World Children’s film fest in Colombo

Children and movie lovers will get a rare opportunity to watch internationally famous gems of children's cinema when the International Children's Film Festival opens at Elphinstone theatre, Maradana today, October 1.

The festival is organized by the National Film Corporation (NFC), Tower Hall Theatre Foundation joining with six embassies to mark International Children's Day. Starting from a Sri Lankan film, Somaratne Dissanayake's ‘Samanala Thatu’ on Sunday, October 1 at 10 am, children's films from Germany, France, India, Iran, China and Russia will be screened from October 2 to 8. Two films from each country will be screened daily at 9 am and 11 am free of charge.

They are German film ( Oct 2) 'The Flying Classroom' and ‘Puenktchen and Antom’, French films (Oct 3) 'Princes and Princesses’ and ‘Kirikou and the Sorceress’, Indian films (Oct 4) 'Mujhse Dosti Karoge' and 'Karamati Coat’, Iranian film (Oct 5) ‘Colour of Paradise’ and ‘Athal Mathal Tootoole’, Chinese films (Oct 7) 'Together with you' and 'A Lotus Lantern' and Russian films (Oct 8) ‘Barbara the Fair with Silken Hair' and 'The Scarlet'.

‘The Flying Classroom' depicts the story covering a few days that is left for the students of Johann-Sigismund Gymnasium before Christmas. The main characters - students from Öbertertia (Year 9) - are rehearsing a Christmas drama called 'The Flying Classroom' when their attention is distracted by a school brawl against the students of the local Realschule. They then find out that Nichtraucher, the mysterious man who lives in an abandoned trailer lying next to their school, is actually a best friend of their much-beloved teacher, Justus. They then try to reunite the long-separated friends, while coping up with their own individual problems.

'Princes and Princesses' is a film from French animator Michel Ocelot. For Prince and Princess, which took ten years to make, Ocelot returns to the same form - line drawn from fairytales like his other films 'Kirikou and the Sorceress' (1998), a strikingly line drawn film based on traditional African folktales. It is a delightful and quite beautiful film he produced.

All the figures are animated as silhouette shapes, something which in its simplicity has an extraordinary versatility, allowing Ocelot to model styles as diverse as Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics to traditional Japanese art.

'Kirikou and the Sorceress' (1998) is a French animated film based on an African folk tale where a newborn boy saves his village by ridding the world of Karaba, the evil sorceress. The film is directed by Michel Ocelot. It was so successful that a sequel, Kirikou and the Wild Beasts, followed in 2005.

In a little village somewhere in Africa, a boy named Kirikou is born in a spectacular way.

But he's not a normal boy, because he knows what he wants very well. Also, immediately after he's born, he already can speak and walk. His mother tells him how an evil sorceress has dried up their spring and devoured all males of the village except one. Hence little Kirikou decides, he will accompany the last warrior to the sorceress. Due to his intrepidity he may be the last hope of the village.

'Mujhse Dosti Karoge!' (Will you be my friend?) - is an Indian Bollywood movie released on August 9 2002 directed by Kunal Kohli and produced by Aditya Chopra and Yash Chopra.

It is about the love triangle of three friends played by Hrithik Roshan, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor.
The movie features a medley of well-known Bollywood songs, among them the title song from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

Hindi movie 'Karamati Coat' is directed by Ajay Karthik. Bobbing up and down on the waves of a sea is a coat which is washed on to a sea-shore. A kind old lady picks it up and gives it to Raghu, a poor fourteen year old boy and disappears before he knows what to say. When Raghu puts his hand in the pocket he finds a rupee coin. Raghu makes a beeline for a sweetmeat shop to buy himself a sumptuous treat. He finds this is just the beginning of a windfall for him. Very soon, Raghu realizes out that the coat handed to him is a magic coat, which yielded a fresh rupee every time he put his hand in its pocket. So begins a time of infinite joys, adventures, and with it, the inevitable troubles and dangers. A gang of three crooks discover the secret of his coat and start hounding him for it. His brother-in-law begins to covet it too. Problems abound. Raghu realizes that easy money cannot be savoured.

"Color of Paradise" directed by Majid Majidi (acclaimed and best known for "The Children of Heaven") has produced a film that in content, themes and beauty makes a great deal of modern blockbusters look nasty and expensive.

In Arabic (with English subtitles), it's the story of eight-year old Mohammad, a blind boy who attends a school for the blind in Tehran. When the school breaks for the summer months, Mohammad's father is the last to pick him up, even then only after trying to have the school keep the boy. His reasons become obvious after he retreats to his home in the Iranian countryside: taking care of his son is a burden in his quest to win the dowry and the hand of a local woman in marriage, and his son is a threat to his own future well-being. As Mohammad enjoys life in the picturesque countryside with his two sisters and grandmother, he is oblivious to his father's plans to get rid of him.

`Lotus Lantern', animation film based on an ancient Chinese legend, make the kids sit all through and watch, unmindful of the mosquito menace at the Gandhi Memorial Museum ground. The venue on the last day was shifted to the museum due to unavoidable reasons.

The reunion between Goddess San Sheng Mu and her son, Chenxiang who saves her from the doom is the thread line of the story.

God Erlang forces the Goddess, who married a scholar, to return the lantern by kidnapping Chenxiang and condemns her elopement as a severe violation of the rules of heaven. The boy regains the lotus lantern with which he defeats God Erlang.

Directed by Aleksandr Rou, Russian movie 'Barbara the Fair with Silken Hair' stars Mikhail Pugovkin , Georgiy Millyar , Anatoliy Kubatsky and Tatyana Klyueva .

Magic, mystery, and mistaken identities are all part of this visually striking fantasy based on a well-known Russian fairy tale. While stopping at a well during a journey, Tsar Yeremey (Mikhail Pugovkin) is confronted by Chudo-Yudo the Lawless (Georgi Millyar), a ill-mannered enchanted creature who lives at the bottom of a lake. Chudo-Yudo refuses to release Yeremey without some sort of tribute, so the Tsar agrees that Chudo-Yudo is allowed to take possession of any of the valuables in his fiefdom that he doesn't know about. However, when Yeremey returns, he learns to his surprise that he has just become a father; terrified that his newborn son will be handed over to Chudo-Yudo, the Tsar makes a secret arrangement with a poor fisherman to exchange babies to keep his child from Chudo-Yudo's clutches. As the children grow to be men, Yeremey pays little attention to pudgy and self-centered Prince Andrei (Sergei Nikolayev), while from a distance he dotes on the strapping fisherman's boy Andrei (Andrei Katyshev); what the Tsar doesn't realize, however, is that there was a mix-up in the exchange of babies, and that his true son has been living with him all along.

When Chudo-Yudo decides to claim Prince Andrei as a suitable fiancé for his lovely daughter Barbara (Tatyana Klyuyeva), the sullen young man is spirited away to Chudo-Yudo's underwater lair.

Yeremey tells the fisherman's son of what he believes is his true parentage, and the young man sets out to rescue the Prince, little realizing the beauty and charm of Barbara.