National Children’s Film Festival by Children’s Film Society at VUDA Children’s Arena

Children’s Film Society, India (CFSI) is all set to host a National Children’s Film Festival (NCFF) here in the city this week. The three-day children’s film festival that will host 40,000 students at the VUDA Children’s Arena will be inaugurated by the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on April 7. Over 40,000 students are expected to attend the festival where CFSI’s children’s movies will be screened.

A total of 24 CFSI’s children’s movies will be screened at the three day fest on the 12 screens provided. Three shows will be held per day at each screen. The opening film of NCFF is ‘Shanu – The Optimist’ directed by KNT Sastry, produced by CFSI in 2016. Other films that will be screened at the children’s film festival include Akkineni Kutuma Rao’s ‘Amulyam’, ‘Bandu Boxer’, ‘Bhago Bhoot’, ‘Chota Sipahi’, ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ and ‘Pappu ki Pugdandi’.

Shravan Kumar, CEO, Children’s Film Society, India stated that the National Children’s Film Festival is one of the largest film festival organised for children anywhere in the country. The aim of the film festival that was first held in 2014 in Delhi and in 2016 in Jaipur is not just to expose a number of children to quality cinema, but also to introduce novel elements beyond films.

The festival is now coming along to Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh in association with the Andhra Pradesh Government. Just last week, NCEF was showcased at Guwahati in association with Smile Foundation – a national level development organisation that works for children’s health and education.

It is CFSI that brought along the concept of ‘Little Directors’ – a specially curated competition where children would be encouraged to shoot short films on smartphones. CFSI invites entries during the festival for selection. “We also organise workshops and open forums on filmmaking. We have introduced Film Bonanza, a week-long film festival, where select movies of CFSI will be screened for students across the country in association with respective district administration and NGOs. It’s an ongoing effort, and there’s much more to do,” added Kumar.

Feature Image Credit: hngn