TIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Kerala State Chalachithra Academy (KSCA) chairman Kamal said in the next edition of the ICFFK, the films that would be shortlisted for screening would be categorised on the basis of age group. The chairman said though the idea was to conduct the event on an annual basis, the challenge was to identify movies which were child-centric.
“ICFFK is meant for children belonging to the age group of above five years and below 18 years. Why there is a need to categorise the film based on age category is that the appreciation level varies among children belonging to different age groups,” said Kamal. According to the chairman, at present, the films were scheduled in a general sense and films meant for a six-year-old child might be watched by an 18-year-old and the experience could be nothing but tedious.
Earlier, mentioning about the incident in which children were denied permission during the IFFK regional festival in Kozhikode, the KSCA chairman said children’s entry was restricted by law. “One should understand that in film fests like IFFK, the films that were screened mostly didn’t have censor certificates and as per law those films which were not censored should not have to be screened before children. Thus initiatives like ICFFK should have to be utilised by the children to the fullest,” Kamal said.
‘Cartoons portray violence’
T’Puram:“Cartoons and animation movies are giving prominence to violence,” said lyricist and filmmaker Sreekumaran Thampi. He was speaking at the open forum organised at the main venue of the International Children’s Film festival of Kerala 2018 (ICFFK). The topic for the open forum on the second day of the festival dwelt on children being used to market a plethora of merchandise such as Maggi noodles, Kinder Joy despite all the restrictions imposed on the consumption of these products. “The existence of almost all businesses depend on children. Cinema, serials and advertisements are centered around children,” said actor Premkumar. “We are living in times that are devoid of compassion and love. As such the movies and artworks that deal with children need to have elements of compassion and values,” said Sreekumaran.