Ruchira reports a two-day film festival exclusively for children. It was hosted on the premises of the prestigious Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts in New Delhi – an exclusive for Different Truths.

“On the seashore of endless worlds, children meet.” Tagore had written in one of his poems.  Indeed, children’s world 
is a brilliant vibrant, colourful one, replete with fantasy and imagination galore -starkly different from the gross, mundane everyday where creativity gets stifled. Yes, children are creative beings bubbling with new ideas, earnestly desiring, hoping that their voices be heard. Unfortunately, in our country as far as child-friendly films go, it is a dismal scenario altogether. Children have no option but to tag along with their elders or guardians and are compelled to watch “worthless” flicks which either turn them precocious or leave them traumatized at times.
 
Happily, with the advent of the Internet and information technology, there has been a paradigm shift in the arena of audio-visual resources and entertainment meant for the young ones. It is refreshing to see how minors are slowly but steadily emerging as conscious, well-informed individuals and citizens (call them what you like).

During the first weekend of July, a two-day film festival meant exclusively for children was hosted on the premises of the prestigious Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts in New Delhi. Titled Footprint Film Festival, it was a labour of love on the part of a group of artists, art educators and managers aiming to facilitate high-quality arts education, in both formal and informal spaces. Notably, UNICEF played a vital role with a bunch of entries in the competitive section. The USP: Each one of these films was created for the children, solely by (school) children. Oldsters, youngsters, school kids in uniform, grandparents along with grandkids mustered strong at the event. And they might be happy that they did. It was amazing to realize how technology had impacted the minds and hearts of the under-18 generation. 

The entries — minuscule films each of less than 5 minutes in duration — came from all across the country Surat, Chennai, Naihati, Kolkata, and New Delhi to name a few. The range of subjects was vast and unlimited, encompassing the entire gamut of emotional turmoil, hope, anxiety, despair, angst and more experienced by adolescents, especially in our society and elsewhere. Sensitive treatment of each topic and clarity of thought was commendable. One of the films depicted how a teenage girl became a victim of an acid attack for defending a school classmate from eve teasing by neighbourhood hooligans. Yet another portrayed how a shy introvert girl, with a good academic record, was blatantly bullied by three of her classmates and how she tackled them. 

A poignant film — showing how a girl, menstruating for the first time, in the classroom is heckled by other pupils and the male teacher until one of the boys volunteers to take her home—was lauded by one and all. There were several other thought-provoking ones as well. For example, a boy who regularly faces tongue-lashing and brutal criticism from his parents and family members was so traumatized that even after securing admission for higher studies in a foreign university, he fails to summon the courage to tell his parents, lest they chastise him again. How financial instability or lack of ample funds ruin the hopes of a rosy future for many a youth was palpable in several of these films. In one we see how a “smart Alec” after finishing his studies manages to grab a job using his ‘source’; his close buddy from the same school and similar EWS background is left in the lurch! Even more melancholy was the one in which a poor boy burdened with an ailing father and near zero income gives up his studies to work as a waiter in an eatery. At one point, I felt the films were faithful reflections of my experiences in adolescence. All said and done, the budding filmmakers have done very well for themselves and certainly deserve kudos. Keep it up bachhalog, a glorious future awaits you!

Pictures by the author

Ruchira Adhikari Ghosh

Born in Guwahati Assam, Ruchira grew up in Delhi and Punjab. A product of Sacred Heart Convent, Ludhiana, she holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from Punjab University, Chandigarh. Armed with a P.G diploma in journalism in Journalism, she has been a pen-pusher for nearly 25 years. Her chequered career encompasses print, web, as well as television. She has metamorphosed as a feature writer, her forte being women’s issues, food, travel and literature.

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