Bangalore, June 23: The grand opening of the Bangalore International Children’s film festival, organized by Ryan International School was inaugurated by Madam Grace Pinto, Managing Director of Ryan Foundation and the Golden Star of the Kannada Film Industry Ganesh, in the city today. The 3 day festival which started off on June 22, 2010 saw the exclusive premier of “Green Dog – Nature inspires creativity” a movie made by 20 children belonging to the Ryan school. A film making workshop conducted prior to the film festival teaching children the art and techniques of film making was held, the result of which is the ‘Green Dog’, an environment film.

Scripted, directed and edited by 20 children of the school, the film portrays the relationship between a man and the environment and aims to educate and call out the grim realities of the dying lakes of the urban, concrete jungle and deforestation that is fast leading to an ecological imbalance in Bangalore’s eco system. This film is in line with the theme of the film festival which is ‘Action for Green’ that aims to create an awareness drive through cinema thereby educating children on environmental issues and concerns that are prevailing in the city today.

BICFF is being held in the city until 24 June, 2010 under the aegis of Ryan International Group of Institutions. The festival will have an interesting mix of film genres ranging from Children’s Feature Film, Animations, Short Films and Films on environment. The films screened at the Festival are put together from countries around the world Viz. Turkey, Iran, Serbia, Israel, India Germany, Spain, USA amongst others.

The film portrays the sensitivity in relationship between a Child and a Tree and how deforestation impacts the thinking of our young generation. Calling out the environmental issues and concerns that children of Bangalore face today, Green Dog showcases and stresses on the dying lakes in this urban, concrete jungle and deforestation that is fast leading to an imbalance in the city’s eco system.

“The young film makers have done an excellent job within the short span of time. The film is well crafted and brings out a beautiful message for the attention of all children belonging to the city. Through this film the children have inspired not only the youngsters, but also the adults to take cognizance of green depletion and its growing adverse impact. Ryan Foundation firmly believes in inculcating life values to our children and the festival is an avenue for us to do so creatively” said Managing Director of Ryan Foundation, Madam Grace Pinto.

“Cinema is an amazing medium to influence and guide children towards a better world. Through good cinema, one gets exposed to other cultures and thought processes. Green Dog is an impressive mix of creative talent and an innovative subject. We should definitely encourage young film makers as their ideas are fresh and innocent yet thought provoking” said Golden Star Ganesh.

“We had the opportunity to be a part of making Green Dog and it was a great learning for us apart from the usual history and science subjects. It is exciting to know that the audience have liked the film and are appreciating our hard work. This platform provided by my school has instilled a new passion in film making. Most of us are also taking film making as a serious career option. We hope to spark greater good to the society via our future films, similar to what we want to convey via Green Dog” says Child Director, Vindhya V from Ryan International School.

Festival Director, Uttkarsh Marwah says “The response of BICFF has been over whelming. The culture of watching foreign language movies is missing in India and we are glad that we are encouraging children to watch world cinema, which will help them understand various cultures all across the globe. We have successfully organized this festival in Mumbai and Ludhiana and look forward to many more such film festivals”.
The premier also showcased the award winning film of the ‘48 Hrs – Make a film’ contest which was open to all school students in the city.

Categories of the Festival

• World Cinema: 09 children’s feature films from across the globe
• Animation: 12 Animation films
• Short Films: 10 Children’s Short films
• Action for Green (Environmental films): 20 children’s films on environment
• Iranian Retrospective: 04 Iranian children’s films
• Children Produced films: