7th Lahore International Children’s Film Festival 2015

/12th Lahore International Children’s Film Festival (LICFF) 2020/7th Lahore International Children’s Film Festival 2015

We are humbled by the growth of the festival each year and are proud that a young generation is growing up with our film festival and have been engaged over the years as an informed audiences and aspiring film makers. 7th Lahore International Children’s Film Festival has not only enriched the experience of children’s cinema for young viewers but also provided a platform for stimulating discussions and created social awareness through global media.

We have just completed our season and are excited to share the highlights from our 7th edition of the Lahore International Children’s Film Festival.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7th Lahore International Children’s Film Festival

Let’s entertain, inspire and educate!
This year has seen a record-breaking 983 film entries from 87 countries. This was an unexpectedly huge response to the submission call The Little Art made for international film entries in July 2015. Children from the different strata of society were invited to watch these educational and entertaining films.

 

International filmmakers participated in the festival by sending in their video messages for children in Pakistan and submitted their work from countries such as Denmark, Spain, India, Germany, France, UK, Argentina, Iran, and Pakistan and many others.

 

These diverse range of films, that included all genres like animation, fiction, short and feature films, documentaries revolved around issues related to education, creativity, relationships, values, dreams, our environment etc and with a selection of films made by children themselves and even films made by young children of Pakistan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audience

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The six-day long 7th Lahore International Children’s Film Festival was a momentous success in terms of response from children as well as teachers and families. Our morning and evening shows both had fully seated audiences who enjoyed the programs for all age groups.

 

Nearly 26,000 children and youth attended the festival events in Lahore and enjoyed 77 films from 26 countries which were displayed on colossal screens of the cinema and presented to a young audience.
A total of 58 schools in Lahore participated in the event that took place at the Cinepax Cinemas in Fortress Square, Lahore. The other public venue chosen for the shows to be held was the Alhamra Art Council, that opened its doors to educate and entertain young minds as well as the adult audience which consisted of artists, educators, teachers and families.

 

This celebrated and exotic mix of films was chosen by the jury members of great stature such as Majid Saeed (HOD, Film and TV at NCA), Fazal Ahmad (Film maker), Tazeen Bari (Director KINO Films), Wajiha Raza Rizvi (Independent Researcher, Film Museum Society) and Mr. Asghar Nadeem Syed, educationist and known playwright, also a patron of the festival.

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Next Generation Cinema


Special Dialogue sessions with students

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition the festival events, for the first time the Lahore International Children’s Film Festival, introduced it’s theme of Next Generation Cinema amongst youth with it’s extended festival program to include Q&A and creative dialogue sessions with children; artists and writers being in conversation with school children and speaking about their experiences in the industry working for children.

 

Nearly 1100 students from various public schools such as Roshni Association, Paragon Model High School, partner schools from Idara e Taleem of Agahi, Crescent Grammar School, Lahore Speech and Language school attended in the 3 days of the dialogue sessions speaking with writers, artists and educators such as Mr. Irfan Peerzada, Mr. Asghar Nadeem Syed and Mr. Usman Saeed.

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I encourage children to explore their hidden talents and express themselves and share their ideas with others, and I appreciate the efforts being made here by The Little Art to give all children a platform for expressing themselves, be it through film, theater, visual arts or any other medium”
said Mr. Peerzada while speaking with the young audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Opening Ceremony

The Little Art organized the grand opening ceremony for the 7th International Children’s Film Festival on 15th November 2015, at Faletti’s Hotel, Lahore to announce the start of the festival events.
The ceremony screened a showreel of the officially selected short films made by the students from Inter School Nation Filmmaking Competition and some video messages from international filmmaker and the festival show reel for this year.

 

The event was attended by special guests and people from the film and media industry such as Wajiha Raza Rizvi (Independent Researcher Film Museum Society), Fazal Ahmad (Filmmaker) and Minister of Education and Youth Affairs Mr. Rana Mashood Ahmad Khan as the chief guest. The guest of honor of the ceremony was the Honorable Canadian High Commissioner Heather Cruden.

