Big screen, small stars: The little art

The International Children’s Film Festival will feature 169 films different from 45 different countries

KARACHI: The brain of a child absorbs whatever knowledge comes its way in all honesty. Keeping this capability in mind, The Little Art organisation is all set to launch the latest edition of the International Children’s Film Festival (ICFF).

This will be the fourth iteration of the ICFF in Karachi and will take place from October 20 to October 23 in collaboration with the Teacher’s Resource Centre and Cinepax Cinema. Lahore will host its sixth iteration of ICFF in collaboration with Cinepax Cinema from November 10 to November 15 at Cinepax Cinema and Faiz Ghar. “Since the inception of the company, one thing has bugged me greatly and that is we don’t appreciate children’s success and we require such platform to create a skill set to encourage it,” Shoaib Iqbal, Founder and Director, The Little Art tells The Express Tribune.

The festival will feature 169 different films from 45 different countries. Renowned personalities including artist and educationist Salima Hashmi, filmmaker Imran Babur, documentary film maker Samar Minallah Khan and writer Asghar Nadeem Syed are expected to be among the attendees at the Lahore ICFF.

“Films open up another world altogether, and are meaningful for young minds. Sadly, not many children films make way to Pakistani cinema houses; however the festival bridges this divide,” says the founder.

The films have been shortlisted keeping in mind the target audience of children. In Lahore, a special selection of films will be screened at Faiz Ghar which shall showcase films about children to be shown to a wider audience that will include teachers, parents, artists and art educators. The Lahore ICFF has received 22 noteworthy entries from Pakistan through the National Filmmaking Competition earlier this year and will be  featuring the selected short films during the opening ceremony that have been made by aspiring filmmakers of ages eight to 18 years, illustrating their views on various issues.

“This festival will prove to be an immediate learning experience for children and will help in creating a capability for critical thinking, sense of tolerance and the acceptance of diverse religious and cultural ideas,” Iqbal said.

Morning hours will be dedicated to screening films for school-going children whereas the second half will be open to families and aspiring filmmakers.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2014.

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