Kolkata International Children’s Film Festival set to nurture young minds
In an age when children have turned couch-potato with gadgets in hand, watching TV or playing a video game, forgetting how to interact and communicate even with family and friends, West Bengal government’s Information & Cultural Affairs Department has come up with an innovative way to nurture their creative minds. Along with Shishu Kishore Akademi, they have organized Kolkata International Children’s Film Festival, 9th time in a row. Started in 2011 with an intent to expose children of Kolkata to meaningful movies on a global platform, the festival has come up with 250 films from 35 countries this year.
The Nandan arena where the films are being screened between 19th - 26th January has turned into a fairy-tale world with huge cut-outs, colourful mobile vans and video screens to attract the little ones. From classics to feature films, from documentaries to educational and animation films, this special film fest is surely a runaway hit with children thronging each day in large numbers to enjoy some of the best children’s films from across the world. This year is more special as several twilight films with supernatural elements are being screened, not scary, but educative. Some of the Bengali movies to be shown are Sabuj Dwiper Raja and Goshai Baganer Bhoot. There will be workshops and quiz competitions on the sidelines to boost the knowledge of children. No wonder, Kolkata is called the cultural capital of India, that not just holds a world-renowned Kolkata International Film Festival every year, but also a similar Children’s Film Festival. For this city, loves to nurture creativity from the roots.