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HE Heather Cruden said,
“I’m so excited about the movies being showcased in the festival. It will be a fantastic experience as it promotes positive social and cultural values. It’s the best thing for me to know that these films, being showcased are made by children to encourage them towards creativity.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LICFF Closing Ceremony – Awards Night

The Little Art had organized the Awards night for the students and participants of it’s project workshops and the winners of the Inter School national film making competition. The event was organized in collaboration with Cinepax Cinemas and with the support of CKU-Center for Culture and Development Denmark, attended by H.E Charge d’ Affairs Embassy of Denmark, Ms. Helle Nielsen as chief guest of the ceremony.

 

Children came with their families to enjoy the film screenings and students were awarded certificates and shields for participating in the workshops and film competition.

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“Denmark is proud to be supporting arts and culture organizations in Pakistan, particularly ones working with children and young people through arts and media like The Little Art who understand how important it is to foster creativity amongst young people, for these young people are the ones who will be making decisions for the world tomorrow.”
Said Ms. Helle Nielsen, Charge d’ Affairs, Embassy of Denmark.

Winner Films of 7th Lahore International Children's Film Festival

Short Animation

“My Grandfather was a Cherry Tree”

Country: Russian Federation
Director: Olga Poliektova, Tatiana Poliektova

 

Short Live Action

“Best Friends Forever”

Country: India
Director Sandeep Modi

 

Documentary

“Streetkids United II, The Girls From Rio”

Country: Netherlands
Director: Maria Clara

Feature Live Action

“My Friend Raffi”

Country: Germany
Director: Arend Agthe

 

Feature Animation

“The Snow Queen 2”

Country: Russian Federation
Director: Alexey Tsitsilin

 

Film Made by Children

“A Time to Change”

Country: United Kingdom
Director: Three Children’s from St. Mary Queen of Martyrs Primary School Hull, Uk

Winning entry for Pakistani Film

Bonds – Beaconhouse Newlands a film about relationships and strong bonds in friendships.

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LICFF Film Making workshops for Children and Youth

The Little Art trained 36 students in story development and film making. They were given mentoring support through a Film Making workshop organized by The Little Art team. Students were trained by the film production team on how to produce great quality films with meaningful messages using creative techniques.

 

Two groups worked on developing their own short films. As decided by the student groups, one developed a short film “Slice of Joy” and the other group produced a short musical film “Hey There Little Bird”. Both these films were showcased at the 7th Lahore International Children’s Film Festival 2015 and students were awarded certificates at the Awards ceremony of the 7th LICFF.

 

Youth development and linking them to creative opportunities is always central to all The Little Art projects. And all programs aim to achieve the long term objectives of sustaining cultural heritage of Pakistan, promoting peace through creating cultural tolerance amongst youth by exposing them to global ideals of democracy and equality. Read More

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“I feel that my thinking ability was increased from the workshop, it also enhanced my skills in learning tolerance of everyone’s ideas and working together as a team”
said Bushra Aslam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building the Festival

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The festival’s message reached to nearly 550 private and public schools of Lahore and Karachi through its publicity campaign.

 

108,000 brochures, containing the program brief were printed and distributed.

 

3,000 posters were distrusted and placed in schools, family outlets, book stores.

 

A team of 68 volunteers worked with the festival in the publicity outreach and event management throughout the festival events.

 

Students from these institutions worked in various capacities with The Little Art in the Festivals.
  • 1National College of Arts
  • 2Beaconhouse National University
  • 3University of Central Punjab
  • 4Kinnaird College for Women
  • 5University of Punjab
  • 6Lahore School of Economics
  • 7Government College University
  • 8College of Home Economics
  • 9University of Sargodha
  • 10SISA School

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LICFF Outreach

Since the inception of the festival in 2008, we have managed to screen over 627 films from nearly 82 countries, to over 196,000 children. The festival has traveled to cities like Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Multan, Faisalabad and Gilgit Baltistan, Jamshoro and is now planning to expand its outreach to Tando Jam in Interior Sindh and Bhakkar in rural Punjab by March 2016.

