Bioscope 18112011

Children's Film Society, India

he only way to write for children is to

come to their level and begin to think Tlike them, since the young ones today

are smarter than those of yesteryears and

therefore will not accept something that does

not appeal to them.

This was the consensus of an Open Forum at

the Sampradaya Vedika on ‘Challenges of

screen writing for children’.

Ms Joke van Leeuwen, who is Chairperson of

the Competition India Jury, said one has to

find a level that children understand. This

does not mean talking down to them, but

simply becoming one with them. Joke, whose

written work ‘Eep!’ has been made into a film

and is being screened here said she always

looked inwards and tried to find the child in

her when writing for the young. Her attempt

always has been to write scripts that both

children and adults can enjoy.

She regretted that Hollywood dominated the

content of films all over the country and

scripts were often changed to suit the

Hollywood-crazy fans.

Nitesh Tiwari, one of the two directors of the

film ‘Chillar Party’, said his attempt was to

avoid preaching to the children, and he

therefore had to ‘sugar-coat’ his films to put

across a message. When working with

children, one should be ready for surprises. He

had always attempted to get out of the

Writing for children mandates greater

understanding of the psyche of the young

A peep into the Wonderous World of Cinema

Hyderabad www.cfsindia.org Issue: 5 November 18, 2011

stereotypes of the way children are generally

portrayed in films.

On a question about why films like Harry

Potter proved more popular than Indian films,

he said the kind of marketing and public

relations that went into these films was more

than what Indian filmmakers could afford.

In any case, Indian filmmakers were reluctant

to put in money for children’s films. He felt that

the best scripts are those which are not

written for oneself, but for the viewers.

He did not feel that it is possible to make

feature films for children keeping different

age-groups in view. However, this was

possible in commercial advertisements.

He did not feel children could be proactive as

far as writing was concerned and could in fact

be obstacles.

Theatre activist Atiya Chaudhury did not agree

and said that she had often asked children to

improvise and found this very interesting. This

was the way it was done in theatre. She said

adults should not impose their ideas on the

children.

She said India was a country full of stories

from mythology and folk tales, but children

want to connect with the real world. She was

happy that children of today received greater

encouragement from their parents than those

in the time when she was young.

Filmmaker and theatre activist Atul Tiwari,

who conducted the discussion, said authors

needed to be sensitized to write for children.

He said films like Harry Potter were gaining

popularity was that very few children liked to

read stories or literature in their own native

languages as the education system had forced

them to learn and read English, thus losing the

habit of reading in Indian Languages.

Whew! Running around from venue to

venue can be really tiring, especially if you

are an elephant carrying the weight of

gold! But then, I do not mind the exercise,

because it is helping me learn so many

new things. Five workshops have begun at

different venues in Shilparamam which

will go on till 19 November.

Film Making

Dining Hall, 2.30-5.30 pm

Script Writing

Art Gallery, 2.30-4.30 pm & 4.30-6.30 pm

Film Appreciation

Shilparamam Garden, 2.30-4.30 pm

Animation

Shilpakala Vedika basement, 4.30-6.30pm

Puppet Making

Art Gallery, 2.30-4.30 pm & 4.30-6.30pm

Media Centre, Shilpakala Vedika, 11.30 am

Release of CFSI DVDs and Festival

Catalogue by CFSI Chairperson Ms Nandita

Das, followed by media interaction by her

and CFSI CEO Sushovan Banerjee.

Workshops

Press Meet

l

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Gajju’sProgramme today

Open ForumSampradaya Vedika,

4.30 pm

Importance of Little

Directors


What I recommend for today…..and why

Screening Schedule

Date Time Name of Film Mins Age

18th 9:30 am Vihir (The Well) IC 115 13+

12:00 pm Hamari Duniya (Our World) LD 11 6+

Adventures of Eddy and Curt LD 7 6+

Subbu’s Noodles LD 12 6+

Superhero LD 3 6+

2:30 pm Chithrakuzhal (The Bird Catcher) IC 83 10+

Wonder Land, Rock Heights, Shilparamam


18th 9:30 am Lu Cao Di (Mongolian Ping Pong) IFC 102 10+

12:00 pm What Makes Me Happy: Tung’s Film, Vietnam SC 16 10+

Kosher SC 10 10+

Ghadyalancha Dawakhana (The Watch Clinic) SC 11 10+

To Horio (The Village) SC 15 10+

La Fille et & Le chasseur (The Girl & The Hunter) SC 6 10+

2:30 pm Fimfarum Do Tretice Vseho Dobreho

(Fimfarum third time lucky) CW 75 13+

Dream Land, Rock Heights, Shilparamam

CI-Competition International IC-India Competition SC-Shorts Competition LD-Little Director CW-Children's World IFC-In Focus China


18th 9:30 am Knerten Gifter Seg (Twigson ties the knot) CI 78 10+

11:30 am Kidnappet (Lost in Africa) CI 92 13+

2:30 pm Alafzar (Meadow) CI 87 10+

Magic Land, Rock Heights, Shilparamam

Twigson Ties the Knot

Lost in Africa

Director: Martin Lund | Norway / 2010 / Col. /

78 mins

a chat ty tw ig

named Twigson

and Lillebror are

looking for the

culprit responsible

for Lillebror’s mother’s biking accident, and

get support from Lillebror’s friend Tiny and

her talking twig Karoline.

