The broom, the black cat and the mysterious woman created by author Ruskin Bond in one of his short stories together set a perfect beginning to the first ever Amaravati Children’s Film Festival(AFCC) involving hundreds of private and municipal school students in the city on Sunday.
The fantasy genre short film ‘The Black Cat’ based on short story by the author known for children’s literature, was the first film to be screened.
The film directed by Bhargav Saikia is going to be released officially on November 14 but the participants of AFCC viewed its premier show.
What followed The Black Cat were Satyajit Ray’s Two (1964) and Canadian filmmaker Norman Mclaren’s Neighours (1952); the films that are relevant even today and evoked thoughts of class discrimination, loneliness, friendship among the children who eagerly shared them with the others.
The festival was formally inaugurated by actor Roja Ramani, known for roles as a child artist, in the presence of Mayor Koneru Sridhar, district collector B. Lakshmikantam and Vijayawada Municipal Commissioner J. Nivas.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Ramani said it was a great initiative to introduce children of the city and AP to the kind of film festival which has been taking place in Hyderabad for the last many years.
“My career began with a child character in the famous movie Bhakta Prahlada released exactly 50 years ago and it was a happy beginning. Now I share the same happiness being part of the first-ever film festival here,” she said.
Mayor Koneru Sridhar called upon the children to learn the crafts of film-making and grasp all the good shown in the movies to be screened here. Collector Mr. Lakshmikantam asked children to actively take part in the film-making workshop and others.
Municipal Commissioner Mr. Nivas said there was some message in every movie that would be screened in the festival.
“The movie Anjali which was made decades ago still entertains children and has the right content. Such movies help children to deal with their problems,” he said.
48-hour challenge
About 60 students from 11 schools are taking part in the 48-hour film-making challenge. Teams of five students each will learn film-making and begin shooting on Monday. The films will be screened before the jury on Tuesday.
On Monday, films Poorna and Anjali will be screened at the festival at Thummalapalli Kalakshetram.
