32 films from 17 countries on show in Kolkata children's festival

Kolkata : A bouquet of 32 offerings from 17 countries would be on show at the Unicef 18th International Children's Film Festival that began here on Wednesday.

The inaugural film "Moana", produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, was screened after the festival was declared open by West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi at the Nandan flim complex.

In his address on the occasion, Tripathi urged film producers, directors, central and state governments to ensure children's films were made in Hindi and regional languages.

After screening of the opening film during the day, the second phase of the festival organised by Cine Central Calcutta with the support of Unicef, Nandan and Talash Society, would be held from August 9-12 at Nandan, the organisers told the media.

Cinegoers would Abe able to watch interesting films like "White Bridge" (Iran), "The Monkey King- Uproar in Heaven" (China) and "The Shamer's Daughter" (Denmark).

"We are also trying to reach out to the children living in slums and the ones with special needs through this film festival," said Parimal Mukherjee, General Secretary, Cine Central Calcutta, the country's largest film society.

This year, a group of children have taken an initiative to organise the festival in Malda district from August 29 to September 7. It will be inaugurated by the District Magistrate and feature two Bengali films.

"We will try to screen two Bengali films 'Rainbow Jelly' and 'Aranyadeb' in eight different blocks of Malda district. Our group is also making a film for this festival," said Wasim Akram, a young organiser from Malda being supported by Unicef and Talash Foundation.

This year the Festival is based on the theme 'value of girls' to highlight the inequities and gender discrimination.