The travelling film festival helping children

The Children’s Film Society of India would be easily recognizable to any movie enthusiast, as an uncountable number of children have grown up watching films produced by the group.

They also organize film festivals like ICFFI, an international event held every two years in Hyderabad for thirty-eight years.

Dr Shravan Kumar is now aiming to reach beyond those able to attend the week-long ICFFI, by establishing a more local NCFF, or National Children’s Film Festival, which, as he says, pushes Indian filmmakers to improve the amount of visual content for children.

After hosting the festival in Delhi in 2014 and then in Jaipur in 2016, the group began launching Film Bonanza, which is a travelling festival that has as so far covered twenty locations.

The repertoire of this festival holds two hundred and fifty movies, emphasized by CFSI to be dubbed accordingly for such a linguistically diverse country, some in as many as thirteen languages.

They also keep cultural poignancies and sensitivities in mind, carefully choosing which movies to show in which locations in order to connect with the locals around better. Workshops are also held during the festivals to teach children how films are made and further invite them into the field.

CFSI also emphasizes on technology to expand its influence, now supporting an app containing one hundred films from which to choose.

A challenge presents itself in the more rural areas of the country, there being less and fewer cinemas there and therefore harder to hold the festival. Kumar describes going to desperate replication methods, even using LCD projectors in classrooms and community centers.

However, their efforts are now encouraging filmmakers to come forward, presenting their children’s content in order to provide them with more.

Kumar encourages quality content for the children in order to inspire greater creativity in children through visual media, further shown through his creation of programs for them to make their own little movies in a workshop.

Through this, he wants to show the children speaking from their own minds, hearts, and creative passions.

Image by Gautham Kanchodu from Pixabay (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://pixabay.com/photos/children-karnataka-india-innocent-225037/