PATNA: A three-minute-long children's film titled ‘The Mask’, made by 15-year-old Santu Kumar has been short-listed for the forthcoming International Corona Short Film Festival in New Delhi in December this year.
Santu, son of a Patna-based four-wheeler driver, made the movie with help of other children of 'Kilkari', an organisation established by the education department in 2008 to explore the creativity among the children from poor families.
Dr. Jyoti Parihar, the renowned child-rights activist and director of Kilkari, said: “The Kilkari, established in 2008 by the department of education in Patna, is dedicated to children of privileged and poor sections to help them in cultivating their creativity”.
She said that a short film 'The Mask' has been directed and scripted by Santu Kumar, along with other children of Kilkari namely Santy Kumar, Rahul Kumar, Jeetu Kumar, and Rahul Raj Gupta.
Dr. Jyoti Parihar said: “In this film, it has been shown that if we lose our job, then we can still be self-reliant of our own”, she said.
Dr. Parihar further said that Santu Kumar, son of Patna-based four-wheeler driver Bablu Saw, is one of the children who have explored their creativity and brought laurels to Bihar in film-making streams through supports by Kilkari.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Santu Kumar said he took help from five children of Kilkari and spent five days to make the short film on the importance of the wearing of mask during the pandemic.
Santu has also acted in and co-directed some other short films after being associated with the Kilkari. He
expressed happiness over the selection of his film at the international level saying that it would inspire him to make more films.