The global initiative aims at involving children to write, direct and produce short films
Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 24, 2015)

After the Toronto Film Festival partnered with the Mumbai Film Festival to bring Canadian cinema to Indian shores (Mirror, Feb 26, 2015), they have now extended support to the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI).

Mirror has learnt that the annual Golden Elephant Film Festival organised by the CFSI will see TIFF playing an instrumental role in bringing movies made by children (8-18) from all across the globe to the Mumbai extravaganza that starts from November 14. Presently, the Golden Elephant's competition is restricted to films only from India.

Confirming this, Shravan Kumar, the CEO of CFSI told Mirror, "The idea is to ingrain the idea of cinema in their consciousness right from an early age. I started the pilot project last year and we got a fantastic response. I spoke about the same at TIFF Kids that recently concluded and they've agreed to come on board for this unique initiative with us."

Elaborating on the project's details, Shravan revealed that the participants will be technically aided by the Film and Television Institute of India. "They will be provided with the equipment and tools required for editing. We were quite impressed with the kind of content children came up with in the previous instalment, this year with a globalmix, it will only get better."

He said that the programme encouraged students from all walks of life and different socio-economic status to come together, thus breaking the stereotype that filmmaking is only for the 'elite.' "It's the most democratic form of media and to see it through the lens of say, a 10-yearold, is just magical," he concluded.