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The fifth edition of the week-long celebration of Good Cinema – Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth (SIFFCY) started on the 9th of December and ended on the 15th of December 2019 at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi. SIFFCY 2018 showcased 150+ critically acclaimed films from more than 50 countries to an audience of over 20,000 children.
The occasion was graced by the super excited school children across Delhi/NCR, SIFFCY Chairman Santanu Mishra (Co-Founder Smile Foundation), accompanied by Festival Director Jitendra Mishra and the eminent jury including John Stevenson, Julia Jarl, Mitsuo Tahira, Felix Vanginderhuysen, Judita Soukupová, Michael Harbauer, Josep Arbiol, Mohsen Chiniforoushan, Paméla Bisson, Ratnottama Sengupta, Utpal Datta, Johnson Thomas, Hilde Steenssens, Kim Sang-Hwa, Mama Marlaine and Daniel Lundquist.
SIFFCY 2019 also witnessed celebration of Czech Day wherein screening of multiple Czech films, creative workshops, interactive sessions and much more was conducted. This was an effort to exchange art, culture, tradition and values through cinema and strengthen the cultural relationship between the nations of Czech Republic and India. A workshop in ode to Karel Zeman’s work of animation was organized by volunteers of Embassy of Czech Republic. Students from Mission Education Programne were educated on animation techniques of Karel’s era in this workshop.
Workshop on Emotional Literacy and film-making workshops were conducted for the children. Conducting a workshop on Film-Making, Mr. Rasul demonstrated the importance of ‘perspective’ in reference to 3 short films directed by him and encouraged the eager listeners to think differently. The screenings were followed by a round of some thought-provoking questions by the children about becoming an artist and the challenges faced during its course. Mr. Rasul was very happy to inspire the children to rack their imagination and train themselves to think creatively.
The festival’s success was made possible with support from various partners which included international organizations like ECFA, CIFEJ, Youth Cinema Network, Wild Geese Foundation, and Embassy of the Czech Republic. The festival partners were Schlingel, Zlin film festival, Buff International film festival, Mice, Kineko, Biky, Kinolub, Cinekid, B.F.I Film Forever, Filem’on, La matatena, CMS Vatavaraan and Juniorfest. Other partners and supporters include Big Hand Films, Bos Bros, Great Point, Intach, Level K and Negativ Film Production among others.
Smile Foundation’s Film Festival is an effort to sensitize children and youth through hand-picked quality films, with assortment of various topics starting from gender equality to environment, family values, friendship, aspirations, dream, self-confidence and importance of education from across the globe.
