A magical red coat whose pocket sprouts an unending stream of one rupee coins; a poor boy who chances upon it and lavishes it on himself and his friends; and the consequences he faces when his secret gets exposed: this in short is the synopsis of ‘Adisaya Kotu’, the inaugural short film of the Children’s Short Film Festival organised by the Tamil Nadu government. With an aim to introduce school children to the culture, lifestyle, environment, and health status in places outside Tamil Nadu, the State government periodically conducts short film festivals with a special focus on children. Inaugurated at Kalaiarangam, the first leg of the festival will screen seven child-oriented short films of acclaim at theatres across the city.
Launching the festival, Collector Jayashree Muralidharan said, “While learning combines visual and auditory elements and the capacity to memorise, the visual components have the greatest impact on a child’s mind.”
She hoped that the short films, which also feature places of interest around the country, held a number of takeaways for the young audiences across the district. With 10 of the city’s theatres hosting 60 shows (between August 22 and 24), the festival hopes to reach a total of 41,000 children from Tiruchi district. Besides Tiruchi, Erode and Villupuram are the two other districts targeted this year for the festival.
All screenings are free of cost and students are escorted to the theatres by their schools.
The seven films chosen for the festival include: Hayat; Prince and Crown of Stone; Krish, Trish and Balti Boy; Adisaya Coat; Vetri Paadhai; Ayesha Mudalil Neengal and Santosh Sivan’s critically acclaimed Malli.
During the second leg of the festival, between August 27 and 29, the said films will be screened at 10 theatres in the rural areas of the district. Also present at the inaugural ceremony were Mayor A. Jaya, MLAs M.Paranjothi and R.Manohar.
