Ahmedabad: Day 4 of the Children’s Film Festival at the Ahmedabad International Film Festival continued to entertain and engage children with a thoughtfully curated schedule of films exploring a variety of themes and geographies. The screenings began with Tarun Jain’s inspiring short film, Ballad of the Mountain, followed by another short film drama (from Iran), Ice Cream. Other titles screened today at the Festival include Indonesian animation short film Desa Timun (The Cucumber Village), an animated short offering from India, Planet Toyz and the last film screen at the event, Iranian feature film, In the Arms of the Tree. “I had always heard of how sensitive and hard hitting Iranian films are. I’m glad I finally got to watch one such film,” says a viewer about In the Arms of the Tree.
Other highlights of Day 4 include sessions at the Author’s Corner (Shabd Samsara) where author Kumud Verma discussed her book ‘Andaman: Ek Adhbudh Aakarshan’. Later, eminent poets and writers such as Vinod Joshi, Pratapsinh Dabhi, Harish Meenashru, Ushaben Upadhyay, Prashan Kishor Jadav and Mukesh Joshi joined their literary forces for the ‘Geet Samelan’ session.
The Children’s Pavillion saw a range of fun-learning sessions, such as one on ‘Musical Bal Kavita’ by actor Archan Trivedi and a training workshop in science communication facilitated by the Gujarat Council of Science City. Another workshop, led by Chhavi Gupta, introduced children to the basics of the Spanish language as well.
Chef Hina Gautam brought the humble yet nutritionally mighty ‘sattu’ under the spotlight today at her Culinary Stage discussion ‘Sattu – The Protein-rich Legacy of Indian Wellness’, while Gujarati singer Taarika Joshi closed Day 4 on a celebratory note with her soulful Gujarati folk fusion performance on the Cultural Stage.
Day 5 Highlights
Humour takes over the Author’s Corner – Shabd Samsara on day 5 with essayist Gujarati essayist and humourist Ratilal Borisagar, and humourist and author Padma Shri Dr. Jagdish Trivedi leading a panel discussion on ‘Hasya Gujarat’. English-Malayalam bilingual writer and poet E.V. Ramakrishnan will speak on “Bhasha Literatures in a Globalized World : The Way Ahead”.
On the International Stage, author V.V. Pathmaseeli highlights India’s ties with Sri Lank, with a session on ‘Bridging Borders, Bonding Through Books: Celebrating Indo-Sri Lankan Literary Ties”, while the Cultural Stage – Rangmacnch at the Festival welcomes literary marvels from the Sindhi community like Thakur Bhambani, Naresh Udhani, Daya Lalchandani and Dr. Hundraj Balwani for a “Mushaira and Kavi Sammelan.”
Day 5 at the Children’s Pavillion is packed with exciting workshops, ranging from ones on Gujarati Folktales and folk songs, to poetry writing. Finally, the Children’s Film Festival continues screening cinematic wonders for children, such as Indian feature film “Soaring Wings,” animation film “Today We Climbed a Hill” from the USA and Chinese student film, “MeteR.”
