45 films to compete for Golden Elephant

New Delhi, Oct 17 (UNI) A Golden Elephant plus Rs two lakh await the best feature film out of the 45 that will compete for the top award in the International section of the International Children's Film Festival, beginning in Hyderabad next month.

There are 20 films for the Asian Panorama of the festival in which the top honour comprises a Silver Elephant plus Rs one lakh.

Over 300 films were submitted from about 40 countries for the Festival, which is organised by the Children's Film Society of India, and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in collaboration with the state Government of Andhra Pradesh.

The Festival, which takes place every second year, will be held from Children's Day which marks the birth anniversary of the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and will continue till November 20.

An international jury headed by renowned short filmmaker Mike Pandey will judge the films in the International competition. The international jury also includes veteran filmmaker V G Samant, producer Mathew Horrocks, Andi Spark of Griffith film School, Toon Boom CEO Joan Vogelesang, and Toronto International Children's Film Festival Director Jane Schoettle.

The Asian Panorama jury is headed by eminent broadcaster Chris McDonald. Other members are Poland's Izabela Wierzbinska , Bulgaria's Tsvetomira Niikolova, and India's Mrinal Kulkarni. In addition, a children's jury will be set up to judge the films from the perspective of the young.

Besides the International Competition and Asian Panorama, the festival would have other interesting sections like Children's World, Retrospectives/Special screenings, Creative workshops (animation), and Special events for children.

There are 26 films in the non-competitive Children's World and 20 films in the special screenings.

The other awards in the international section of the Festival are as follows: The Silver Elephant and Rs one lakh for the second Best Short film - live action fiction (60 mins or less), Best Animation Film (both feature length&short film), Best Non-fiction film (information, research/ documentation/entertainment) film, Best Director, best music score (either background score or songs), Best Child Artist.

The Children's Jury will award a Golden Plaque plus Rs one lakh for the film from the International Competition Section.

The awards in the Asian Panorama section are the Silver Elephant plus Rs one lakh for the Best Feature Length Film , Best Short Film and Best Child Artiste.

The concept of an exclusive cinema for India's children was mooted by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It was he who inspired the founding of Children's Film Society, India (CFSI) in May 1955.

The objective of the society was to undertake and organise production, distribution and exhibition of feature and short films for children to provide them healthy and wholesome entertainment., CSFI is presently headed by Ms Nafisa Ali Sodhi, well know film artiste and social worker of repute.

Veteran filmmaker Kuldeep Sinha, Chief Producer of the Films Division, is Director of the Festival.

UNI