MUMBAI: Smile Foundation is hosting the 10th edition of the annual Smile International Film Festival for Children & Youth (SIFFCY) in partnership with the European Union (The delegation of the European Union in India). SIFFCY in its 10th year has put together a diverse list of films from India and abroad to be organized in a hybrid model. The main celebrations, including the opening and award ceremonies, are happening at the PHD House, New Delhi during 9-11th April. SIFFCY will also be hosted at 50 different locations across India simultaneously, making it the largest and biggest film festival in the country.
The European Union and its member countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland will be taking the center-stage as the countries of focus this year. SIFFCY 2024 will have various categories such as International Competition (Feature and Shorts), 70MM Smile which features World Panorama Feature and non-feature films, while the Yellow Carpet segment celebrates the diverse Indian Regional Cinema in Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Rajasthani, Karbi, Garhwali, Nepali etc. Films made by Children can be viewed at Take One and Extra Smiles brings together the best of SIFFCY from the earlier editions as well as classics.
Multiple special showcase this year includes 10 films made by the students of BATA University, the Czech Republic, to be presented by the Embassy of the Czech Republic in India. Eight Classic Animations (1990s / 35mm) curated by TV Studio Animated Films, Poland will be presented by acclaimed film personality from Poland Mr. Jerzy Moszkowicz along with the Polish Institute New Delhi. Eight Award winning films from Germany are to be presented by SCHLiNGEL Int’l Film Festival. Multiple films made by children from more than 30 different countries (including the USA, Spain, Columbia, Portugal, Belgium, Ukraine, Croatia, Greece, Austria, Germany, Estonia, Australia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Malaysia) and films on environment, family values, inclusion, disability, friendship, art and culture, war and peace and many other important topics will be made available for the young film lovers.
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“I believe that good cinema is one of the most powerful media to depict reality and to emulate values. Good cinema has the power to stimulate discussion and contemplation in young minds about personal, emotional, societal and moral duties, thereby enabling them to become better and stronger individuals. With a platform like SIFFCY, we want to contribute towards bringing positive societal change that begins with the young minds,” says Mr. Santanu Mishra, Chairman of SIFFCY and Co-founder & Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation.
“As we celebrate the 10th anniversary edition of the festival, this year we are trying to reach out to a larger young audience in multiple locations across the country and spread extra smiles. We are going to screen 150 films from 40 countries, besides hosting ten different types of film-related interactive sessions and capacity building workshops for children and youth free of cost,” SIFFCY Festival Director Mr. Jitendra Mishra said on this occasion.
SIFFCY will see sizeable participation by schools and communities across India. Screenings and programmes are scheduled to tap young, imaginative minds. Selected films and programmes will also be streaming on a dedicated, secured, geo-blocked virtual platform of the festival for a larger audience throughout the week. SIFFCY intends to continue with his mission of reaching out to as many children and youth as possible and bring together an entertaining and enlightening format.
SIFFCY’s journey over the last decade has brought together a milieu where professional filmmakers and young amateurs have brought forward the best of audio-visual medium. Keeping the tradition alive, this year SIFFCY will host 50 young Jurors from across the world, besides 30 International Professional Jurors from 15 countries.
SIFFCY is the only non-European Festival to host ‘European Children’s Film Association Award (ECFA) and the only Indian Festival to host CIFEJ Award supported by UNESCO.
SIFFCY this year will organize 10 different workshops, masterclasses and panel discussions on wide-ranging topics like environment, family values, war and peace, road safety amongst others.
