Sabir Nazar

Cartoonist, Lahore

It is indeed a noble effort to work for children’s education through arts based activities. As Picasso once said that, ‘children are born creative, and through our education system that we make them non creative’. The role of arts or creative work is essential for the critical thinking in education. I wish you well for your endeavor and hope more people come forward to work in other fields of creative arts integrated with children’s education.

Nadia Riaz

Director, Annemarie-Schimmel-Haus (German Center) Lahore

Lahore International Children Film festival is not just a festival but it is an institution for professionals, upcoming filmmakers and children, and hopefully will continue to serve. I believe that children, who are exposed to the world of colours, music and animation in form of films, will develop a much healthier attitude towards its surroundings. This will result into more creativity as the child (and adults too, for that matter) will be exposed to the art of story-telling in the nicest way possible.

I am looking forward to being a part of the team and shall do my best to flourish our partnership.

Selena Anguiano

Arts Management Consultant, USA

In my humble opinion, a legacy of money is always helpful. However, a legacy of knowledge and even more…understanding, is far more indispensable and lasting. The Lahore International Children’s Film Festival is working to establish that legacy through the films it cultivates, the audiences it reaches and the information it is extending to its young and older audiences and collaborators. As our world grows smaller and our challenges more similar, the education and resources the Festival provides children and adults will help bridge cultural gaps through appreciation and use of a simple yet powerful artistic medium-film. Anyone who experiences this festival will not only develop an appreciation for artistic expression but they might also understand the world around them more fully and discover how they can contribute to making it better. I am honored and privileged to be a patron of the Lahore International Children’s Film Festival for these and so many other reasons.

Steve Ryan

Educationist, UK

The value of the Arts as a change activator should not be overlooked. All too often, society encourages a focus on learning which favours prescribed vocations and tends to ignore the Arts because of a perception that the outcomes are not useful; the Arts do not lead toward jobs that contribute to the greater good. Apart from recognizing that the Arts play the most significant role in sustaining and celebrating history and culture, there is now an ever-present understanding that education in the Arts provides an invaluable opportunity for everyone, especially children, to learn wide-ranging skills which will see them through life and impact positively on the society they inhabit. Encouraging children to be a part of cultural sustenance and development enriches society and so enriches everyone’s lives. This is not to say that we should encourage all children to become artists – but to at least expose youth to the wonders that the Arts describe, and to encourage an appreciation of art in all its forms, is a means of providing enrichment that will have far-reaching and positive impacts for all of us. We should all support “The Little Art” as an initiative to activate an integrated approach to teaching and learning that should be seen as an opportunity to enjoy the process of realising potential.

Salima Hashmi

Artist /Educationist, Lahore

In a world so troubled, we have so little to offer our children. Cinema creates a fantastical world, and films for, about, and by children and afford them the opportunity to add to it. The Lahore International Children’s Film Festival gives children the chance to dream and to imagine other realities. In many ways the Film Festival educates children without the fear and boredom that they encounter in the classroom. They can laugh and cry without inhibition and discover themselves through others. We do so little as a Nation to delight and inform our children. The Film Festival does exactly that. It entertains, enthralls and enriches their lives. I wish the Lahore International Children’s Film Festival the very best of luck!