The Hindu Business Line : Colourful start to children's film festival

STORY TIME: School children take out a procession to the venue of the inaugural ceremony of 13th International Children's Film Festival in Hyderabad on Friday. - A. Roy Chowdhury

Hyderabad , Nov. 14

HOLDING colourful balloons and placards, over a thousand school children have gathered to take part in the huge carnival to kick off the 13th International Children's Film Festival here today.

The carnival, which began at the Secretariat, culminated in the inauguration at Lalitha Kala Thoranam at the Public Gardens.

The Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Mr Ravishankar Prasad, said on the occasion that the non-resident Indian market offered a big opportunity for children's films made in India.

Marketing is important for promoting children's films, he said and added that for this, a public-private partnership was needed to make and market such films.

The Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, formally opened the festival. Prior to the formal inauguration, screenings had begun in the morning at the Prasads multiplex.

Eleven films were screened on the first day, with children from various parts of the State thronging the four theatres. Ali and Danny (Iran), Never too Young to Dream (Mexico), Concert for a Carrot Pie (Estonia), Someone Like Hodder (Denmark), Children on their Birthdays (US) and Most Valuable Primate were some of the films shown on the first day.

A technical glitch in one of the theatres forced the organisers to re-rerun the show in an adjacent theatre, much to the chagrin of the delegates.

Addressing a press conference, Mr J.K. Srinivasa Murthy, a Kannada Director-Actor whose film Devara Makkalu (The Children of God) is slated for screening at the fete, said the response to his film was poor. "I have spent Rs 65 lakh on the film but received hardly nothing in return," he said.

The film is based on Mr S. Rudramurthy Shashtry's novel titled Naleya Prajegalu (Citizens of Tomorrow), portraying the problem of child labour. The lead role, Ramu, is played by Mr Murthy's younger son `Little Krishna'.

"The year has been a very bad year for the Kannada film industry, with only two of the 80 films released registering success," he regretted.

Mr Murthy, who acted in over 200 films, has directed Anna Basavanna, based on the life of Basavanna, the 12th century reformer, which is being telecast on ETV's Kannada channel.

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