20TH ICFFI ALL SET TO ROLL OUT RED CARPET FOR INDUSTRY STALWARTS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE

Friends, in my previous blog, I had shared details about the 20 th Golden Elephant – ICFFI, being held from November 8 to 14 at Hyderabad. Throwing more light on one of the largest and most colourful children’s film festival in the world, I would like to reiterate that the 20th Golden Elephant aims to screen high quality International children’s cinema which children may not get to see anywhere else.

No doubt, the festival promises to be a grand event and aims to attract large number of children audience along with film personalities from around the world. In 40 years, over 20 editions, this festival has only gone from strength to strength.

The last three editions for which I have had the privilege of being the festival director has seen exponential growth in terms of curatorial content and participation of best films from every nook and corner of the world. From an average of 300 to 400 entries in previous editions, I would like to inform you that while the 18th ICFFI in 2013 received 894 entries from various countries, the following edition on 2015 received 1204 entries and now, for the 20th ICFFI, we have received a phenomenal 1402 entries from 109 countries.

At CFSI, our major focus is to make this a truly international film festival for children and by children by conducting training and workshops for children in film making. This festival will consider the children’s view points and create a universal theme from children’s interest as well.

Around 40 Festival Directors of various International Children’s Film Festivals and children’s film makers from across the world will converge at the 20 th ICFFI. My main aim in taking children’s films made in India to global audience is also to bring revenues and market the content.

My efforts during the previous editions of ICFFI to make it a truly international festival has borne fruit. And, my recent travel to the world market, where I attended various film festivals and my meetings with top film makers and festival directors has added to getting more people to the festival.

I was invited to attend MIPCOM, the global market for entertainment content across all platforms, and MIP Junior, the world’s showcase for kid’s programming, held in the French town of Cannes.

Attending the BFI London Film Festival was another fruitful visit, where I met some of the well- known film makers and festival directors and had discussions for partnerships for Golden Elephant and other areas of collaboration. At the Cinekid Festival at Amsterdam, I had the opportunity to meet Sannette Naye, former CEO of Cinekid. Our mutual interest in children’s films and discussions thereof led to Naye agreeing to work wholeheartedly for enhancing the creativity of children in India through the medium of films especially the rural children, taking the Little Director’s initiative to logical conclusion. I also had a fruitful interaction with the current CEO of Cinekid, Floor van Spaendonck.

Both my earlier and recent visits have resulted in congregation of the global stakeholders including film makers and festival directors at this year’s do, which will be a maha sangam for children’s content.

Look forward to sharing more such successful partnerships and collaborations from across the globe, which helps in making top quality children’s films as well as marketing them aggressively on international platforms.

Second edition of NCFF opened to a colourful start in the pink city of Jaipur

The Birla Auditorium in the Pink City of Jaipur was decorated like a colourful bride on November 14. I was amazed to see the entire auditorium abuzz with laughter, cheer and hoots as the children expressed joy in seeing their favourite film heroes participate in the inaugural ceremony of the second edition of the National Children’s Film Festival (NCFF) in Jaipur.

Yes, it was a day to remember for me as well thousands of children from various schools across Jaipur and for the officials of Children’s Film Society, India (CFSI) and officials of Government of Rajasthan as well.

Jointly organised by CFSI and Government of Rajasthan, the three-day National Children’s Film Festival opened to a colourful start with the presence of noted Bollywood stars Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Ila Arun, Darsheel Safary, Tisca Chopra and Faisal Khan.

Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore, CFSI Chairperson Mukesh Khanna, Ad Guru Piyush Pandey and senior officials of Rajasthan Government were also present to kick start the event.

Actor Irrfan Khan, who recalled his childhood and how he became an actor, called on the children to 'keep dreaming', and said, "dreams come true when they are real."

MoS Rajyavardhan Rathore, CFSI Chairperson Mukesh Khanna, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Ila Arun, Piyush Pandey and Ramkishan Choyal  

Khan said that his interest in education became serious when he realised which was the subject he liked the most - that's Drama. “One should understand the calling from within. You should listen to the voice that comes from within and only then your journey in the chosen field becomes successful,” he informed.

