Day 2 at Prix Jeunesse International 2026 was filled with screening and discussing the fiction shows and shorts for 11-15-year-olds. This is the first year that Shorts have their own categories by age group.
There were 3 environmental-themes shorts for the 11-15-year-olds: 1) “Earth is Home” from the U.S., 2) “Whoever Whatever” from Ukraine about recycling, and 3) “Biodiversity; Little Blue Dragon” from Mexico.
In addition, Ella and I attended an info session on ‘Suffering, crisis, and abuse: Working with children in films with emotionally critical themes’. This panel reminded us that to share someone else’s story is the greatest privilege. We take that to heart with our work as a guiding principle as we tell the stories of our partners and co-create content together.
On my way back from the festival, I decided to walk and had the pleasure of experiencing nature in the urban setting of Munich. With colleagues from the festival, we first walked through the edge of the English Garden together. I was struck by the beauty of the trees and the peacefulness it brought after a long day mostly indoors. We crossed an overpass of the Schwabinger Bach stream and stopped to watch the water flow. I also noticed the songbirds amidst the urban sounds of traffic and cars passing by. It was a wonderful way to reconnect to nature after a day of screens and reminded me to stop and watch the water and listen to the birds.
