Children left waiting in the sun

Children had to sit on the staircase leading to Halls 2 and 3, while janitors swept the halls.

LAHORE:

Hundreds of children arrived at Alhamra Arts Council early on Monday for the second day of the Lahore International Children’s Film Festival. They, however, had to wait for almost an hour before the first film was screened because of delays that continued to occur throughout the morning session.

The screenings had to be rescheduled owing to a delay in the first show. Children who had arrived at 9am to watch the first show had to sit on the staircase leading to Halls 2 and 3, while janitors swept the halls.

The children were finally taken to the halls at 9:45am for the first show. The second show was scheduled to start at 10:30am. Soon after the first film was screened, children started arriving for the second show. At 10am, the venue had filled up with children waiting for the second show.

Munazza Zahid, a class five Urdu teacher at the Lahore Grammar School’s Johar Town campus, said, “We arrived at 10am so we could find good seats in the hall for the 10:30am show, but were told that we could go in at 11am.”

Zahid said that she had been worried about keeping the children waiting in the sun, but they did not seem to mind the delay. “They are really excited and keep telling me that they are fine,” she said. The organisers were forced to cancel the half-an-hour breaks between shows because of the delays. They were also requested to cut short the last show so that the children could return to their schools on time. Only three of the six films scheduled to be screened were shown.

“They said they had to wind up the shows quickly,” Hafsa Shahid, a class 6 student, said, “I was looking forward to watching all the movies.”

Festival director Shoaib Iqbal said, “We have always been particular about punctuality. We hopefully won’t face any delays in the next shows.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2013.