Children's Film Society, India

A peep into the Wonderous World of CinemaA peep into the Wonderous World of Cinema

Hyderabad www.cfsindia.org Issue: 8 November 21, 2011

Grandeur and Cheer mark the Grand Finale thof the 17 International Children’s Film Festival

ow! I am still to get over the

grandeur and excitement of the Wclosing ceremony of the 17th

International Children’s Film Festival. I was

really touched by the zest among the

performers, and the large numbers of children

who had turned up to bid me adieu. In fact, I

was myself dancing and romping, despite my

huge weight!

But I really liked what his Excellency the

Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Mr E S L

Narsimhan, said when he advised all the

major filmmakers to remember their

corporate social responsibility and set aside

time and money for some children’s films. He

also said that the aim should not be to make

children’s films only for festivals. He said

filmmakers had to remember that ‘Your today

is our tomorrow’.

Earlier, Ms D K Aruna, Andhra Information and

Public Relations Minister, said she was amazed

at the number of children who turned up and

the smiles on their faces. She said around

3,500 children also put up cultural

programmes for the children and delegates.

She particularly referred to special shows for

the visually challenged children.

Ms Nandita Das, Chairperson of the Children’s

Film Society, India, said that just over 175,000

children and elders from across the globe had

attended the festival. She said one major

feedback she had received was that the

filmmakers from overseas were simply

amazed at the interactions with children and

the kind of questions they asked.

Festival Director and CFSI CEO Sushovan

Banerjee said the excitement of the children

as they came out of the theatres was very

infectious, and the large participation in the

workshops forced the organizers to hold extra

sessions.

Others present included Lerala Social Welfare

Minister Dr M k Muneer, Mr D P Reddy who is

Joint Secretary (Films) in the Information and

Broadcasting Ministry, Organizing Committee

Chairman Pankaj Dwivedi, actors Rajendra

Prasad and Nazir, and famous artist Jatin Das,

apart from a large number of jury members.

Some of these dignitaries went up to

distribute some of the awards.

Contd. Page 4...

Children's Film Society, India

Children's Film Society, India

The Juries Selection of The Best

Competition India

Golden Elephant for the Best Feature:

Chillar Party

by Nitesh Tiwari & Vikas Bahl (India)

Golden Plaque for the Second Best Feature:

Dekh Indian Circus

by Mangesh Hadawale (India)

Golden Elephant for the Best Director:

Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni for

(India)‘Vihir’

Golden Elephant for the Best Screenplay:

Sanjay Chouhan for

by Nila Madhab Panda (India)

I am Kalam

Special Mention:

Actor Harsh Maya for I am Kalam

Competition - Little Directors

Competition InternationalGolden Elephant for the Best Feature:

Meadow by Mohammad-Ali Talebi

(Iran) for its poetic rendering of the slice

of a nomad’s life

Golden Elephant for Best Director:

Vibeke Muasya for

(Denmark, Kenya)Lost in Africa

Golden Elephant for the Best Screenplay:

The Strongest Man in Holland

by Mark de Cloe (The Netherlands)

Golden Elephant Plaque for

Runner up Feature:

The Ugly Duckling

by Garri Bardin (Russian Federation)

Special Jury Mention:

by

Xiao Guiyun & Li Qiankuan (China) and

‘The Star and the Sea’

Competition Shorts

Special Mention:

Colored Pencils

Mobile

Director: Alice Gomes,

Brazil and Verena Fels, Germany

‘Tales of the Night’

by Michel Ocelot (France)

Golden Elephant plaque for

Runner up Best Little Director:

Adventures of Eddie & Curt

by Aryan Chugh and Sumer Rai (India)

Children’s Jury - InternationalGolden Elephant for Best Feature:

Crocodiles Strike Back

by Christian Ditter (Germany)

Special Mention: Lost in Africa

Golden Elephant for Best Little Director:

Varun Halder and Binita Nayak for

(India) as it had ‘original

storyline and scripting and is not preachy

but well focused’

Hamari Duniya

Special Mention:

Indian films (Mehdi Rahmani) (Bismi, Aishwarya,

Athira, Aswathy, Durga). (Vishnupriya, Himachandran, Nincy,

Anaka, Aasmi); and (Lekshmi, Anju Mol, Liya Elizabeth, Jwala

Parameshwaran, Shaharbana)

Fancock 4 Dhanam

Nishdam

Thulyam

Golden Elephant for Best Short:

NineAndAHalf’s Goodbye by Halina

Dyrschka of Germany as ‘the dialogues,

cast, direction and story stand aptly

symbolic to what the Festival is all about’

Children’s Jury - Indian

Golden Elephant for Best Indian Feature:

Chillar Party as ‘It had all the elements

of a good movie in the correct

proportion’

Special Mention:

by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni

(Abdollah

Ali-Morad, Iran), and

(Vikrant Pawar, India)

Vihir

The Farmer and the Robot

The Watch Clinic

Children’s Jury – ShortsGolden Elephant for Best Short:

Special Mention:

NineAndAHalf’s Goodbye

Colored Pencils Mobile

by Halina

Dyrschka of Germany as ‘the dialogues, cast, direction and story stand

aptly symbolic to what the Festival is all about’.

