Bakul Foundation’s Children’s Film Fest To Conclude In Bhubaneswar Tomorrow

Bhubaneswar: Eminent director Mira Nair’s award winning film “Queen of Katwe” was screened at the Festival of International Children’s Films in the Bakul Library in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

The film is a biopic about a chess prodigy from Uganda in Africa. It’s an inspiring and uplifting story of how people can be empowered even when the odds are stacked against them. The film is about 10-year-old Phiona, who grows up in a slum in Kampala, Uganda. Her life changes after meeting Robert Katende, who teaches her chess.

The film festival is organised by BAKUL Foundation from June 13 to 19. The films from around the world including Europe (France), Africa (Uganda), West Asia (Iran), East Asia (Japan), South America (Uruguay), North America (USA) and India are screened for children and adults alike at 5 pm.

All the foreign films have English subtitles and will appeal to children of 8 years and above, young adults and adults. The films of different genres including animation, social drama and fantastic figure in the festival.

“The Red Turtle” is the last film to be screened on Monday. It has incredible maritime animation and has no dialogues at all. Its story is about how the life of a man, stranded in an island after shipwreck, changes after he encounters a red turtle.

The first film in the festival was “Karamati Coat” from India, the award winning children’s movie, about Raghu, a rag-picker who discovers a magical coat which changes his life.

The other films shown included “Children of Heaven” by eminent Iranian director Majid Majidi and “My Neighbour Totoro” by Hayao Miyazaki, a classic of Japanese animation, about a sister who takes the help of the Totoros, magical spirits of the forest, to find her missing sister.

The film festival has been curated by two young volunteers of Bakul Foundation, Saubhagya Beura and Tanisha Agrawal. Tanisha and Saubhagya had some of her earliest exposure to world cinema at earlier film festivals at Bakul.