Bangalore: Three-day Bangalore International Children’s Film Festival Opens

By Rons Bantwal
Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SB)

Bangalore, Jun 23: The three-day Bangalore International Children’s Film Festival opened at the Fame Cinemas, Forum Value Mall, Whitefield here on Tuesday June 22 from 10.00 am.

The festival will be open from 10.00 am to 12.00 noon on all the three days. The tickets for Fame Cinemas are priced at Rs 80 and will be available at the counter before the show.

The movies will also be screened at the Ryan International School, Brookefields from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm) on all the three days. All the screenings at Ryan International School are open to public and the entry is free. Schools can have group bookings in advance.

Aim of Film Festival

The film festival aims to create a cinematic experience for children while addressing the need for environment consciousness in addition to exposing them to a plethora of international cultures through the powerful medium of cinema.

The festival aims at arousing reverence for different cultures and traditions among the younger generations. The workshops and contests held aims to unleash the creative streak in children and hear out their opinions through child centric forums and discussions. Through the film produced, directed and scripted by the children the festival aims at educating children on the environment portraying the relationship between man and the environment. 

The Ryan Foundation sincerely believes that children will find this engaging approach exciting and entertaining. Learning is a passion for the foundation and they are proud to be supporting it in an innovating and exciting way. 

Managing director of Ryan Foundation, Grace Pinto said, “We believe cinema leaves a great impact on young minds and through this film festival we aim at keeping children closer to environmental issues while teaching them the art of film-making and helping them explore and showcase their potential and creativity. We sincerely believe that children will find this engaging approach to education both exciting and entertaining. Learning is our passion and we are proud to be Supporting it .This event is another facet of our huge range of learning.” 

The film-making workshop

The child directors were shortlisted from about 50–100 children who were interested in being a part of this workshop. They were shortlisted based on a process which included a personal interview followed by a group discussion where the child’s interest and knowledge of films was gauged post which we shortlisted a group of 20 children to be a part of this film.

The workshop is on for a period of 20 days and making a 40-minute-film in 20 days is a bit challenging but not impossible. And since the children are amateur there is a challenge involved in using creativity and learning a lot about the art of film-making and the techniques involved.

Opportunity for Emerging Talent

BICFF will also give an opportunity for emerging talent to showcase their creativity via using the cinema as a medium in spreading eco-consciousness amongst the younger generation. A ‘48 Hrs – Make a film’ contest open to all school students in the city between the age group of 13–17 will be conducted wherein students will work towards the challenge of producing a 2 -7 minutes film of a chosen topic within 48 hours. The contest is in process and the children participating will share their final films with us by Sunday. The winning film will be showcased at the Film Festival.

The Green Dog - A 40 minute film made by children

The theme of the film was to be based on environment; and when the children started brainstorming for ideas for a broad outline of the script, they finally decided on the concept of The Green Dog, Nature Inspires Creativity since, GREEN symbolizes the ‘Environment’ and DOG is a sign of ‘Loyalty’ . The ‘Green Dog’ is a story about the relationship of a Child and a Tree and how deforestation impacts the thinking of our young generation. 

The film portrays the relationship between man and nature showcasing the grim realities of the dying lakes and deforestation that is fast leading to an ecological imbalance in the eco system. It depicts the idea of how the children want to save the environment. Through the movie the children want to realize how loyal the environment is to us and the need for man to be loyal to the environment as well thus creating awareness on the need for a green environment in Bangalore via this film.

The duration of the film is for 40 minutes. The film has 10-12 actors, playing the lead role of Ahaan Chopra is Shailesh Sharma all of nine years who has been acting for the past three to four years. Ahaan is the lead character of the film portraying the relationship between man and a tree and how nature intrigues the streak of creativity in children where he saves the life of the tree.

The film has been scripted by the children under the guidance of the professionals conducting the workshop. The film is produced by a group of 20 children who have been divided into groups of five each handling production, direction, sound, editing and the camera. All the kids are between the age group of 13–14 years.  The actors, directors, producers etc of the film are all armatures who have a keen interest in film-making. The directors also had the opportunity to direct their own teachers and parents thus adding the fun element and making it more memorable.

“It’s great to be directed by children few years older to me. I feel we are fortunate to have this kind of exposure especially a cause that we strongly believe in as that of saving the environment”, says Shailesh while for director of the film Vindhya V the workshop has been an exposure to the techniques and the art of film-making. “I have found in cinema a great medium to showcase my creativity. The depleting greenery from the city made us think of how Bangalore was once known as the ‘garden city’ and now there is hardly anything left,” she adds.

According to director of the film festival, Utkarsh Marwah, “The workshop is aimed at promoting and introducing children to the art of film making, creative instincts are inborn it only need some impetus to come out which is what we hope to do through the workshop. The Film Festival is a unique opportunity for children to experience the amazing world of cinema and is raising new cultural bridges both internationally and within our local communities.”