Amsterdam - During the 2012 International Children's Film Festival in Vienna, *Achtste-Groepers* won the children's jury prize. The category was judged by a children's jury of children aged 11 to 13. Out of 16 films, *Achtste-Groepers Huilen Niet* was chosen as the overall winner. Producers Rinkel Film and Bijker Film & TV announced this today.

The International Children's Film Festival in Vienna takes place from November 17 to December 4. During the festival, 16 films from various countries are screened. From these, the children's jury selected 'Achtste-Groepers Huilen Niet' as the winner of the 2012 Children's Jury Prize. The jury called the film admirable: 'We find it remarkable how a subject like illness and death is portrayed in this way. It is admirable to see how the class deals with Akkie and the leukemia she is suffering from.'

'Eighth Graders Don't Cry' is the hopeful, moving family film based on the book of the same name by Jacques Vriens.

The film won the Golden Calf for the Audience Award at the Netherlands Film Festival and the Audience Award at the TIFF Kids festival in Toronto, and received an 'Honourable Mention' from the jury. During the International Film Festival 'Nueva Mirada' for Children and Youth in Buenos Aires, 'Achtste-Groepers Huilen Niet' received a 'Special Mention' and won the 'Children and Young People Jury Award' for Best Feature Film, Live Action.

Tough Akkie (Hanna Obbeek) is in Year 8 and is absolutely crazy about football. During school hours, her class is being groomed by Miss Ina (Eva van der Gucht) for important events like the Cito test, school camp, and the final of the school tournament. After school, she prefers playing football with her classmates. She doesn't care that Joep (Nils Verkooijen) thinks football isn't a sport for girls. She is really good at it and can easily beat Joep. But then Akkie gets sick. Fortunately, she receives a lot of support from her classmates and Miss Ina. Despite the sadness, the optimistic Akkie can't help but meddle in everything, even from the hospital. When it looks like she might miss the football tournament, Joep comes up with a cool plan for her.

'Achtste-Groepers Huilen Niet' is produced by Bijker Film & TV (Harro van Staverden and David-Jan Bijker) and Rinkel Film (Reinier Selen) in co-production with the Evangelical Broadcasting and the Belgian Living Stone.

The film was financed by, among others, the Netherlands Film Fund, the CoBO Fund, Dutch Film Works, and the Flanders Audiovisual Fund.

Dutch FilmWorks handles the distribution and also released the film on DVD, VOD, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 3.



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