New Delhi: 4th Edition of Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth Awards announced on 14th December 2018. The glittering award ceremony was held in the esteemed presence of Santanu Mishra, Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation and Chairman – SIFFCY; Jitendra Mishra, Festival Director – SIFFCY and eminent international dignitaries.
SIFFCY is celebrating a meaningful and socially relevant cinema in its fourth edition that commenced from 10th December’18 at Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi. The ongoing film festival concluded on 16th December’18. The week-long festival had different kinds of capacity building and professional workshops, panels and master-classes (for all ages).
More than 150 films from over 30 countries was showcased which included 9 feature films and 16 short films in the international competition section and others are in other different non-competitive sections, of Feature, Shorts and documentaries, and films made by children.
Under International Competition – Shorts (Young Jury), Red Apple by Ana Horvat bagged best short film (children) award. Kids on the silk road – Girls against Gravity by Jens J. V. Pedersen, Simon Lereng Wilmont and Kaspar Astrup Schroder was awarded best short film (youth), and The Award by Lidija Mojsovska was awarded the best story award.
For the film with special message category, Hallo Salaam and Hadia (The Gift) was chosen.
Under International Competition – Shorts (By Professional Jury), for the best short film children – Kids on the Silk Road – Girls against Gravity bagged the award. My Happy Complicated Family won the best short film (youth).
For the best story, Hallo Salaam by Kim Brand bagged the award. The Award received special mention in this category.
Outdoors by Anne Castaldo, Sarah Chalek, Elsa Nesme, Adrien Rouquies received the best film awards under Next Gen (Films made by students). Los Bando by Christian Lo bagged the best feature film under ECFA Awards.
Under International Competition (Feature) six awards were given – Best Feature Film (children) was given to The Witch Hunters and Cross My Heart bagged the Best Feature Film (Youth) category. Bragi Thor Hinriksson received the best director award for The Falcons. Cross My Heart by Luc Picard also received the award for best story.
Silma Mahmuti & Mihajlo Milavic from The Witch Hunters and Milya Corbeil-Gauvreau from Cross My Heart were awarded as best actors. Chuskit by Priya Ramabhushan received special mention in this category.
Apart from this one special award was given to Bisma by Hero MotoCorp for the best social awareness campaign.
Speaking on the occasion, Santanu Mishra, Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation and Chairman – SIFFCY said, “We started SIFFCY with the idea to design a mix of impactful film programs to build and support the growing interest in the infotainment industry. With just an idea and a handful of people, we conceptualized it a few years ago. Over the years, this idea gained strength as several like-minded individuals and institutions joined the movement. Also, we have bagged few well known global associations, which will help bring the best of world cinema and inspire, motivate and create a lasting impact in the minds of our children and Youth.”
The jury congratulated all the awards winners and award ceremony ended with a vote of thanks by Jitendra Misra, Festival Director – SIFFCY.
Jitendra Misra, Festival Director – SIFFCY said, “Smile Foundation is honoured to have prestigious global associations with ECFA Awards and Students Academy Awards. I would like to thank all our international guests and juries for being here interacting with our children & making it an unforgettable experience for them. My heartfelt appreciation for all our supporters & sponsors, our school partners & festival partners for their participation, encouragement, support and trust in SIFFCY.”
International jury of SIFFCY 2018 consisted of Lawrence David Foldes, Filmmaker and Executive Committee member, Student Academy Awards (Oscar); Michael Harbauer, Festival Director, Schlingel International Film Festival, Germany; Marketa Pasmova, Artistic Director, Zlin, one of the oldest Film Festival, Festival Board Member ECFA (European Children’s Film Association), Czech Republic; Josep Arbiol, President of the Cultural Association ‘Jordi el Mussol’, Spain, Festival Director-MICE, Valencia; Pof. Dragan Milinkovic, Eminent university professor, producer, drama writer and Director, Serbia; Elham Shirvani, Executive Director, CIFEJ, Iran; Jarroslava Hynstova, Programmer, Zlin int’l film festival, Czech Republic, Screenwriter and director of comedy plays, Czech Republic; Hilde Steenssens, Artistic and general director of Filem’On, Belgium; Volodymyr Diagilev, Executive Director: DYTIATKO International Children’s Television Festival, Ukraine; and Marta Kraus, Author and Producer of national audiovisual education programme, Director Int’l Film Festival – KINOLUB, Poland.
SIFFCY (Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth) is 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 World Cinema. It caters to young people (aged 6 to 25) with just about every level of interest in film, whether to watch and enjoy, create their own work or take things a stage further and find out more about a career in the film or television industry.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]