The 18th International Children's Film Festival was formally opened in Malda, West Bengal, at the Sanaullah Auditorium on August, 23.
Unlike any other children's film festival, this film festival has been organised and hosted by children themselves, with support from UNICEF, Talash Society, Cine Central and Malda District Administration.
The festival, which was formally inaugurated in Kolkata by the Governor of West Bengal Keshari Nath Tripathi on July, 25 and was open till August 12 .
In Malda, the film festival was opened by Padam Sunam, Additional District Magistrate of Malda along with the young organisers from the Talash Society.
This year, UNICEF is promoting the theme of 'value of girls' through this festival to highlight the inequities and discrimination still faced by girls in different walks of life.
The film festival kicked off with the screening of a popular children's film 'Rainbow Jelly'.
Both the director and child protagonist of this film were present at the inauguration event to present the film and address the gathering.
UNICEF aims to promote equal rights for all girls through various discourses, workshops, interactions and film screenings throughout the film festival which will be open till September 7, in Malda. 'Aranyadeb', another popular children's film was also at the festival. The director of the movie, Debasish Sen Sharma also attended the inauguration event.
This is the second year these adolescents took over the festivals as anchors, performers, event managers, designers, volunteers and media spokespersons. This year, Talash Society, with support from UNICEF, Malda District Administration and Cine Central will be taking this festival to eight select blocks of the district. This festival is an attempt to reach out to all those children who often miss out opportunities to be part of any such film festival.
Talash Society will reach out to thousands of such children across Malda town and the eight blocks (Kaliachak III, Harishchandrapur I, Chanchal I, Ratua I, Ratua II, Habibpur, Gazole, Old Malda).
