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Tag: D P Reddy

  • Intl children’s film fest kicks off at Hyderabad

    Intl children’s film fest kicks off at Hyderabad

    HYDERABAD/MUMBAI: The 17th International Children‘s Film Festival (ICFF), offering a mix of movies for the tiny tots, kicked off at Hyderabad yesterday,


    Organised jointly by the Children‘s Film Society of India (CFSI) and the Andhra Pradesh government, the festival was inaugurated by the state Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.


    In his inaugural speech, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting CM Jatua said children are the future in a country and have to be taken care of.


    Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister M Kiran Kumar Reddy said this was the ninth ICFF in this city of the Char Minar. He said in a country which has 54 per cent below 25 years of age and 41 per cent below 18 years of age, it is important to make cinema that appeal to the young. He said the goals should be clear since children today were competing in a global village. He said films should make children think, even as they get entertained.


    Reiterating that the CFSI had been allotted ten acres of land for a children film complex and promising that it would be ready by the next festival, he said Andhra Pradesh is the only state where children’s films were tax-free and a subsidy of Rs 3 million is given for makers of children’s films. This is because children’s films needed support because of competition from television and the internet.


    “The festival will have special features for short films, films made by children, age-wise screening of films, workshops and an open form to deliberate on the movies,” CFSI chairperson Nandita Das said.


    She said the curators have taken painstaking efforts to select the rest of the films from around the world for screening during the festival.


    The festival, which will conclude on 20 November, will see the screening of 152 children‘s films from 37 countries.


    Also present were CFSI Chief Executive Officer Sushovan Banerjee, and B Venkateshan of the Andhra Pradesh State Film, Television and Theatre Development Corporation. Also present were Mr Uday Kumar Varma and Mr D P Reddy, Secretary and Joint Secretary respectively in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.


    The programme, which concluded with the screening of ‘Gattu’ by Rajan Khosa, also had performances by over a hundred children, the percussion legend Sivamani who was accompanied by a child prodigy, and the award-winning Prince Dance Troupe.

  • Govt examining proposal to make ICFF a roving festival

    Govt examining proposal to make ICFF a roving festival

    NEW DELHI: The government is considering a proposal from the Children‘s Film Society, India, to convert the International Children‘s Film Festival held in Hyderabad every second year into a roving festival.


    Joint Secretary (Films) D P Reddy confirmed that the proposal had been received by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in this connection.


    CFSI Chairperson Nandita Das also said she would like the ICFF to bean annual event, and suggested that it could be held in Hyderabad every alternate year since the Andhra Pradesh Government had done somuch groundwork for this Festival, which had earlier been a roving Festival until 1995.


    When the Festival was held in Hyderabad in 1995, then Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu had urged the CFSI to base the festival in that city, and also promised to give land for building a children‘s complex.


    The complex has still not been made since the CFSI had raised various objections to the land allotted to it in Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad.


    Das and Reddy were interacting with the media on the forthcoming ICFF in Hyderabad from 14 to 20 November.


    Meanwhile, a total of 160 features from 40 countries and several short films are being screened during the 17th ICFF next month. Theselection has been made from over 700 entries. ‘Gattu‘ by Rajen Khosa is the opening film.


    There is a total budget of Rs 50 million for the Festival, of which Rs27.5 million has been contributed by the Central Government and the rest is being put in by the Andhra Pradesh Government.


    There will be several new features in this year‘s festival. There will be four competitive sections: international, Indian, short films, and ‘Little Directors‘ for children filmmakers. In addition, there will be the non-competitive Children‘s World which will have 50 animation films including some Oscar winners.


    The festival will also have several workshops including animation and script writing, in addition to press conferences and an Open Forum.


    The festival will for the first time have films from Africa and Latin America. China will be the country in focus at the Festival.


    In addition to the adult international juries, there will be achildren‘s jury to judge the films.


    Das told indiantelevision.com after the press meet that though thefilms are sub-titled in English, a small synopsis of each film in achild-friendly language had been prepared for each film and would beread out before the start of the film.


    For the first time, ICFF will see the participation of the Federationof Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry which will organise asmall market section and has also managed the participation of bothCartoon Network as well as Nickelodeon, according to Munjol Shroff whorepresented the trade body. Ficci will also organise a workshop ongaming, animation and special effects, he added.


    ICFF Director and CFSI CEO Sushovan Banerjee said that a new venue –Shilpramum – had been selected for the Festival this year, and three make-shift theatres were being built at this venue to be ready in time of the Festival. Each will be equipped with the latest projection and Dolby sound, he added.


    He said while Doordarshan was the broadcast partner, efforts were onto get corporate sponsorships.


    In answer to a question, Reddy said that the state chief minister had said that the Telengana issue would not be allowed to interfere in the conduct of the Festival.


    Banerjee told indiantelevision.com, “For the children aged between 3 to 16 years of age, this film festival has feature films like Iran‘s” The Other”, France‘s “Tales Of The Night”, China‘s “The Star And The Sea”, Denmark‘s “The Great Bear”, India‘s “Chillar Party”, “Stanley Ka Dabba”, and “I Am Kalam”.


    Both the national and international level films will be given the same cash component and trophy. The Best feature film will be given Rs 200,000 and the Golden Elephant trophy, the first runner up will get Rs 100,000 and a trophy, the best director will be given Rs 1,50,000 and a Golden Elephant trophy, best script will be given Rs 100,000 and a trophy. Besides this, best feature film selected by the Children‘s Jury will be given a Golden Elephant trophy.


    The Best short film will be given Rs 100,000 and a Golden Elephant trophy, the runner up will be given Rs 50,000 and a Golden Elephant trophy and the film chosen by the Children‘s Jury will be given a Golden Elephant trophy. Also, films directed by children will be awarded with a Golden Elephant.