Actor Anil Kapoor said that making children's films is even more challenging in today's times as children are exposed to technology and the digital medium. “They know so much about this creative art of film making. With advancement in digital technology, children are involved in making short films and documentaries. This should continue,” he said.

Kapoor also expressed happiness on workshops and open forums being organised at this festival. “Let's make the festival theme 'Make in India' become a reality by making quality films for children and by children,” he said.

Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, who was very supportive in enabling us hold the second edition of NCFF at Jaipur, called on the children to enjoy themselves for three days and unleash their creativity in the days to come.

It was a real treat to one’s eyes to see thousands of children, accompanied by their respective teachers, had arrived in groups to witness the inaugural ceremony. The crowded auditorium resonated with laughter, cheer and screams during the various cultural programmes.

Graceful Bihu Dance

The inaugural ceremony saw some colourful performances including a vibrant dance performance by youngsters from the Terrence Dance Troupe, a colourful Bihu dance, Puppetry Show, a ventriloquism act etc. 

CFSI’s offering ‘Gauru’, directed by Ramkishan Choyal, who is also from Rajasthan was screened as the opening film of the festival after the inaugural ceremony at the auditorium. Gauru holds a special place in the hearts of the audience as the entire film is also shot in Rajasthan.

The sprawling lawns of the Birla Auditorium was decorated with colourful buntings while Rajasthani Folk dancers and musicians welcomed the guests at the entrance. The children enjoyed the movement of a joker and a man dressed as Charlie Chaplin in and out of the auditorium. In all, the three-day film festival kicked off to a colourful start.

The Workshops, Open Forums and the Kids Carnival at Jawahar Kala Kendra also drew huge crowd.

The Open Forum, with the theme, "Children's Films: The Indian Experience, Challenges, Possibilities" saw the participation of children, parents as well as teachers.

With Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Media & Education Consultant, Former Dean, Symbiois & Amity Universities moderating the Forum, the panel was chaired by CFSI Chairman Mukesh Khanna;  Abhishek Ray, Music Director, I Am Kalaam; Cyrus Dastur, Founder, Shamiana Short Film Movement and Avinash Tripathy, Jury, Rajasthan International Film Festival and me.

In all, it was an event to remember for children of Jaipur, who will get to see some of the best children’s movies during the three-day film festival.

All roads leading to National Children’s Film Festival 2016 in Jaipur

Just two more days to go. The countdown has begun for the second edition of National Children’s Film Festival, to be held in Jaipur.

In the first edition of the NCFF, my main aim was to promote film making for children. When I was the festival director for the previous film festival, The Golden Elephant, to curate a section of children’s film made in India, I saw shortage of films for children. I was scouting for good films, but the selection committee was not able to zero in on good numbers to make a separate India section at the festival. That gave me a reason to ponder whether we have that culture in the country where quality films are being made for children in the market.

The introspection also led to the fact that CFSI being the children’s film making organisation, also has the mandate to foster this kind of culture among film makers in the country.  So, we conceptualized the NCFF, the first edition of which was held in Delhi in 2014, which received a good response.

Celebration and colour at our first National Children's Film Festival 2014 in Delhi

The festival had a carnival type of ambience and children enjoyed the movies, after which the cast and crew also did a workshop with them. Many film makers also participated and parents of the children audience were also very happy with the whole experience. So, with the first edition, we set the tempo both for the children audience and their parents to make them attracted towards this exclusive content for children through these Children’s films as well as to push the community of film makers to make more films as well as utilise this platform to showcase their films and get an opportunity to interact with the audience.

The first edition of the festival had ‘Swachta’ as its theme with environmental concerns at the forefront. We are taking that moment forward in the second edition too. As we had decided that this festival should be a traveling festival and reach to the children audience and film makers both, we decided to choose Jaipur, which has a very vibrant culture and the city is also emerging as a film destination.

Jaipur is a good venue to host children’s films and towards that objective we invited entries and got very good response and we have selected around 40 films. And this time, we have the support of the state government in giving us 10 theatres across the city including multiplexes and stand-alone cinemas.

In the first edition, we screened movies in only three theatres in Delhi. We want the children to have a theatrical experience, which is the main goal for us in spreading the children’s films movement. We should have children’s films playing in the theatres, where children can walk in for free with their parents and have that great experience.

