Youth development: Lahore International Children’s Film Festival set to screen more than 100 films

The fifth festival has a larger venue and greater participation is expected.

LAHORE:

The Lahore International Children’s Film Festival (LICFF) is gearing up for its fifth event with the provincial government’s support to entertain, inspire and educate children in the city.

The festival is scheduled for September 21. Over 100 films will be screened over six days at Alhamra Hall.

For the first time, the government, too, is supporting the LICFF.

“The government has shown interest in youth development. When it came to children, major initiatives focused only on improving enrolment at schools,” Shoaib Iqbal, the festival director, says.

Iqbal has been organising the festival since 2008 under The Little Art, a non-profit organisation.

He says the idea was conceived in 2007 while he was associated with the Ali Institute of Education (AIE).



“It is very encouraging that the government understands alternative ways of engaging children to improve learning,” he says.

The Information and Culture Department has provided Alhamra Hall for the event.

Last year, as many as 11,000 people attended the festival.

“This year is exciting and challenging. We have planned a bigger festival,” Iqbal says.

The organisers are expecting more than 20,000 visitors this year. The venue has a capacity for 30,000 seats for all shows.

The government will also provide transport for children from government schools to attend the festival.

“We usually have a large number of children from private schools and NGOs,” he says. “This year, we are expecting greater participation from organisations working with marginalised children.”

The festival will charge Rs100 per child for private schools for day shows and Rs200 for evening shows. It will be free for children from low income households.

“The festival will screen more than 100 films from 27 countries including Germany, New Zealand, Iran, India, Taiwan and Japan,” says Ali Hameed, programming in charge at the LICFF.

The festival received 450 entries this year, nearly 100 more than previous year including 35 entries from Pakistan. The films will be screened in five shows from 9am to 8pm. The shows have been categorised for age groups between 4 and 18 years. The entries were judged on production, script and educational content.

Another feature of the event this year is an international competition among 34 shortlisted films.

The categories for the competition include feature films (live action), short films (live action), feature films (animation), short films (animation), Pakistani films (under 18) and Pakistani films (above 18).

Films made by children are separate category. The competition will be judged by a jury including activist Samar Minallah, playwright Asghar Nadeem Syed and filmmaker Nisar Malik.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2013.