Hyderabad to host international children's film festival in November

Hyderabad will be hosting the 19th International Children's Film Festival (ICFF) from November 14 for which a total of 1204 entries have been received online from 80 countries. Hyderabad is the permanent venue for the ICFF, which will be held between November 14 20. "A total of 1204 entries were received through online from 80 countries for the screening in this edition, including some of the award winning and reputed films," Shravan Kumar of Children Film Society of India (CFSI) stated. "It was around 900 films during the last edition," he added. The competition will be in international, international short, Asian panorama and little directors categories. "To enlighten the children, five workshops along with a special workshop on the digital making of films will be conducted," he said in a statement. Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting ministry has asked organising committee to make the event successful by coordinating the efforts of different departments of Central and the Telangana governments. At a review meeting held on Friday in connection with ICFF, Sunil Arora, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said the film festival should be more entertaining, interactive, informative and fun for the children, according to an official release. Telangana chief secretary Rajiv Sharma said the opening and closing ceremony will be held at Lalitha Kala Thoranam. The IMAX theatre will be the main venue for screening of the films along with 11 more theatres, the release added.