We are looking forward to around 50,000 school children participate in the film festival from Nov 14 to 16. CFSI is also holding film making workshops and open forums on the side lines of the film festival.

Come, enjoy the films and have fun!

“We need to tell our own stories”

CEO Dr Shravan Kumar emphasizes the importance of ethnic content

What came first?The egg or the chicken?
A similar question is always posed for most problems and queries across the world.

Is the product more important? Is marketing more important?
Is the distribution important? Or can a film/content ride on its own legs using a digital platform?
Do we need to follow trends? Or how can we continuously create trends?
Do we have our own style? Or go with one that brings you instant fame or commercial success?

These are universal questions. They apply as much to any business -- as they apply to children’s films. Which is what our open forums have addressed in the last few days through our meets with government, jury, film makers, media and the audience at the 19^th ICFFI 2015.

Festival Director Dr Shravan Kumar with the Telangana Jury

I am a firm believer of getting the basics right. To me, that means telling our stories and our content in the most authentic manner. It means finding our own voice, our own style and not be worried about where the world is progressing. My belief has been proved right with Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya which we produced and created not in the western Disney and Cartoon Network style – but in our own format.

We did market it – sent it out to film festivals and upped the ante to how far we could push the screen. The results were delightful. So much so, that we were given a red carpet invite to TIFF Kids in Toronto, where most people pay to show their films. We even won an award, following which it was easier to get audiences to see it both at home and abroad.

What that one experience re-affirmed to me is that story telling is universal but marketing needs to be both global and then local. The experience of this film brought many lessons in fore and perhaps a winning formula too of creating a film, winning awards and allowing the great content to be visible.

In that format, digital platform and events like film festivals like ICFFI and NCFF both have a strong role to play side by side. While our content goes abroad and depicts our language, customs and heroes – and this is possible with the play on digital –we also find the digital platform and events play a strong part in enhancing visual literacy of our own children.

Moments of our childhood are encapsulated in story telling sessions by our grandparents, uncle, aunts and parents. They were key to our growing as we heard the narrative. Now it’s time as we live in nuclear families, we also expose our children to the visual narrative by allowing them to watch meaningful content… of meaningful Indian content!

Which is why this biennial celebration of children’s films is so close to my heart and we knock on every door possible to garner support and eyeballs for it – so it reaches the end consumer – the children who are growing way too fast! 

Nothing but the children

How do I know our 19^th ICFFI 2015 is going well?

It is by the compliments it brings from the children. My biggest applause has come from IX grader Maryam Fatima in the middle of all the melee on day 3 who wrote in to us on Facebook: “ICFFI is doing an amazing job. Thanks for the fabulous experience.”

It’s also when volunteers from St Mary’s College who have 40 of their students take a week off from college and have been on their feet nonstop ushering, managing audiences, guests as they take in films from across the world share, “We wish we had seen some of these films in our childhood…”  that you know it’s a good job done.

When friends from the media write stories on a group of 8 kids coming all the way from Patna as a part of a children’s association to sample and enjoy the spread we have laid out in Hyderabad across 13 screens, I know we have accomplished the mission we set out for – to open worlds, perspectives for children in our little way.

I watch 40 kids enthusiastically wait for theater and TV personality Lalit Parmanoo to teach them their next lesson in Abhinay Yog to overcome their inhibitions as a part of the workshop sessions we have organized at the 19 ICFFI 2015. I watched Priya, Apeksha and others from Pomegranate films help children find wings with animation lessons and script writing and I cannot be happier to see their response

The love showered by the children at the 19 ICFFI has been phenomenal. Every director has been surrounded by the kids. Be it Kim-Sung Ho after the screening of his film How to Steal a Dog or the genteel director of the Golden Horse Renis Kalnaellis. They are bombarded for autographs and pictures even though the two don’t speak the same language. 

I couldn’t help smiling myself as these kids surrounded me and asked me for autographs on Day 2 as I walked around and took in their feedback. That appreciation matters even more than any reams of paper written about us – because they are so honest with their love and affection!

As I watch parents run up, debate which movie their child must watch and on which screen, it humbles me of the opportunity we have to entertain, create and push kids to think beyond their usual boundaries and their usual toys. It is this healthy debate, this conversation, the discussion post movies that matters the most and shows us of the experience we have created for these kids.

