They do not have the celebrity statuses but their buoyancy is not lesser than any celebrated person. Managing Directors, CEOs, bureaucrats, celebrities, politicians, etc have been featuring into press conferences but in the first of its kind attempt, the child reporters’ here gracefully introduced the members of journalism fraternity about their upcoming event.
Making the world realise their potential, the confidence of little chaps during the press meet on Sunday astonished everyone present there when some of the lot gathered at the Ranchi Press Club to share information about Jharkhand Children’s Film Festival, the innovative attempt to sensitise the public of all walks of life about the neglected issues affecting the well-being of one of the vulnerable groups of the society.
The event which is ‘For the children, By the children, Of the children’ will be organised on November 19 and 20 at
Central University of Jharkhand (CUJ) in association with UNICEF, a regional Hindi Daily and CUJ to mark the International Children Day celebrated across 193 countries on November 20.
“With the support of Children’s Film Society of India – the nodal organisation of Government of India (GoI) that produces children’s films and various TV programs in various Indian languages, the event is being jointly organised,” said Child Reporter from Government Middle School - Pirra, Surbhi Lohra.
Further Lohra said that the ongoing ‘Child Rights Week’ is being utilised in organising a series of activities. “Recently, from November 15 to 17, an adolescent submit
was organised to discuss about the issues ranging from
puberty, hygiene etc,” Lohra added.
Another, Child Reporter, Abhinandan Kumar of Government Middle School – Bodya, spoke about the short You-Tube series being prepared by the children.
“Around 10 You-tube series will be prepared by us. So far, group of children like us have been successful in making four short You-tube series titled ‘Adhikaron Ki Baat, Bal Patrakaaro kay saath’.”
According to Kumar, Child Reporters’ have interviewed Ranchi DC Rai Mahimapat Ray, Ranchi SSP Anish Gupta, UNICEF Jharkhand Chief Madhulika Jonathan including MLA Kunal Sarangi focusing on four issues – Education, Malnutrition, Child Labour and Child Marriage.
Interestingly, Child Reporters with UNICEF and Alok Bharti support had recently launched their own 10 episode YouTube series.
The series ‘Adhikaron ki Baat Bal Patrakaron kay Saath’ is featured on the private Radio FM channel and has 444,000 subscribers.
Meanwhile, the senior persons from different organisations kept their views about the upcoming event. Madhulika Jonathan shared the basic details about the global movement and the rules of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) charter framed in 1992 which highlights about the needs of children worldwide and how to nurture their aspirations.
Dr. Dev Vrat Singh, Dean – Centre for Mass Communication (CUJ) threw light on the criteria under which children films
have been selected for this particular event. “Contestants of as many as 11 States have participated in ‘All India Short Film Making Contest -- 2018’. During the two-day film fest 41 short films will be screened,” added Singh.
As per the organisers, during the film festival children and mass communication students from various colleges/universities will be able to interact with eminent film makers such as national awardees Batul Mukhtiar, Professor Shilpa Ranade who is an acclaimed animator and filmmaker, Meghnath, to name a few.
Some of the films that will be screened during the festival include Kaphal (winner of Best Children’s Film at the 61st National Film Award in 2014), Professor Shilpa Ranade’s Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya (winner of the18th International Children’s Film festival award and Amol Gupte’s critically acclaimed Stanley ka Dubba among others.
The officials further informed that during the film festival, a panel discussion on the ‘Representation and participation of children in the media’ is also planned besides the workshops for mass communication students and children from Government schools.