America
CFSI's 'Pappu Ki Pugdandi' chosen for Toronto fest
Mumbai, March 9
"Pappu Ki Pugdandi", the
latest movie produced by Children's Film Society of India (CFSI) will be
the official Indian entry at the Toronto International Film Festival
Kids 2015 from April 7 to 19, a top official said here Monday.
The
90-minute movie has been directed by Seemaa Desai and tells the story
of Pappu, hailing from a lower middle-class family who faces adjustment
issues in his new school and his interactions with a genie hoping to
solve all his problems.
The message conveyed by the movie is there are no shortcuts to happiness and one must learn to identify his or her strengths.
"We
have been making films for the Indian market since inception in 1955
and this would be a collective effort to reach the international
markets, make much better cinema which would entertain and educate,"
CFSI CEO Shravan Kumar told IANS.
In the past sixty years, CFSI
has produced, exhibited and distributed more than 260 children's movies,
short films, animations, television programmes and documentaries, he
added.
In 2013, a CFSI animated movie "Goopi Gawaiiya Bagha
Bajaiiya" was premiered at TIFF Kids, reinforcing its commitment to
create value-based entertainment not for children in India and around
the world, according to Kumar.
TIFF Kids is one of the biggest
children's film festivals in the world offering a diverse slate of
programming from Canada and others parts of the world, fostering new
ideas about complex issues confronting today's youth.
Incidentally,
"Gattu" was the first CFSI movie released commercially in 2012 with a
mega-buzz created through marketing and promotions, Kumar said.
"Unlike
China, Netherlands and Denmark, India does not have a thriving
children's cinema culture, but CFSI with all its expertise in children
cinema, released 'Gattu' and learnt from the experience to evolve an
appropriate marketing, distribution strategy for children's films. We
are now approached by mainstream filmmakers to help distribute their
children's movies," Kumar explained.
"Gattu" won a Special
Mention by International Jury at Generation Berlinale 2012 and CFSI's
films "Goopi Gawaiiya Bagha Bajaiiya" had won national and international
acclaim for its unique Indian-style animation.
Another CFSI
production, "Kaphal-The Wild Berries", directed by Batul Mukhtiar won
the National Film Award for best children film in 2013.