Children's Film Society, India

ursuing a career in the arts is like

chasing a dream. Unless one is Prelentless and determined, one will not

be able to make it.

That was the consensus of the Open Forum at

Sampradaya Vedika on the relevance of art in

a child’s development. All the speakers on the

dais – Ms Nandita Das, Chairperson of the

Children’s Film Society, India; actor Raj Zutshi

who is featuring in two films here – ‘Stanley ka

Dabba’ by Amol Gupte and ‘Woh’ by

Buddhadeb Dasgupta; Jon Gustafsson who is

both the producer and editor of the film ‘In a

Heart Beat’ from Iceland; and Ms Michaela

Hinnenthal who has scripted the film

“Winter’s Daughter” which is a German-Polish

co-production – felt that it was also necessary

that the child should have the support of the

family to pursue his or dreams.

Jon said that he makes films ‘because

something pushes us’. This was his first

attempt at a film for children, but his visits to

many children’s festivals had given him new

experiences. He said it was always important

for someone taking to any art form to get the

support of his or her parents.

Michaela said she used to listen to stories told

by her mother as a child and that inspired her

to go into theatre. But she was unable to find

anything interesting. However, when the

Berlin Wall came down, she learnt of a theatre

group in East Berlin which she joined. As for

herself, she felt that if one wanted to do

something, one could always find a direction.

Chase your dreams…. but family support is essential

A peep into the Wonderous World of Cinema

Hyderabad www.cfsindia.org Issue: 4 November 17, 2011

Children wanting to join the arts should have

the courage to tel their parents and teachers.

Asked about how one can get over the fright

of becoming a writer, she said one simple way

was to start with a personal diary which no

one else could read but which helped the

writer gain confidence.

Raj, who began acting at the age of five, said

he learnt to think as an actor much later and

was fortunate that he performed naturally. He

personally felt that the role of an artiste is to

build bridges, and an actor is often like a balm

for troubled souls. But going into the arts is a

two-way street and the parents have to

support the child and cooperate. He had

realized that acting was a science: it could not

be taught, but it could be learnt. However,

some training is necessary. Therefore it was

important to learn something about related

arts like music, dance etc. and to pursue one’s

direction with clarity and focus.

Nandita, who commenced her acting career

with the controversial film ‘Fire’, had acted in

around thirty films and also made a film

herself. She said the section on ‘Little Directors’

at the Festival was aimed at encouraging

young minds, and the script writing and film

appreciation workshops were also aimed at

helping young creative minds.

Speaking about herself, she said her father

who is an eminent artist and her mother who

is a writer always gave her enough space to

think the way she wanted, though she had

never planned to become an actress. Arts have

played a huge role in her life, she said, and this

has been possible because of the support of

her parents. Unfortunately, arts was not seen

as a subject or an activity but only as an extra-

curricular activity in schools and colleges.

Answering a question, she said that no one

can be happy if he or she only looks up with

envy at others. It was important to carve out

one’s own niche.

Gosh, when Nandita Aunty wanted me to

take part in the workshops, I was hesitant.

After all, it is not so easy for a little baby

elephant to run from one Workshop to

another. But after I attended one, I

became so fascinated that I wanted to

attend them all.

Five workshops are continuing at

different venues in Shilparamam which

will go on till 19 November. All my young

friends can still register by calling Satish

at 9703160004.

Film Making

Art Gallery, Shilparamam, 2.30-5.30 pm

Script Writing

Dormitories (behind Sampradaya

Vedika), 2.30-4.30 pm & 4.30-6.30 pm

Film Appreciation

Shilparamam Gardens, 2.30-4.30 pm

Animation - Basement

Shilpakala Vedika, 4.30-6.30pm

Puppet Making

Art Gallery, Shilparamam, 3.30-5.30 pm

& 4.30-6.30pm

Media Centre, Shilpakala Vedika, 11.00 am

Rajendraprasad, Director of ‘Hero’ in Telugu

Workshopsl

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Press Meet

Gajju’sProgramme today

Open ForumSampradaya Vedika,

4.30-6.00 pm

Challenges of Screen writing

for children

Children's Film Society, India

What I recommend for today…..and why

Screening Schedule

Date Time Name of Film Mins Age

17th 9:30 am Chillar Party IC 135 10+

12:30 pm Tornehekken (The Hedge of Thorns) CW 13 10+

Mukand and Riaz CW 9 10+

My Name is Mohammed CW 10 10+

2:30 pm The Lotus Pond IC 77 10+

Wonder Land, Rock Heights, Shilparamam

Date Time Name of Film Mins Age

17th 9:30 am Briefgeheim (The Secret Letter) CW 80 10+

11:30 am Le Monstre de Nix (The Monster of Nix) SC 30 10+

Pik (Pecker) SC 3 6+

Drug detstva (The Playmate) SC 11 10+

Tigeris (Tiger) SC 8 10+

Dodu - O Rapaz De Cartão (Dodu-The Cardboard boy) SC 5 6+

Mobile SC 7 6+

2:30 pm Hai Yang Peng You (A Friend from the Ocean) IFC 78 10+

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

Date Time Name of Film Mins Age

17th 9:30 am Vostadtkrokodile 2 (The Crocodiles Strike Back) CI 90 13+

11:30 am David and Kamal CI 78 13+

2:30 pm Bestevenner (Rafiki) CI 79 10+

Magic Land, Rock Heights, Shilparamam

The Crocodiles Strike Back

Director: Christian Ditter | Germany / 2010 /

Col. / 90 mins

The Crocodiles

must unravel the

mystery behind

t h e s t r a n g e

happenings during

the summer vacations which may result in

Ollie and Maria’s parents losing their jobs and

their home.

