Month: May 2023

New Delhi, April 21, 2023: Film from the Czech Republic ‘Even Mice Belong in Heaven’, where two mortal enemies, mice and fox become best of friends in the animal heaven moved the heart of the jury to bag three awards. It included the Best Feature Film and the Best Story (Children) awards at the ongoing Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFFCY). The international film festival is held every year to recognise creative talent and to encourage children and youth centric cinema. 

 

‘Gandhi & Co’ becomes the lone Indian film to win an award during this year’s SIFFCY. Produced by Mahesh Danannavar and directed by Manish Saini, Gandhi & Co is a light-hearted Gujarati comedy movie. It depicts a story taking along Gandhian values of harmony and honesty in an entertaining way. This film won two awards, namely in the best director and best actor categories.

 

SIFFCY is a testament to the power of storytelling and its ability to inspire, impress and entertain children. The week-long event is showing over 150 handpicked films from across the globe for over 100,000 school children across India through 50 simultaneous screenings. It provides filmmakers with an opportunity to connect with young audiences too. 

 

“Cinema, with its larger-than-life characterization, awe-inspiring depiction and inherent unique power, will continue to remain relevant as one of the best creative tools. Using good cinema, we want to contribute to positive societal change that begins with the young minds. With our 10th edition next year, we want to reach one million young audience,” said Mr. Santanu Mishra, Chairman of SIFFCY and Executive Trustee & Co-Founder of the Smile Foundation.

 

The unique film festival serves as a platform to promote children’s films and create awareness about the importance of quality cinema for young audiences, and this is a step towards achieving that goal. SIFFCY aims to encourage and recognize the efforts of filmmakers who produce quality cinema for children across the globe.

 

Here are some of the winners for this year’s awards and categories, which include both animated and inspiring films.

 

1) International Competition, Best Feature Film (Children): Even Mice Belong in Heaven, The Czech Republic, France, Poland and Slovakia

2) Best Feature Film (Youth): Oskar & Lilli, Austria

3) Best Actor Award: Dhyani Jani and Hiranya Zinzuwadia for Gandhi & Co (Gujarati), India

4) Best Story Award: Even Mice Belong in Heaven, The Czech Republic, France, Poland and Slovakia 

5) Best Short Film Award: Why Did the Giraffe’s Flower Fade (Persian), Iran 

6) Best Next Gen Award (Film made by Children): The Most Boring Granny in the Whole World (German), Germany 

7) ECFA (European Children’s Film Association) Award for best film: Even Mice Belong in Heaven

8) CIFEJ (International Centre of Films for Children & Young People) Award for best film: Tales of Franz (German), Germany

9) Film Critics Circle of India (FCCI) Award for best film: Tales of Franz, Germany 

10) Best Director: Manish Saini for Gandhi & Co (Gujarati), India

11) Best Short Film (Children) by Young Jury: Witch Fairy, Belgium 

12) Best Short Film (Youth) by Young Jury: You Have Many Parts (German), Germany 

 

Two categories were specifically adjudged by the Young Jury (comprised of 50 children and youth from five countries), recognizing the best short films made for young people. ‘Witch Fairy’ from Belgium won the Best Short Film (Children) award, while ‘You Have Many Parts’ from Germany was awarded the Best Short Film (Youth).

 

Mr. Santanu Mishra added that in recent years, there has been a growing demand for children’s films in India, and efforts are being made to produce more of them. Through our efforts, we want to recognize and encourage young filmmakers to produce age-appropriate content that can cater to the potential and the need of the hour. This initiative not only promotes creativity but also helps shape the minds of young viewers. 

 

“The festival aims to promote the art of filmmaking and encourage children to appreciate and create cinema that reflects their own unique perspectives. On the sidelines of screening films, every year workshops, training and orientation programmes, and interactive sessions with filmmakers are organized under SIFFCY to inspire young minds to explore the ever-evolving world of cinema also as a future career option,” explained Mr. Jitendra Mishra, SIFFCY Festival Director. 

 

About Smile Foundation

Smile Foundation is a national-level development organization directly benefitting over 1.5 million children and their families every year, through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood and women empowerment, in over 2000 remote villages and slums across 25 states of India. 

Smile Foundation is also a widely respected brand known for its continuous innovations and strives to sensitize the privileged mass across the globe so that they come forward, take on the social problems of the world as personal challenges and fight them back. And in order to grab their attention, Smile Foundation has been developing films as a core area, which are creative, innovative and are a balance of the right content and the right quality.

April 12, 2023, New Delhi: Children and youth are the future of any nation. If sensitized early, they can be the best change agents, be it in their family or the community they live. But unfortunately, teenagers are prone to harmful addictions, loneliness, insecurity, violence and aggression owing to unbridled exposure into a plethora of media. Hence, it has become very important to channel the energy and enthusiasm of children and youth into a positive direction by imbibing a conscious perspective and constructive value system in them. 

The idea behind Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth (SIFFCY) has been to nurture a special film platform devoted to a greater appreciation of meaningful cinemas made for children and youth which can bring change in the society by showcasing those films, supporting emerging filmmakers, recognizing the pioneers and leaders of the similar industry and by promoting the diverse perspectives of good cinema from across the globe. 

The week-long SIFFCY enters its ninth edition this year, beginning 17th of April. This edition will screen 150 acclaimed and award-winning films sourced from over 50 countries, enthralling an audience of over 100,000 children and youth. Films and workshops on climate change, road safety and on children cinema will also be organized with the involvement of industry experts, opinion makers and professionals. 

“I believe that good cinema is one of the most powerful media to depict reality and emulate values. A single good film has the power to stimulate discussion and contemplation in young minds about personal, emotional, societal and moral duties enabling them to become better and stronger individuals. Our aim is to catch their attention and make them consider worthy social concerns thereby influencing them to adopt the model of civic-driven change in the society. Our films are driven towards creating an impact on the society for a good cause,” says Mr. Santanu Mishra, Chairman of SIFFCY and Executive Trustee & Co-Founder of Smile Foundation.

This year the festival will host the prestigious European Children’s Film Association Award and also the acclaimed CIFEJ Award (only Indian organization to host the award). In addition, SIFFCY will host the much-admired Film Critics Circle of India Award as well.

A segment under the best of “Czech Animations” will be showcased this year in collaboration with the Embassy of the Czech Republic in New Delhi. Further, the association will bring 10 curated and handpicked films made by young filmmakers of the Tomas Bata University in Zlin.

The collaborate with the Delegation of the European Union to India is bringing the best of European cinema made for children and youth for the Indian audience during SIFFCY 2023. Further association with SCHLINGEL International Film Festival, Germany will result in 10 recent handpicked German films captivating the young Indian enthusiasts. 

“This edition of SIFFCY will have a dozen of unique workshops, panel discussions and master-classes by industry experts and mentors, in additoin to screening of internationally acclaimed films. The larger idea behind this festival is to encourage young minds to think critically and express creatively, especially through the medium of films. We have also been trying to provide an exclusive platform for young, aspiring and independent filmmakers to showcase their talents to the international audience,” says Mr. Jitendra Mishra, festival director of SIFFCY.

In one of the biggest cinematic experiences for children, youth and film-enthusiasts in India, Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth (SIFFCY) will screen the handpicked films on a hybrid mode, through both physical and virtual platforms. Over 30,000 young visitors are scheduled to visit the festival venues in New Delhi alone where over 25 International filmmakers, experts, festival organizers, media professionals from over 20 different countries will be present physically and virtually. In addition, the festival will be held in 50 other locations spread across India. Acclaimed filmmaker from Japan Mr. Nijitaro will be hosting an animation workshops with underprivileged children to make a film during the ninth edition of SIFFCY.  

Smile Foundation believes that every movie creator or storyteller has a unique way of working. However, one of the important qualities is to use entertainment as a medium to inculcate invaluable human emotions such as giving, empathy and a sense of responsibility.

With a strong belief in the power of responsible communication, especially that of good cinema, Smile Foundation has successfully worked on numerous short films, documentaries, TV series and campaigns besides a full-length feature film ‘I am Kalam’ in the recent past. I am Kalam alone travelled across the globe winning 30 awards, besides a national award in India.

Prominent directors, actors, writers, cinematographers and production wizards including Hansal Mehta, Jahnu Barua, Santosh Sivan, Nagesh Kukunoor, Resul Pookutty, Tigmanshu Dhulia, and Utpal Borpujari have been the pillars of strength since the inception of SIFFCY.

 

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is a national level development organization directly benefitting over 1.5 million children and their families every year, through more than 400 welfare projects on education, healthcare, livelihood and women empowerment, in over 2000 remote villages and slums across 25 states of India. Smile Foundation is also a widely respected brand known for its continuous innovations and strives to sensitize the privileged mass across the globe so that they come forward, take on the social problems of the world as personal challenges and fight them back. And in order to grab their attention, Smile Foundation has been developing films as a core area, which are creative, innovative and are a balance of the right content and the right quality. 

Watertown, March 2023 – athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of network-enabled software and services for medical groups and health systems nationwide, and Smile Foundation today announced the expansion of their partnership with the launch of a second mobile medical unit, as part of the Smile on Wheels initiative, in Bengaluru, India. The mobile medical units providess free care to underprivileged and underserved communities in Karnataka state.

The expansion is a result of the success of the partnership’s first mobile medical unit, which was launched in August 2021 to help strengthen public health infrastructure and provide primary healthcare to Chennai residents. To date, the original unit has served more than 25,000 people. athenaGives, athenahealth’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, provides financial support for Smile on Wheels’ mobile medical units.

In addition to healthcare accessibility, another  primary objective of the second mobile medical unit in Bengaluru is safe motherhood, ensuring all women receive the care they need to be healthy throughout pregnancy and childbirth and to reduce the number of maternal mortalities. 

