labor, child abuse, child soldiering, parental incarceration and undocumented immigration, as well as homelessness. Shine Global’s first film was 2007’s War/Dance, which was a documentary profiling Acholi children refugees living in Patongo, the Northern Ugandan refugee camp. The film debuted at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was also nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for best feature documentary, and it won two Emmys in 2010. Shine Global’s Inocente (2012) won the 2013 Academy Award for best documentary (short subject).
See below for the four nominees.
Gabi: Between Ages 8 and 13 (Sweden/Denmark/Norway)
Directed by Engeli Broberg
Gabi: Between Ages 8 and 13 follows the remarkable Gabi over the course of five formative years as she wrestles with society’s stereotypes about boys and girls.
LIFT (USA)
Directed by David J. Petersen
Filmed over the course of ten years, LIFT shines a spotlight on the invisible story of homelessness in America through the eyes of a group of young home-insecure ballet dancers enrolled in New York Theater Ballet’s LIFT program, and the mentor who inspires them, internationally renowned ballet dancer Steven Melendez.
Maika: The Girl From Another Galaxy (Vietnam)
Directed by Ham Tran
Vietnam’s first-ever kids’ science-fiction film, Maika: The Girl From Another Galaxy, follows an 8-year-old boy who overcomes the loss of his mother when he helps an alien girl get back home.
Scenes From the Glittering World (USA)
Directed by Jared Jakins
Following three Indigenous students, Scenes from the Glittering World is a meditation on adolescence, trauma and the power of connecting with an isolated Navajo homeland.
