The first visit to the cinema hall, watching the larger than life images with hundreds of others all around you, is for many an experience which they would hardly forget for the rest of their lives. For Reshma, a tenth standard student from Adichippuzha tribal settlement in Pathanamthitta, the sight of the images on the big screen for the first time kindled memories of the forest path she used to take on the way to school several years back.
“The film was called ‘Ee Kaadinu Njan Enthu Peridum’ (What Name Will I Give To This Forest). This was the first time I was watching a film on the big screen. I almost felt the coolness as you enter the forest while sitting in the big hall, in the darkness, watching those images. It reminded me of a forest path which we used to take when we were younger. Now we don’t go through that path, as the trees have all been cut down,” says Reshma.
The first edition of the International Children’s Film Festival of Kerala, organised by the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare and the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, was the first taste of the big screen for many like her. Students from tribal settlements in Thirvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Wayanad are here for the week-long festival, scrambling from one screen to the next to catch as many movies as they can.
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“We don’t have television at home. But, we do watch movies once in a while, in mobile phones. This experience is different. Watching on a big screen is nothing like watching on a small mobile screen. It just feels great,” says Jayalekshmi, a tenth standard student from Adichippuzha.
Aaromal, a ninth standard student, has watched around six films, but is not sure which one to pick as his favourite. Manya, an eighth standard student, is not happy about her first even big screen experience.
“By the time we reached, the film was halfway through. It was an English film. I don’t remember the name. I didn’t like it,” she says.
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Students from orphanages across the state are also here for the festival.