Amid a pall of gloom that descended on the State after the recent horrific deaths of children due to parental torture, the 2nd International Children’s Film Festival of Kerala has sounded clear the need to prevent atrocities against children and nurture their innate talents.
Speakers at the inaugural session of the festival here on Friday also underscored the need to inspire children through socially relevant themes in cinema.
Inaugurating the week-long event, Women and Child Development Minister K.K. Shylaja said the recent instances of child ill-treatment were a blot on Kerala which has always prided in the relatively high personal freedom that the people enjoyed.
“The treatment of children as slaves reflected the prevalent consumerist culture in the State. Such tendencies could not be tolerated under any circumstance. We are in dire need of a social change to prevent such instances and to evolve a more compassionate attitude towards children,” she said.
Revenge dramas
She also took a swipe at certain genre of cinema including revenge dramas which apparently went to great extents to portray graphic violence.
“Vulgar content that objectified women and children were being promoted unabashedly. The Censor Board must remain vigilant by flagging such content that could adversely influence youngsters,” Ms. Shailaja remarked.
Speaking on similar lines, Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran, who delivered the presidential address, said the children who were supposed to grow as the future leaders of the country were being subjected to mental and physical torture.
He also cited the recent instances in which children were assaulted by their parents for failing to score highly in the SSLC examinations.
Kerala State Council for Child Welfare general secretary Deepak S.P. said a handful of children will be chosen from among the delegates to produce a short-film that will be screened during the valedictory session of the ffilm estival.
Besides, the council has also shortlisted five short-films from among 17 entries which were produced by child filmmakers.
Awards
Awards will be presented for the best film, director, male actor, female actor and others.
The joy of the child delegates knew no bounds when actors Neeraj Madhav and Aishwarya Lekshmi interacted with them and posed for selfies.