Director: Kikuo Kawasaki | U.S.A / Israel / 2011

/ Col. / 78 mins

T h e J e w i s h

American boy David

who has come to

Jerusalem to meet

his father strikes a

friendship in a strange manner with the Arab

David and Kamal

boy Kamal who lives in Jerusalem with his

mother, sisters and a very strict grandfather.

Director: Christian Lo | Norway / 2009 / Col. /

79 mins

Naisha goes into

hiding one day

b e c a u s e h e r

refugee application

has been rejected.

But her friends Julie and Mette try to track

them down in the big city before the police do.

Director: Nitesh Tiwari & Vikas Bahl | India /

2011 / Col. / 135 mins

Chillar Party, a

gang of several

b o y s i n t h e

Chandan Nagar

Rafiki

Chillar Party

Society in Mumbai, make friends with new

orphan boy Fatka and his dog Bhidu. But

problems arise when the dog bites the

Minister’s secretary.

Director: Anita Killi | Norway / 2002 / Col. /

13 mins

Florian and Malene are

best friends but when

the war breaks out,

they are not allowed to

meet because they

belong to opposite groups fighting the war.

Director: Nina Shabnani | India / 2005 / Col. /

9 mins

Mukand and Riaz, two

good friends, are

forceful ly divided

when the nation is

The Hedge of Thorns

Mukand and Riaz

Children's Film Society, India

partitioned. But friendship knows no barbed

wire fencing.

Director: SinanNajm Abdullah, Yahya T

Hassan, Baan S Shibab, Rania OklaYacoub

Haddad | Iraq / 2010 / Col. / 10 mins

M o h a m m e d , a

young Iraq refugee

in Jordan who cleans

shoes to support his

widowed mother,

gives joyous moments

to his little sister Reem despite the dramatic

changes in his life.

Director: Vinda Pg & Nitin Kumar Allagadda |

India / 2010 / Col. / 77 mins

Neeraj and a

fr iend set

out to find

the mythical

Lotus pond

in the distant

mounta ins ,

which is up to 14000 ft in the Himalayas. But

are they sure it exists as they learnt in their

class lesson?

Director: Simone van Dusseldorp |

Netherlands / 2010 / Col. / 80 mins

Fed up with

the problems

at home and

her quarrelling

p a r e n t s ,

Eleven-year old

Eva runs away from home. Hiding in the attic

of her best friends Jackie and Thomas, she

finds a secret letter exposing her neighbour

Brandsema who the head of a criminal

organization,

Director: Rosto | France, The Netherlands,

Belgium / 2011 / Col. / 30 mins

Life is peaceful in

t h e fa i r y t a l e

village of Nix until

an all-devouring

monster appears.

Young Willy has to fight it all alone.

Director: Erik van

S c h a a i k |

N e t h e r l a n d s /

2010 / Col. / 3 mins

My Name is Mohammed

The Lotus Pond

The Secret Letter

The Monster of Nix

Pecker

The bird pecks, the ox objects. But without the

pecking, life becomes very complex. What will

the ox do: can’t live with, can’t live without!

Director: Julia Postavskaya | Russian

Federation / 2010 / Col. / 11 mins

A lonely child

lives his teddy

bear but as he

e n t e r s t h e

world of adults,

he must decide what to do with the six foot tall

stuffed toy.

Director: Janis Cimermanis | Latvia / 2010 /

Col. / 8 mins

When a circus

tiger and her

cub make an

u n e x p e c t e d

stop in a small

village, the compassionate locals make a

cunning plan to help the gentle tigers escape

the clutches of the cruel ringmaster.

Director: Jose Miguel Ribeiro | Portugal / 2010

/ Col. / 5 mins

When Dodu

scratches the

surface of a

cardboard box,

he finds himself in a boat with a ladybird in the

ocean. Switching off the moon, he counts

sheep constellations.

Director: Verena Fels | Germany / 2010 / Col. /

7 mins

A lonely cow wants

to make friends

with a little mouse,

b u t t h e y a r e

hitched to opposite

ends of a mobile and

the cow must turn the mobile into a roller

coaster ride!

Director: Qian Xiaohong | China / 2006 / Col. /

78 mins

Ten-year-o ld

Fa n g X i a o q i

who lives with

his grandfather,

a scholar in Polar Marine science, is sad that his

parents cannot come for his birthday. But

suddenly, a miracle happens.

The Playmate

Tiger

Dodu - The Cardboard Boy

Mobile

A Friend from the Ocean

What our honoured

guests say…Wow! The Festival has already completed its

third day, and but I feel the excitement has just

begun. There are still so many films to be seen,

so many other activities, and so many new

friends to be made.

