By Indiewire | Indiewire Mon May 01 06:19:52 EDT 2006
The ninth annual Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children presented awards Sunday, with Lalita Krishna's doc "Move Your World" taking the audience prize. The Canadian feature is about three spirited youths from Canada travel through Tanzania visiting schools, orphanages and rural communities, and use this life altering experience to help raise awareness of the challenging cycle of poverty and AIDS present in the country. Luxembourg filmmaker Thierry Schiel won the audience prize in the animated category for "Renart the Fox." In the feature film jury categories (decided by children within certain age groups), U.K. filmmaker Paul Marcus won the prize for "Heidi" (ages eight and nine); U.S. director Doug Achison's "Akeelah and the Bee" won in the ages 10 and 11 category; and Danish director Niels Arden Oplev won the prize in the 12 year-old category for "We Sall Overcome." For more information and a complete list of Sprockets winners, visit the festival's website. [Brian Brooks]