Our aim to reach more people pushes us to try harder – be it colouring the entire city with hoardings with the kind help of the Telangana Government – or even request talented actresses like Kareena, Karisma Kapoor and Tabu to join us at the festival to provide their encouragement and support. It’s also made us ensure every single foreign director and delegate enjoys their time in India. Be it Helene Comeositos and Carlos Zarco sampling the cuisine and watching other films themselves! Or our jury members like Satish Kaushik, Shilpa Shukla and others working tirelessly behind the scenes to watch as many films and share their comments with us!

And the curtains open...

Dr Shravan Kumar, the CEO talks about yet another edition of the International Children’s Film Festival of India.

What goes into making a successful film festival? I always wonder every two years before the curtains open as I watch the activity around me.

In my mind, no festival works without the joint effort of people. To start with my team that works tirelessly behind the scenes as they camp in Hyderabad which has become our favourite haunt. The other important consideration is 80 participating and over 1200 film makers that also tirelessly support us much after their film has been made so as to ensure the film makes it to being screened at the festival.

The other support that comes to us behind the scenes over 100+ volunteers from colleges in Hyderabad. They work in ushering teams, delegates, kids, parents and ensuring the necessary manpower for 7 days that a film festival – this size-- has now begun to need. However, our biggest bolster comes from the government of Telangana which has whole heartedly in every way supported our cause.

However, the most important people in the festival remain the children and our extremely diverse audience. We work very hard to ensure that their voice and their tastes come through on screen as we bring to fruition intelligent and interesting cinema that may open a whole new world and perspectives. The post screening discussions are so invigorating that they not only inspire the kids but even me to learn and grow more.

However, nothing beats the joy of children learning, thinking, feeling and being open in their hearts to discussions and watch their minds being opened to the world. In my opinion, the ICFFI and The Golden Elephant remains the best gift we can give them on Children’s Day. Children have a lot of expectations from us and the ICFFI is a conscious effort to deliver what we can making this a hub for young film makers.

A lot of other film festivals have also started coming up around us. We don’t view them as competition. To us, every film fest serves a different objective yet with a common goal: to showcase good content with a perfect blend of international and national content! To us, our prime motive of providing children entertainment that’s real is key – to highlight to them human infallibility, unheroic characters and the daily banalities of life in the country and across the world. 

The proof of our success will lie as we open our doors today. Like they say in acting speak, we hope to break a leg! 

Clicking with Children’s Content!

It’s never been more important than now to make films for children. As young minds all over- be it in a metro city or in a village in India, or even one in another country – children are being exposed to newer channels of entertainment than ever before. Very little of this content has been created only keeping their needs in mind.

Adding layers of complexity to this entertainment is the environment around them – some of it holding out strains of dysfunctional families, others dealing with an environment of stress, strife and difficulty. Competitions in schools keeps things busy and the race of marks is making childhood more fraught than enjoyable.

Which is why stories told for children, by the children and now also of children remains our biggest focus at CFSI. Every child in the world needs to find his story told or find his voice echoed on screen. If we at CFSI are able to execute that – bring disparate voices from across the world to expose our children to the best of content – we would have achieved our milestone of creating, showcasing and bringing regular content for children.  

Our attempt with the 19thGolden Elephant Festival is also to move beyond the ordinary. Which is why our theme is “Digital India” – keeping in touch with the digital revolution now touching children’s lives and also staying abreast with the times. The idea remains to speak in their language, engage with them through innovative and diverse films – produced nationally and internationally.

This explains our desire to also curate the films internally. Given our sixty years of in-depth understanding through our activities around creating & disseminating wholesome entertainment for children, this year we have decided to undertake this ourselves after different stages of selection from over 1200 entries received from 80 countries via the digital platform. 

Furthermore, we have entered into a direct agreement with YouTube to upload CFSI films on their platform, so as to reach a wider, global audience. Our play through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter has also become stronger, only so that we can be on any big or small screen that can entertain a child!

Here’s hoping they click to get through right to us. That will be our biggest endeavor.

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SHRAVAN KUMAR

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER