16th Children's International Film Festival Awards Function

The closing ceremony of 16th International Children’s Film Festival was held at Lalitha Kala Thoranam on November 20th. The gradeur was graced by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Roshaiah, State Minister Geetha Reddy, Central Minister Chowdary Mohan Jatwa, Chairman of Children Film Society Nandita Das, Managing Director of AFDC Parthasarathi, Festival CEO Susovan Benerjee, Juhi Chawla, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Jagapathi Babu, Tamma Reddy Baradwaja, Ram etc.

Large number of children mesmerized the audience with their dance performances and other talented shows.

Addressing the gathering Chief Minister K Roshaiah said, “All the children who showed their talent in this Children’s Film Festival are gifted kids. I am very happy to note that this film festival in Hyderabad has been a grand success and all the credit goes to the people who worked for this festival along with State Minister Geetha Reddy and Chairman of Children’s Film Festival Nandita Das.”

“This is the 9th International Film Festival in Hyderabad. But this is the first time the festival rocked with a huge number of around one lakh twenty thousand children visitors. Atleast 3000 kids participated in the cultural shows and around 5000 children in various other departments. I am thankful to one and all for making the festival a grand success”, said Geetha Reddy.

A German film ‘Crocodile’ directed by Christian Ditter and produced by Christian Bekar won the Golden Elephant in Best Film category and also the Best Screenplay award. The Silver Elephant was bagged by the film ‘Elephant’ in 16th International Children’s Film Festival.

In the categories of Asian Panorama, Best Film award was bagged by ‘Half Mind of the Year’ and the Best Director award was received by the Sweden director Herald Hamrel for the film ‘Which in the Family’. The silver elephant was won by ‘I Feel Pity for Ozone Layer’. Children jury award was given to ‘Letter for King’.

While ‘New Spices’ won the award in International Animation category, the Best Animated Film award was won by ‘The Cunning Taylor and the Young Man’. The Best Director award was received by the Indian director Pandyarajan for the film ‘Kids’.