Director: Vibeke Muasya | Denmark, Kenya /

2010 / Col. / 92 mins

Simon, an adopted

boy and soccer

enthusiast, comes

with his Danish

m o t h e r t o h i s

country of origin, Kenya. But he gets lost when

he loses his favourite soccer ball, and soon

becomes a hunted boy.

Director: Mohammad-Ali Talebi | Iran / 2011 /

Col. / 87 mins

Ali is forced to take

the sheep over

mountain territory,

while Nargis has to

find a way to bring her mother back to her

family, split by a fight between her father and

uncle over the use of the meadow.

Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni | India /

2010 / Col. / 115 mins

The adolescent Nachikent mysteriously

disappears in a well to escape his stifling

Meadow

The Well

surroundings.

H i s c o u s i n

S a m e e r i s

u n a b l e t o

u n d e r s t a n d

this but must

find a way to be re-united.

Director: Varun Halder, Binita Nayak | India /

2011 / Col. / 11 mins

Two brothers

- t h e

sensitive and

compassiona

te Raghav and

the selfish and

smart Rocky -

who live in a slum in Noida accidentally break

a water tap while playing cricket.

Our World


Adventures of Eddy and Curt

Subbu’s Noodles

Superhero

The Bird Catcher

Director: Aryan Chugh and Sumer Rai | India /

2011 / Col. / 7 mins

Two best friends who are always creating

trouble in school are asked by the Principal to

perform a task that no other student has ever

got, so that they can become good boys.

Director: Anuraag Punjaabi, Shubhojit Roy,

Sanjana Abraham, Siya

Chandrie, S Rohit, Aditi

Nagpal , Akanksha

Dhume | India / 2010 /

Col. / 12 mins

Subbu is left alone at home when her parents

are at work. What does she do all day and who

are the people she encounters?

Director: Kimaya Shahi, Vardaan Shah, Swagini

Nakashe, Zaina Goel, Anika Birewar, Shawn

Ashish Chauhan, Yuvansh Khokhani, Mitul

Damani, Hitanshi Badani, Aryan Sanghai,

Dhruv Modi | India/ 2010 / Col. / 3 mins

The superhero is fine as he swings in the

clouds. But he gets in trouble when a bank

robbery goes wrong. The directors are

students of various Mumbai schools who

participated in a film making workshop

conducted by Pomegranate Workshop

Director: Majeed Gulistan | India / 2009 / Col. /

83 mins

The tribal boy

V i r u n d h a n

who is called

T h e B i r d

Catcher as he is

believed to catch and eat birds saves a Forest

officer’s school-going kid Charu who is

kidnapped by poachers.

Mongolian Ping Pong

What Makes Me Happy: Tung’s Film,

Vietnam

Kosher

The Watch Clinic

Director: Ning Hao | China / 2005 / Col. / 102

mins

Young Bil ike

and his friends

s e t o u t t o

return to the

capital the ping

pong ball which his grandmother says is

glowing pearl sent by the Gods but which they

learn is the ‘national ball of China’.

Director: Annie Gibbs | United Kingdom,

Vietnam / 2011 / Col./ 16 mins

Tung has to study

between collecting

f i r e w o o d a n d

looking after her

younger brothers. But trouble comes when

her piglet escapes his sty.

Director: Isabelle

Stead | France /

2010 / Col. / 10

mins

The lonely boy Isaac is ridiculed by other

children. When he adopts a little pig that

shows up at his doorstep and finds new hope,

his Jewish family is upset.

Director: Vikrant Pawar | India / 2009 / Col. /

11 mins

An impatient

b o y i s

compelled to

spend a day at

h i s f a t h e r ’ s

workstation. Sitting in his father’s chair he

starts seeing the world through different eyes.

The Village

The Girl and the Hunter

Fimfarum Third Time Lucky

Director: Stelios Polychronakis | Greece /

2010/ Col. / 15 mins

A d o c t o r

receives a

mysterious

m e s s a g e

asking for

help but only

finds a deserted village after a long and

difficult journey. With no other patient, he

offers his services to the village itself.

Director: Jadwiga Kowalska | Switzerland /

2010 / Col. / 6 mins

The girl is

crying. The

h u n te r i s

h u n t i n g .

W h e n t h e

girl’s tears threaten to drown the entire

village, it’s up to the fearless hunter to find a

solution to this watery mess.

Director: Kristina Dufková, Vlasta Pospíšilová,

David Súkup | Czech Republic / 2011 / Col. /

75mins

The last part of

the Fimfarum

t r i l o g y h a s

three stories,

each directed

by one artist: a

news crew wants to know if there really are

any living giants playing the ancient game of

‘Bigger’ in the Bohemian forest. A King has

three Sons and decides to hand over the

crown to the son who brings him the hat

forgotten long ago in a remote mountain inn.

