The children of Kozhikode and nearby areas could not have asked for a better way to cap their holidays. The Municipal Corporation in association with the Information and Public Relation department and the Calicut Press Club presented a two-day film festival — A Festival, exclusively for children, where as many as 36 movies either made by children or made for them, were screened.
For children
Eminent film personality and Jnanpeeth Award winner M.T. Vasudevan Nair inaugurated the festival at the Tagore Centenary Hall in Kozhikode on May 18. “Keshu”, directed by Sivan , which bagged the state award for the best children's film this year, was the opening movie of the festival.
Entry to the festival was free to children up to the age of 18. Children from different parts of the district had arrived for the festival, obviously to make the most of their vacation before it ends. There were 13 films selected and short listed by an expert committee for the competition category of the festival.
A wide variety of children's movies in Malayalam and films from foreign countries such as Iran, Iraq and Korea besides flicks from other states of India were screened during the festival. The legendary Iranian movies such as “Colour of Paradise” and “Children of Heaven”, directed by Majeed Majeedi were some of the major ‘kid-pullers' of the festival in the non competition section.
The French movie “Red Balloon”, directed by Albert Lamorise, Korean film “Treeless Mountain”, directed by So Yong Kim, and the famous Iraqi movie “Turtles can Fly”, produced by Bahman Ghobadi, were some of the films that enjoyed great fanfare among the foreign film category. Tamil movie “Malli” directed by Santhosh Sivan and Hindi movie “Hungama Bombay Style” directed by Siraj Ayesha Sayani also received great appreciation.
Winners
“Veru Pidikkatha Chemparathi”, directed by Hussain Thattethazham was adjudged the best movie of the festival, which also bagged a cash price of Rs 15,000. “Vishappu”, directed by Sobin Anthony fetched the award for the second best film and secured a cash award of Rs. 10,000. Baby Maimuna was conferred the award for the best actress for her amazing performance in “Veru Pidikkatha Chemparuthi”, while Abhishek bagged the honour for the best actor for his stunning acting in “Otta Chirakulla Pakshi”. V.N. Anil bagged the award for the best director for his movie “Vidhyadhanam Sarva Dhanal Pradhanam”.
The children's festival, like other international film festivals meant for grown ups, also had a festival book with details of the films featured in the festival besides a synopsis of each entry. The young delegates were given an opportunity to predict the best movie of the fair.
Jury chairman and veteran Malayalam film actor Madhu gave away the prizes to the winners. Actor Swetha Menon, director of the opening film “Keshu”, Corporation Mayor M. Bhaskaran and district collector P.B. Salim among others were present at the award distribution ceremony.