Smile on Wheels is a national-level mobile healthcare program from Smile Foundation, that benefits underprivileged communities. Under the program, well-equipped mobile medical units, along with specialized doctors, nurses, medical staff, and medicine reach out to doorsteps of people in identified villages and underserved urban communities to provide crucial access to primary healthcare services in unserved or underserved areas. Smile on Wheels has so far provided free healthcare services to more than 1.5 million children and families across India. 

“Ensuring healthcare of children and young mothers is crucial for both wellbeing of families and prosperity of the society. We are glad to take our partnership with athenahealth further and to complement the efforts of the governments,” said Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-founder & Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation. 

“We are proud to partner with Smile Foundation to support patients in underprivileged communities in India,” said Gillian Perron, head of athenaGives at athenahealth. “Maternal health is a global issue, and we look forward to continuing to work with organizations both in India and the United States to help improve pregnancy and childbirth outcomes.”

 athenahealth also collaborated with Akshaya Patra to distribute 4,000 shatki kits in Bengaluru and Chennai in March 2023. The kits are designed to improve the nutritional status of pregnant women who have limited financial resources.

 About athenahealth, Inc.  

athenahealth creates innovative healthcare technology that connects clinicians, patients, payers, and partners in differentiated ways. Our electronic health record, revenue cycle management, and patient engagement tools allow anytime, anywhere access, driving better financial outcomes for our customers and enabling our provider customers to deliver better quality care. In everything we do, we’re inspired by our vision to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com. 

athenaGives is athenahealth’s global corporate social responsibility program with a mission to provide equitable access to healthcare for all; improve food security; and support science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. 

 About Smile Foundation 

Smile Foundation is a national development organization directly benefitting over 1.5 million underprivileged children and their families every year through more than 400 welfare projects in education, healthcare, livelihood and women empowerment spread across 2,000 remote villages and urban slums in 25 states of India.

New Delhi, March 15, 2023: On the occasion of International Pi (π) Day, Smile Foundation and Shell launch ‘NXplorers Junior’ programme in three Indian states. NXplorers is Shell’s global flagship Social Investment STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) educational programme aims to benefit over 25,000 children during the first year by enabling them to understand, navigate and address local and global challenges, as underlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). NXplorers is also aligned with the National Education Policy 2020 and delivers societal benefits.  

The innovative initiative will benefit less-privileged students from government schools and affordable private schools, studying in rural and hard-to-reach areas in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala. Its design also includes endeavour to create awareness amongst parents on the importance of STEM education, especially for girl children.

“Shell firmly believes that, provided with the necessary skills and guidance, young people can be a driving force to find sustainable solutions to the major global challenges of our time. Launched in 2018, Shell’s global flagship STEM programme NXplorers is aligned with the National Education Policy 2020 that aims to transform India into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society. With the Smile Foundation partnership, we aim to expand this programme to Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Telangana and offer young minds the platform to design sustainable solutions to ease the pressure on food, water, and energy,” said Ms. Latika Taneja, Head of Corporate Relations – India.

The programme is being rolled out in concurrence with the educational authorities of the respective state governments. Besides students, teachers, parents and communities are involved actively while implementing the programme so that it remains sustainable in the long-term.

“We are excited to roll out this innovative programme in India. We are hopeful that our children will not only leverage STEM education in building their future career but also will grow up and develop leadership ability in finding sustainable solutions in various walks of life,” said Mr. Santanu Mishra, Co-founder & Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation.  

The NXplorers Juniors will train both 6th and 7th grade students. NXplorers Juniors Level-I course will be delivered through a combination of teacher’s guide, PowerPoint slides, and several instructional videos. The facilitator guide will outline the essentials to be covered in each session, exercises, discussion, checkpoint questions, a summary, assessment, and research to be undertaken by students after the session.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), exploring SDG Solutions, researching global goals, and developing a challenge and choosing a solution etc. are covered in the NXplorers Juniors Level-1.

NXplorers – Learning for a Life Time, envisions to provide a minimum of 3-5 years of NXplorers exposure to the students at various levels. The objectives include developing strong knowledge and skill set among students so that local and global challenges can be addressed by them. Developing sustainable models of implementation by engaging teachers, school leaders and communities effectively, creating awareness amongst parents regarding the importance of STEM education, especially concerning girl education are part of the overall goals.

About Smile Foundation:

Smile Foundation is a national development organization directly benefitting over 1.5 million underprivileged children and their families every year through more than 400 welfare projects in education, healthcare, livelihood and women empowerment spread across 2,000 remote villages and urban slums in 25 states of India.

About Shell:

Shell is one of the most diversified international energy company in India with over 10,000 employees and presence across upstream, integrated gas, downstream, renewable energy, and deep capabilities in R&D, digitalisation, and business operations; with a retail presence across six states – Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Assam.