NEW DELHI: The government is considering a proposal from the Children‘s Film Society, India, to convert the International Children‘s Film Festival held in Hyderabad every second year into a roving festival.
Joint Secretary (Films) D P Reddy confirmed that the proposal had been received by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in this connection.
CFSI Chairperson Nandita Das also said she would like the ICFF to bean annual event, and suggested that it could be held in Hyderabad every alternate year since the Andhra Pradesh Government had done somuch groundwork for this Festival, which had earlier been a roving Festival until 1995.
When the Festival was held in Hyderabad in 1995, then Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu had urged the CFSI to base the festival in that city, and also promised to give land for building a children‘s complex.
The complex has still not been made since the CFSI had raised various objections to the land allotted to it in Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad.
Das and Reddy were interacting with the media on the forthcoming ICFF in Hyderabad from 14 to 20 November.
Meanwhile, a total of 160 features from 40 countries and several short films are being screened during the 17th ICFF next month. Theselection has been made from over 700 entries. ‘Gattu‘ by Rajen Khosa is the opening film.
There is a total budget of Rs 50 million for the Festival, of which Rs27.5 million has been contributed by the Central Government and the rest is being put in by the Andhra Pradesh Government.
There will be several new features in this year‘s festival. There will be four competitive sections: international, Indian, short films, and ‘Little Directors‘ for children filmmakers. In addition, there will be the non-competitive Children‘s World which will have 50 animation films including some Oscar winners.
The festival will also have several workshops including animation and script writing, in addition to press conferences and an Open Forum.
The festival will for the first time have films from Africa and Latin America. China will be the country in focus at the Festival.
In addition to the adult international juries, there will be achildren‘s jury to judge the films.
Das told indiantelevision.com after the press meet that though thefilms are sub-titled in English, a small synopsis of each film in achild-friendly language had been prepared for each film and would beread out before the start of the film.
For the first time, ICFF will see the participation of the Federationof Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry which will organise asmall market section and has also managed the participation of bothCartoon Network as well as Nickelodeon, according to Munjol Shroff whorepresented the trade body. Ficci will also organise a workshop ongaming, animation and special effects, he added.
ICFF Director and CFSI CEO Sushovan Banerjee said that a new venue –Shilpramum - had been selected for the Festival this year, and three make-shift theatres were being built at this venue to be ready in time of the Festival. Each will be equipped with the latest projection and Dolby sound, he added.
He said while Doordarshan was the broadcast partner, efforts were onto get corporate sponsorships.
In answer to a question, Reddy said that the state chief minister had said that the Telengana issue would not be allowed to interfere in the conduct of the Festival.
Banerjee told indiantelevision.com, "For the children aged between 3 to 16 years of age, this film festival has feature films like Iran‘s" The Other", France‘s "Tales Of The Night", China‘s "The Star And The Sea", Denmark‘s "The Great Bear", India‘s "Chillar Party", "Stanley Ka Dabba", and "I Am Kalam".
Both the national and international level films will be given the same cash component and trophy. The Best feature film will be given Rs 200,000 and the Golden Elephant trophy, the first runner up will get Rs 100,000 and a trophy, the best director will be given Rs 1,50,000 and a Golden Elephant trophy, best script will be given Rs 100,000 and a trophy. Besides this, best feature film selected by the Children‘s Jury will be given a Golden Elephant trophy.
The Best short film will be given Rs 100,000 and a Golden Elephant trophy, the runner up will be given Rs 50,000 and a Golden Elephant trophy and the film chosen by the Children‘s Jury will be given a Golden Elephant trophy. Also, films directed by children will be awarded with a Golden Elephant.
