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FIFTH INT'L CHILDREN'S FILM FESTIVAL TAKES OFF

"Children are an ideal audience for films" -- Pascal Villeneuve, UNICEF representative in Bangladesh

Fabian Von Allmen
The Fifth International Children’s Film Festival is dedicated to young ones and so 12-year-oldAnabilMadhurja had the honour to address the first few words at the inaugural ceremony, held on Saturday at the Central Public Library in Dhaka. The festival was then launched with the performance of the festival song, the hoisting of the National Flag and the release of doves, symbolising the hope for global peace.
The children's role at the festival is not confined to the inaugural ceremony. There’s a jury comprising children who will award the award winning films. And the children have the added responsibility to run the festival, sell and collect the tickets, seat the audience and provide information about the festival. And last but in no way least: many of the films to be screened are directed and shot by children.
"I am really looking forward to see the films,” said an excited nine-year-old Abdullah Hasan Haque. Tanvir Rahman Alif, a 12 year old volunteer at the festival said, “I collect tickets at the entrance, but after that, I go and watch the films," Nazmul a volunteer at the festival, said "This is the second time I am present at the festival and I am responsible for ushering in the audience.” For Anika Akbar the Children’s Film Festival is one of the high points of 2012: "I come here to view and learn from the movies. I want to be a director one day.”
Pascal Villeneuve, UNICEF representative in Bangladesh, described the festival as a “fantastic” event. ’’Children are an ideal audience because they have immense curiosity and speak straight from the heart whether they like a film or not.”
However, nowadays too few films are produced with children in mind, he regretted and added that the plus point of the festival is that it provides children in remote areas access to high quality films.” By viewing films from different comers of the world, they get a chance to see how people outside of Bangladesh live," said Villeneuve. The festival is being held simultaneously in seven divisional cities. A total of 20 venues, including nine in Dhaka, have been selected for the festival. The UNICEF is the coorganiser of the festival. “We believe, that when children get the right tools they are able to express themselves and participate in society,” said Villenueve in his closing speech.
”We do not have a lot of entertainment to offer to the children,” said the president of the Children's Film Society Bangladesh, Muhammad Zafar Iqbal. That's why I especially like the festival because it is a great source of entertainment for children and they get the opportunity to shoot and show their own films."
The festival’s director Morshedul Islam was appreciative of the enormous enthusiasm of the participating children and said that he strongly believed in their creativity. A total of 128 children are coming to Dhaka to attend the festival as delegates. Out of 80 films initially submitted, 35 were chosen to enter the competition of which five will receive awards.
Munira Morshed Munni, general secretary of the Children's Film Society of Bangladesh; Air Vice Marshall (Retd.) A K Khandakar and noted artist Mustafa Monwar also spoke at the inaugural ceremony.
At the beginning of the speeches, a minute's silence was observed in memory of late filmmaker Tareque Masud.
Mehedy Hasan, Rangpur
The Fifth International Children's Film Festival-2012, organised by Children's Film Soci-
ety Bangladesh, began in Rangpur on Saturday.
The four-day festival was inaugurated by Dipaly Somajdar, mother of the first Shaheed (martyr) in Rangpur during the Liberation War of 1971.
The festival was inaugurated at Rangpur Zilla School Auditorium.
Abu Rayhan Mijanur Rahman, head master of Rangpur Zilla School presided over the inaugural ceremony. Anisur Rahman Mondal, Law- maker of Rangpur district was present as chief guest.
This festival also began simultaneously at the auditoriums of the Central Public Library in Dhaka along with the six divisional cities of the country.
The organiser of the festival screened feature films, short films, animations and documentaries for the children free of cost.
The organisers expected to screen over 29 films from 16 participating countries at the festival.
The films will be screened everyday at 11:00am, 2:00pm, 4:00pm and 6:00pm.
A competition for films made by children will also feature at the festival.
The festival includes day-long workshops and seminars presenting different aspects of filmmaking for the benefit of children.
According to the organisers, the festival aims to open up a new world of cinema to the children of Bangladesh as well as to introduce them to the culture and tradition of other nations through films and promote their observation capabilities.
Dipaly Somajdar appreciated the initiative for the children and thanked the organisers for their initiative.