A swineherd is called to decide a bet between

Mister Reason and Mister Happiness.

I can’t get over the amount of excitement the

kids bring in to the five workshops being held

at the Festival venue. The rush in the

workshops, the eagerness to learn and to

master the art is admirable.

Though I have visited the workshops before, I

went along again. And was I surprised! The

energy has not waned. The teachers too are

all charged up looking at these young

creative minds. The kids are the

firecrackers of the show who ignite it

with so much enthusiasm and energy.

Dhoom dhamaaka at the workshops!I moved quietly as I did not want to disturb the

kids to see and the little masters of

filmmaking and animation. The number of

kids attending is now more than seventy each,

against the original thirty.

I then went to the script writing and film

appreciation workshops and was surprised to

see such seriousness amongst all my young

friends in writing and presenting scripts of

their own. And yet, the students are still

enjoying themselves, asking questions and

presenting their own ideas.

The puppetry workshop today saw a

workshop on the theme of National

Integration organized by the Association

for the Promotion of Puppetry in Andhra

Pradesh. A total of 45 students took part.

Director Madhavilatha introduced the art of

puppetry and its relevance to the education

and for enhancing the social and ethical

values and national ethos. Das from APPA

coordinated the workshop and Art Director

P. Ravi helped children in making of puppets.

- Deepti Thakur


Edited by B.B. Nagpal on behalf of the Children’s Film Society, India, Films Division Complex, 24, Dr.G.D. Marg, Mumbai-400 026.

Design Seshu Kumar MVV, Satya T, Guru J

Photos Kotnis Murali Krishna, Chillam Charla Suresh Kumar, D.S. Chakravarthi, D. Yuva Raj

Designed & Produced by Efforts, 11-6-872, Red Hills, Lakdikapul, Hyderabad-500 004. www.efforts.co.in

Festival Office CFSI, Camp: Shilparamam, Madhapur, Hyderabad.

Parents should encourage creativity

and not impose unfulfilled dreams on children

Gili gili choo! Abraka Dabra!

o, it was not a magic show. Our very

own Professor Albus Dumbledore - Nfamous magician Samala Venu was

expressing his amazement at the creativity of

young filmmakers.

Addressing a press meet, Samala who is a

member of the Little Directors Jury, said “It

makes me realize cinema is such a powerful

media. It’s touching to see such creativity. The

festival has given a good opportunity to the

young to showcase their talent.”

Samala said he had been a magician for thirty

years and loved entertaining children.

“Children are so smart that sometimes I

modify my magic tricks according to their

liking. Children are smarter than we think”.

The magician loves children and spends a lot

of time with them, but said that he had never

taken part in a film festival before this.

But he announced that he was soon going to

make a film about magic and children. “Yes,

I’m also planning to create and produce a film

in two or three months. It might be on ‘How to

become a magician’.”

ind it! The Quick Gun Murugan has

come. When ‘King of Comedy’ MR a j e n d r a P r a s a d c a m e t o

Shiparamam to tell everyone that he loves

children’s films as much as he loves comedy,

audiences welcomed him.

Addressing a press meet, the Natakireeti said,

“I love being a part of this film festival. Most

He feels that though many of the films being

shown here may not be commercially

successful, they will satisfy the children. In fact,

he wanted more film makers to invest in films

for children.

He lauded the concept of “Little Directors”

which he found very inspiring. Topics on AIDS,

human sentiments, and school stories had

been screened.

He said, “It’s very tough to judge these films

because of the richness in quality, screenplay

and the script. Children are really leaving an

impact in this film festival.”

He urged the parents to support and

encourage their children in what interested

them, rather than imposing their own

unfulfilled dreams and ambitions on the

young ones.

- Sneha Nemali

The King of Comedy feels Young India needs

films based on inspirational storiesimportantly, I am extremely proud that

Hyderabad has been chosen to be the venue

for this festival.”

Talking about children and their cinema, he

said “I love to be here as the hero of the kids; a

hero who makes children happy. I have never

made child-oriented films. I have acted in

films that have drawn them to the theatres.”

He says cinema leaves a huge impact on the

younger generation. They are sensitive to the

films they watch. “For any tradition to grow,

for any development to happen, any

revolution to take place, cinema has to come

up with stories that can inspire and leave an

impact on the kids. Children are the roots for

building a better nation".

Cinema is a most powerful media to give

strong messages, he added.

He also spoke about the power of media and

requested it to promote films that talk of

heroes who have the calibre to lead the

nation.

Films can make us think, feel, help, mould, and

give that stroke of inspiration. There is a small

difference between children’s film and films

that are made for children, he felt, adding that

“Either way, it should help in the development

of the kids. It should inspire the kids as they

are the heroes of Young India.”

- Smrati Thakur

A cultural show in progress at Lalitha Kala Thoranam

Documents

Bioscope 18112011