(Alice Gomes, Brazil) and

(Verena Fels, Germany)

Children's Film Society, India

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.

But the highlight of the evening were the

awards, and it was heartening to see that all

the forecasts made by the children when they

talked to me over the past few days proved

correct. As the awards were announced, there

was loud ovation and screams when children

expressed their joy at the film of their choice

being awarded.

The cultural programme at the venue, the

Global Peace Foundation Auditorium, was

nothing short of spectacular. And I was

touched by the way I was greeted as I entered.

There were young girls dancing, and a man on

stilts stood by to take photographs with the

children.

The stage of the auditorium which has a

capacity of 2000 but definitely had at least

three hundred more people was also very

beautifully done. There were two large

puppets hanging from the roof – a male and a

female – and replicas two Golden Elephants

adored the stage.

My favourite singer, Usha Aunty (Usha Uthup)

in the Grand Finale sang some of her best

songs and also reminded everyone that ‘We

are the World, we are the children’ and

concluded her singing with ‘Jai Ho!’

Interestingly, she was joined by Sriram

Chandra, the singer from this city of the Char

Minar, who won the hearts of the audience by

making them clap to his songs.

Ramachary ’ s Ch i ld ren Troupe a l so

accompanied her. Did you know that Usha

Aunty can sing in 17 Indian and eight foreign

languages?

Earlier, the cultural programmes commenced

with a scintillating recital by the international

renowned percussionist, Padma Shri Dr Yella

Venkateswara Rao who had begun his career

as a child prodigy at the age of seven and is

now in the Guinness Book of Records for

having played the mridangam non-stop for

36 hours! He demonstrated his magic with the

instrument, and was accompanied by a young

boy on the ghatam.

But what really moved my heart was the

absolutely out-of-this-world performance by

disciples of Syed Pasha who heads the Ability

Unlimited Foundation. All the male

performers on wheelchairs and the girl

dancers are disability, but this did not show in

their performance at all! In fact.

I would not guessed they were disabled if an

announcement had not been made about this

by presenters Anuj and Suma.

India’s unity in diversity showed a little later

when fifteen girls performed five different

forms of classical dance – Bharat Natyam,

Mohiniattam, Odissi. Kuchipudi, and Kathak –

in unison in a presentation called ‘Namaskar

India’.

It was difficult to say that these dancers had

learnt different dance forms, as they danced

with such coordination.

As the curtains came down on the 17th ICFF, I

had the satisfaction that all the children who

had come would go back with memories of a

spectacular breath-taking show, which was

followed by the screening of the best feature

‘Meadows’.

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Gajju’s Adieu I - Gajju - am very sad today, and my

friends know this, as they kept asking me

why I am so morose. Actually I and my

little friends from all over the country and

overseas were just beginning to really

have fun and learn so much, I realized all

good things must come to an end. In fact, I

do not even feel like blowing my own

trumpet, as I always do, and just want to

somehow preserve all those pleasant

memories of this year’s festival.

I must now bid adieu – not goodbye, as

we will meet again - to the thousands of

new friends I have made. I know I will be

back two years hence, with a bundle of

new cinematic surprises. And I am happy

for all those who will leave with special

prizes for their films.

And before I leave this beautiful city of the

Char Minar, I must thank the chairperson

of the Children’s Film Society, India, Ms

Nandita Das, the Festival Director and

Chief Executive Officer Mr. Sushovan

Banerjee, and all the officials of CFSI for the

comforts provided to me during my stay

here. They all went out of their way to

ensure I have a good time.

I would also like to thank all officials of the

APSFTVTDC for the assistance extended by

them, and Mr G N Rao and other officials of

the Shiparamam, the new venue of the

Festival.

I am grateful to all the jury members,

filmmakers and most of all, I would like to

thank the children from Hyderabad and

the rest of the country and overseas who

came in such large numbers.

So, till we meet again in November 2013,

adieu!