When I went around today, trumpeting as an

Elephant should, I was overcome by the

bubble of excitement that only seems to be

getting bigger by the day. Children from all

over the country and overseas and adult

delegates from around the globe are

beginning to feel at home in this city of the

Char Minar, which I just love.

I spoke to some of the delegates, escorts and

volunteers about their experiences. A

common refrain I got was that ”Hyderabad is

giving us all a warm welcome. It’s like coming

home.”

Talking about the films screened at the

Festival, Sanjana of Indore said, “the selection

of films is very good. We all enjoyed “How to

train your dragon”. A delegate from Mumbai,

Eisha, said “It’s been fun here. The workshops

are really informative.” A Kareemnagar

student, B.Ramya, said “I loved the film ‘The

Ugly Duckling’.” Though she found the

workshops very nice, she said finding the

venues was like an adventure.

Clearly, ‘How to train your Dragon’, ‘The Ugly

Duckling’ and ‘I am Kalam’ top the list of their

favourites. The place is huge, and the chances

of students getting lost remains, she added.

But ‘the volunteers have been a great help. On

the whole, the Festival is going brilliantly’.

The students’ interest and sense of

participation is a must watch. Their energy is

infectious. But while the students are having

the time of their lives, the escorts are taking

precautions to ensure everything goes

smoothly. They appreciated the organization

for managing the festival with ease.

CFSI volunteers Ramya, VIshal, Smrati, and

Sneha felt that it is a whole new experience

and a very good opportunity. “In fact, it’s the

kids who are teaching us something new

everyday. The enthusiasm, the level of interest

they show motivates us in every aspect. These

kids, their escorts, their parents, all the

support- it’s all overwhelming.

- Deepti Thakur

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.

Child artistes give their best

when asked to perform, not act: Zutshiell known actor Raj Zutshi who has

enacted a role in ‘Stanley ka Dabba’ Wfeels that children give out their

best when they are not told to ‘act’ but to

‘perform’.

He said that the filmmaker Amol Gupte had

proved that “the children can truly be the

heroes of a film,’ adding that this is not a

typical Bollywood film.

Zutshi, who has also acted in the film ‘Woh’ by

Buddhadeb Das Gupta which has been

screened here, said that film was based on

‘Sey’, a story by Rabindranath Tagore.

Meanwhile being an actor in Bollywood for

more than twenty years, Zutshi says it was

very refreshing and inspiring to work with the

kids. On sets of ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’, importance

was always given to the children. He says that

the atmosphere was never tensed.

He believes that India has never seen such a

child oriented movie where children are the

heart and soul of the film. The children of the

movie must be given credit for the high grade

acting that they have shown. He said “I salute

the film makers for bringing about change in

the cinema for good. I would rather call it a

performance than acting.”

When asked how the children were directed

he says,” Kids were told that it was a drama

workshop where they had to act. We would

work only on Saturdays since we didn’t want

to disturb their daily routine. The movie was

planned keeping their schedule in mind. It

also gives out a message about banning child

labour.”

Finally when questioned about Hollywood

films and offers, Raj said “I would definitely

love to work in Hollywood, but right now I’m

f Walt Disney or the Iranians can make

simple and yet entertaining films for Ichildren, Indian filmmakers should be able

to do even better considering the huge

repository of mythological or folk tales in the

country.

This was the general view of acclaimed

directors Basireddy and Nag Gottap, creators

of “Seven days in Slow Motion” and

“Shikharam” respectively, at a press meet

here.

Where one finds inspiration from Walt Disney,

the other thinks films from Iran have been

winning the hearts of the viewers with simple

scripts.

very happy that Indian film industry is

expanding. I’m proud that film makers are

coming up with new dimensions in the field of

cinema”.

- Smrati Thakur

Indian children films capable of making it big

on International arenaBoth said they were committed to making

quality films for children that are inspirational

and give edutainment. They say, “When Walt

Disney can create such quality movies

inspiring children and when Irani producers

can come up with one-line themed impactful

films, Why can’t we?”

They also believe film festivals inspire them to

come up with movies that can be showcased

on an international platform.

Talking about ‘Seven days in Slow Motion’,

Basireddy said,” It’s a film that can be viewed

by every member of a family. It was a thought

to make an “Anjali” again after a decade. The

motive was to prove that India can make it to

the international level.”

The child actor of this film Teja said, “There is a

message for everyone in this movie. Teachers

play an important role in a kid’s life. Children

can easily relate to the movie.” The director

believes that every individual irrespective of

age group will feel closer to the film.

Gottap, director of ‘Shikharam’, he says “this

film was made with the intention to reach out

to the younger audience. The film revolves

around 13 kids in a village, deprived of basic

necessities, communication, education etc,

who try to help out a mother who falls sick.” He

says that the film portrays the mindset of a

child. When children are playful, they can also

get responsible when the situation demands.

He wanted to showcase human emotions.

Both the directors share the same dream and

passion to make it big at the international

stage. They have the courage and thought to

make movies that relates to different masses

around the globe.

- Sneha Nemali