Films from Uzbekistan, Russia, Iran, Australia, and Spain Bag Top Awards at KidzCINEMA 2021

by Suman Gupta

Mumbai, December 2021: KidzCINEMA 2021, last evening in an Award Ceremony announced the Gaja Awards for the 2^nd edition of this international children’s film festival in presence of well-known Bollywood actor Kannan Arunachalam, as Chief Guest.

With the festival’s theme “stories of positivity,” the festival had received 1519 film entries from 93 countries, out of which 51 films were a part of official selection competing for awards. The films, which received Golden Gaja Awards are as follows:

• Animation (Short): Girl and cloud – UZBEKISTAN

• Live Action (Short): Georgy – RUSSIAN FEDERATION

• Live Action (Long): A Tale of Flight – IRAN

• Kidz Made Films (Juniors): The science of stress during remote learning – AUSTRALIA

• Kidz Made Films (Youth): The Power of the Mirror – SPAIN

KidzCinema2021 was kicked of Universal Children’s Day, which is celebrated on 20th November each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children’s welfare. The festival is available virtually for a month up to 19th December, through MovieSaints, the streaming partner. This festival is supported by CIFEJ (Centre International de Film pour l’enfance et La Jeunesse i.e. The International Centre of Films for Children and Young People).

Praveen Nagda, Festival Director, KidzCINEMA informed, “It was very encouraging to see our 2^nd edition attracting so many films from all over the world. It gives a platform to thousands of filmmakers to showcase their work around children’s films. In this edition, we not only enhanced our curatorial value but also engaged with global jury members representing all continents of planet earth. Our engagement with children was at the next level as this time we also introduced child jury for two short film categories, making it a wholesome festival experience.”

The festival had 5 categories of competition viz. Animation (Short), Live Action (Long), Live Action (Short), Kidz Made Films (Juniors), and Kidz Made Films (Youth). Out of these 2 categories of Kidz Made Films are the films made by children across the world between the age group of 6 to 20 years, while the earlier 3 categories are films made by adults for children.

The adult jury consisted of Alexandre Juruena, Anita Gupta, Azadeh Shakourirad, Deependra Mohora, Fahmidul Shantonu, Gabriele Brennen, Josep Arbiol, Marion Creely, Dr. Madhu Chopra, Monarose Sheila Pereira, Mohammad Shahmohammadi, NR Nanjunde Gowda, Premendra Mazumder, Ramesh Tekwani, Soultana Koumutsi, Sannette Naeye, Thuli Nyembe, Tehzeeb Khurana, T.S. Nagabharana, and Vinod Ganatra.

The Child Jury included celebrity child artist Dishita Sehgal along with Ihita Jain, Kyra Narain, Os Mishra, and Ojasvini Kumar. Another highlight of the festival was a performance by child artists Karman Singh Talwar, Purvahi Dhawan, and Fathima Neha.

Children from all over the world interacted with eminent directors, actors, and participate in various workshops on Filmmaking, Animation, Scriptwriting, Acting, Anchoring, and Theatre etc. Workshop on Acting by Suvahhdan Angre, Mobile Filmmaking by Ritesh Taksande, Theatre by Raell Padamsee’s ACE Productions and Gulshan Walia, Navarasa (nine emotions) by Actor Mithila Naik, Voice Modulation by Actor Leena Nandi, Photography by Pritesh Rao, Singing by Charul Singh, Harmony Musical Abode were organized.

AWARDS LIST – KIDZCINEMA 2021

Category: Animation (Short)

Golden Gaja	Girl and cloud – UZBEKISTAN
Silver Gaja	The Flowerpot Monster and the Pinwheel – GERMANY
Bronze Gaja	Forever a Kid – NETHERLANDS
Jury Special Mention	Refusal (2021) – UNITED KINGDOM DREAMS – INDIA Earth’s Children – KENYA

Category: Live Action (Short)

Golden Gaja	Georgy – RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Silver Gaja (For 2 films)	While I was getting ice cream! – RUSSIAN FEDERATION Clinton – INDIA
Bronze Gaja	MATE – INDIA
Jury Special Mention	play – IRAN

Category: Live Action (Long)

Golden Gaja	A Tale of Flight – IRAN
Silver Gaja	OUT OF THE BOX – UNITED STATES
Bronze Gaja	The Hoop – TURKEY
Jury Special Mention	Bonamy – INDIA Trees in Dreams – INDIA

Category: Kidz Made Films (Juniors)

Golden Gaja	The science of stress during remote learning – AUSTRALIA
Silver Gaja	The bird sat on the branch – SLOVENIA
Bronze Gaja	Cuando nos dimos cuenta (When we finally understood) – SPAIN
Jury Special Mention	The Butler and the Ball – CANADA

Category: Kidz Made Films (Youth)

Golden Gaja	The Power of the Mirror – SPAIN
Silver Gaja	Bhuiput – INDIA
Bronze Gaja	Through an Ants Eye – INDIA
Jury Special Mention	Trikonomiti – BANGLADESH Raman – INDIA

CHILD JURY SPECIAL AWARDS – Live Action (Short)

First	Mala pankha aste tar (If I Had a wings!) – INDIA
Second	While I was getting ice cream – RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Third	And suddenly it’s evening – ITALY

CHILD JURY SPECIAL AWARDS – Animation (Short)

First	Forever a Kid – NETHERLANDS
Second	A Fish for a friend – SINGAPORE
Third	DREAMS – INDIA