The festival has been organised by The Little Art – a non-profit organisation using various art mediums to improve quality of education in Pakistan – in collaboration with Centre for Culture and Development (CKU), Royal Danish Embassy and Cinepax Pakistan. The festival will run till November 26.
The week-long festival will offer short film screenings in action, animation and live action genres from all over the world including 10 films from Pakistan.
At the opening ceremony, Punjab Education and Youth Affairs Minister Rana Mashood said the ministry aimed at putting emphasis on the development of children and giving necessary resources for them to develop.
Festival director Sohaib Iqbal said the event received nearly 1,070 entries from 67 countries and curated a show of 80 best films from 26 countries.
He said storytelling in films spoke to children in a visual language that they could relate to and learn from. “Filmmaking competitions for children and youth are growing in terms of the quality as more films are submitted each year by young students from all over Pakistan,” he said.
According to Sohaib, the festival was a result of The Little Art’s initiatives such as ‘Once Upon a Film’ workshop programme aimed building the capacity of children in not only the cities but also in remote areas, providing them with an opportunity to understand the art of storytelling through moving images.
CKU CEO Elisabeth Krogh said that art, culture and creativity were determining factors for democratisation and it was important that children in Pakistan got the chance to use arts and cultural experiences rooted in cultural values. “Events such as the Lahore international film festival provide cultural space, which is vital for the intellectual development of children and youth,” she said.
Juwairia Sultan, national development officer at Danish Embassy, said the Denmark government was supporting promotion of art and culture in Pakistan because it believed in nurturing youth and introducing them to fundamental qualities of being human such as creativity, freedom of expression, and innovation.
“Our support is driven by the fact there is a need to integrate creative art with education. We believe – as research also proves – that children who are engaged in creative art show stronger critical thinking and problem-solving skills as well as display higher levels of social and cultural tolerance,” she added.
One of the jury members, KINO Films Director Tazeen Bari, said she was left speechless by the animated films in the festival and it was always a great experience to see such creative and imaginative ideas by filmmakers. “Golden Bird turned out to be my most favourite film this year due to its unique style and culture relevance,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2016.
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