Testimonials

Today media is so strong, no matter how much we try to teach them in class they only learn quicker by watching through such mediums.
Tooba Qausar - Teacher
The films were short and informative and really demonstrated the importance of education, caring for others and the significance of relationships.
Ms. Ayesha - Teacher - Educators Schools System
Little Big George was my favorite film and the main character was the best. It was a film about not letting go of your passion and dreams.
Bisma- 12 year old student - LGS
The festival is organized very well, the team and volunteers are very helpful. I believe here they are not only learning from the films but also how to interact with different children and people socially.
Mrs. Rehman- Teacher from Newlands School
I was really emotional after watching some of the films today, they were really touching stories of how children live in other places of the world, like this film from Iran where a boy writes a letter to his late father and sends it to the sky. It was a beautiful film.
Nida- 16 year old student
I really enjoyed watching the international films for children with my junior class, it was a wonderful experience learning through a different medium. We watched films made by children on the environment and climate change, wildlife animals and all students learned in a fun way
- Teacher from TNS Pre-school

Coverage of our Festival Events

  • 16-Nov-2015

    The Nation

    We also ask you to support our initiative in contributing to the artistic and cultural life for children of Pakistan
  • 16-Nov-2015

    Pakistan Observer

    HE Heather Cruden said, “I’m so excited about the movies being showcased in the festival. It will be a fantastic experience as it promotes positive social and cultural values. It’s the best thing for me to know that these films, being showcased are made by children to encourage them towards creativity.”
  • 16-Nov-2015

    Express Tribune

    Iqbal said they had faced scepticism from several quarters when they first came up with the idea of the festival seven years ago. “Some people said children do not need to watch movies since they already watch a lot of television. We explained to the naysayers that the content will be different. These films carry a message. They speak to the children,” he said.
  • 17-Nov-2015

    Daily Times

    The Rising Stars Primary School Principal Mayam Khatoon told Daily Times that film is a great medium of teaching and the kids attending the festival could benefit by learning in an innovative way. She said the children’s response was very positive on the festival as almost all the children enthusiastically participated and saw the short film based on various topics.
  • 17-Nov-2015

    Express Tribune

    Wonderful feedback by the audiences; Maliha Khan, a grade 8 student from the Beaconhouse School System, said she had enjoyed Death Sails. “The film is super funny featuring great animation effects. It gives us the message that money is not the most important thing in the world.”
  • 18-Nov-2015

    Daily Times

    Around 11 government schools attended short films at Cinepax while six schools were present at Alhamra Arts Council. The festival is giving a chance to the children to enhance their ‘bookish knowledge’ in an interactive way.
  • 18-Nov-2015

    Express Tribune

    The children felt the movies were relatable as the characters faced everyday problems that they encountered too. “One of the boys in the movie didn’t brush his teeth and ultimately his teeth got ruined,” said Mehvish Khurshid adding that this was something her mother had also warned her against.
  • 19-Nov-2015

    Daily Times

    On the occasion, the festival director Shoaib Iqbal said, “This year we have received a very warm response. Not only students from private schools but also from government and low-income schools across Lahore have attended the event.”
  • 19-Nov-2015

    The News

    7th Lahore International Children’s Film Festival 2015 attracts 38 schools
  • 18-Nov-2015

    Express Tribune

    Children’s festival: A medium of learning quite unlike others
  • 20-Nov-2015

    Express Tribune

    So many films, so less time, #LICFF continues to thrill children!
  • 19-Nov-2015

    Express Tribune

    “We really loved the film Best Friends Forever. It’s about the friendship between a mother and daughter. It’s so relevant to things youngsters experience with their parents,” APS Azam Garrison student Neha Rafique said.

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