By Azera Rahman, IANS
New Delhi : Name one children’s film focussing on environmental issues. Contrary to the blank responses this question is likely to draw, filmmakers at the Vatavaran film festival here say there are actually quite a few films in this bracket, but not too many are popular among kids.
Vimlendu Jha, filmmaker and head of NGO Swecha, said: “There are plenty of films that children connect to and enjoy. But as far as films made by adults for children specifically go, they are not always appreciated by the kids.”
The reason cited for this is that an adult’s and child’s thought process, their imagination and opinions are not alike.
“What might amuse a child, might seem silly to an adult. That’s where most directors go wrong,” filmmaker Ashima Narain told IANS.
Talking about her film “In the Pink”, an urban wildlife documentary that studies the phenomenon of 20,000 flamingos visiting Mumbai, Narain said that while shooting there were many instances when she realised that certain shots would appeal to kids and not adults.
“For instance, there was this shot when a flamingo raises its head suddenly and looks around, in a funny sort of way while the background commentary says ‘…could it be because a flamingo’s brain is smaller than his eye?’
“Then there was another scene when the bird pooped, drawing an imaginary semi circle in the air. The kids, as I expected, loved these scenes and laughed out loud. But the adults … well they simply didn’t think much of it,” Narain said.
“Therein lies the difference. An adult-made film has to be sensitive to a child’s way of thinking. Only then will it be loved by the kids,” she added, stressing the point made by Jha.
According to the filmmakers, most of the times sensitive environmental issues like the declining tiger population doesn’t really make sense to children.
“You know, the child sees the tigers, enjoys the film. But the message does not hit home. He doesn’t really understand why the tiger is important. The film, which is understood by the adults, doesn’t make a mark on the kids,” Jha said.
Deepa Jain, an educationist and senior researcher said there was a scarcity of good children’s films and programmes.
“The problem is that children are considered miniature adults, thinking like the adults do. Hence they are supposed to enjoy what an adult does. That’s not right,” said Jain, who works with the Miditech group that produces the children’s serial “Gali Gali Sim Sim”.
According to Meenakshi Vinay Rai, filmmaker and organiser of cine festivals, children should be allowed to make or assist in films being made for them.
“Children, if allowed to make their own films, will put things in their own perspective. It will have a child’s touch.
“The thing with adults is that we always seek perfection. But when it comes to children’s films, a jerky shot and imperfect technical details which is very child-like, is what is appealing to kids,” Rai said.
She gave an example when in her film festival, in the pre-school genre of films, the jury, constituting of children, selected two films as the finalists.
“One was called ‘The Garlic Boy’, technically and content wise perfect. And the other one was ‘Yet another Gulliver’s Tales’, an experimental film by a 10-year- old.
“After intense discussion among them, the young jury chose the latter as the winner. The technical rough edges appealed to their senses, it felt like it was made by a child for a child,” she said.
While discussing the complexities of making a children’s film, the filmmakers also said that the target age group is another factor crucial while making a film.
“A film on muppets and puppets like ‘Gali Gali Sim Sim’, which kids of the age group between three to say eight would love, will not be appreciated by a 14-year-old.
“Hence while making a children’s film, besides everything else, the target audience of a particular age group also has to be kept in mind,” said Narain.
To this, Rai said that she would be launching a TV programme sometime next year that would telecast children’s films of different genres, thus catering to different age groups.
Vatavaran is an annual environment and wildlife film festival organised by the Centre for Media Studies, being held here Wednesday to Sunday. There are 275 films from 18 Indian states and 18 other countries at the festival, competing in 12 Indian and six international categories.