Bhubaneswar. This summer, children in the twin cities will get an exposure to the best of films made across the world at the Festival of International Children’s Films being held simultaneously at the Bakul Library in Satyanagar and the Bakul Library in Cuttack from June 2-10. The festival will screen the latest Hollywood movies like Lego, Coco, Lion King, Jungle Books etc. Interacting with Orissa POST, Bakul Foundation head Sujit Mahapatra said, “It’s a great opportunity to expose children to the world movies that understands and expresses their feelings through stories”.
During the eight-day festival, films from the different continents, including Europe, South America, Africa, Australia and Asia will be screened giving the children a multicultural exposure and an opportunity to learn about different cultures, different ways of imagining and different aesthetic sensibilities. The festival has already generated a lot of interest for its curation of films that include Children of Heaven by Majid Majidi and Where is the Friends Home by Abbas Kiarostami from Iran, Spirited Away by Hawao Miyazaki from Japan, The 400 Blows by Francois Truffaut and The Red Balloon by Albert Lamorisse from France. The films also include the classics like Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne by Satyajit Ray and Jalpari by Odia filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda.
The stories of these films do not necessarily have a fairy tale ending and they don’t romanticise real life situations. For instance, Children of Heaven is about a boy, who is sad over coming 1st in a race because he wanted to come 3rd as the prize for 3rd position was a pair of shoes, which he wanted to get to make up for the shoes of his sister that he had lost. Similarly, Where is the Friends Home is about an everyday situation where Ahmed, a schoolboy, takes his friend’s notebook home during the holidays and loses it. As he knew his friend would be expelled from school if he did not have his notebook, Ahmed starts searching for his friend’s home. The film is about his adventures.
There are animated films as well, such as the Japanese anime Spirited Away and Kirikou and the Sorceress from West Africa based on a folk tale. Some of the films take up serious issues such as female foeticide as in Jalpari and family problems as in Valentin.
Srimantini De a Class V student of DAV, said, “I am here to watch Children of Heaven today and I have come here with my best friend Somi”.
Usha Chintak, a student of Class X at Stewart School, said, “I am super excited to watch all the movies in these eight days as such movies are not shown on TV”.