SIFFCY 2024
A SMILE FOUNDATION
INITIATIVE
Smile foundation in partnership with the European Union successfully hosted the 10th edition of the Smile International film festival for children and youthfrom 9thApr to 15thApr 2024 in New Delhi and 100+ other different locations across India simultaneously.
The week-long film festival reached out to more than 5,00,000 young audiences across India with over 150films from 50 countries and 50 different workshops, masterclasses, panel discussions and more. More than 50 national and international industry professionals, jurors, filmmakers and guests from 12 different countries participated in person and 100 young Jurors from 10 countries participated virtually during these 7 days. The national media has recognised the 10th edition of SIFFCY as the largest film festival in the country this year !
Major activities along with the opening and award ceremony were held in New Delhi during the week. Simultaneously multiple screenings and related activities were scheduled in different schools and communities in various locations across India. Selected program were also available on the specially designed, secured, dedicated streaming platform of the festival throughout the week.
The films program included 150+ films from different genre including feature films, short films, documentaries and animations made by both professionals and children, from above 50 different countries have been selected for various sections of the official program of the festival this year. Along with film screenings, multiple capacity building workshops, panel discussions and interactive masterclasses were hosted during the week-long festival.
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BACKGROUND:
SIFFCY is a flagship initiative of India’s leading development organization Smile Foundation to engage, educate and empower young minds through Good Cinema and Cinema related capacity building workshops, interactivepanels, masterclasses and related activities. The annual festival attracts thousands of filmmakers, industry professionals and Cinephile from across the world and more than 50000 young spectators take part in the week-long film festival every year. We hope to reach out to a larger audience and expect virtual participation of more than one million Online visitors all together.
(You may find more information on www.smilefoundationindia.org | www.siffcy.org )
INT'L COMP FEATURE
ArtisticDirector, Zlín Film Festival
Mrs. Markéta Pášmová (1975), She graduated from the Philosophical Faculty of Masaryk University in Brno. In 1999, she began working as a program organizerat Zlín Film Festival. In 2004, she began working at Zlín Film Festival as head of the program department. Since January 2013 she has been the artistic director. She is focused on European cinema and is active in the field of educational programs for children and youth. She sits regularly in professional juries of similarly oriented festivals. She is a board member of the foundation FILMTALENT ZLÍN, which supports talented young filmmakers. Markéta Pášmová is the head film programme organizer of the festival, comprehensively covering its dramaturgicalcom position and line. She develops and maintains domestic and international relations in the realm of film professionals.
Jerzy Moszkowicz, the director of International Young Audience Film Festival Ale Kino! and Children Art’s Centre in Poznań, Poland. Arts manager and stage director, author of theatre performances, TV films and programmes for children and young adults. In the past the president of International Centre of Films for Children and Young People – CIFEJ and board member of ECFA – European Children’s Film Association. Jury member of a number of film festivals for children and young people all around the world.
He is the director of the Oulu International Children’s and Youth Film Festival, which is organized annually in November by the Oulu Film Centre. Festival was founded in 1982. He is a board member of Media Education CenterMetka in Helsinki.
As a gentle contrast to children’s films he was involved 20 years with IIK!! Horror Film Festival in Ii from its beginning. Anttolainen was the chairman of the IIK!! board for 14 years. He was altogether eight years a board member of the Oulu Night of Arts, an annual event where all kinds of arts forms meet.
Pantelis Panteloglou has studied Social Anthropology in Athens and has an MA on Social Exclusion and Minorities. He has been working in the audiovisual sector, cinema and theater since 2003 in various creative and organizational positions. Since 2011, he has worked for Olympia International Film Festival’s for Children and Young People film selection, printed material, international relations and exchanges and translations. He is currently the deputy artistic director of OIFF. He is the current president of the European Children’s Film Association.
Anu Aun is Estonian film director and screenwriter. She is most well known for her latest feature, a whole family Christmas adventure “Phantom Owl Forest” (2018), which became the most-viewed Estonian film of the year, won several national and international awards and has been sold to several countries around the world. Anu’s debut feature “The Polar Boy” (2016) was a youth film, developed in the prestigious Torino Film Lab and Nipkow Program and screened at numerous renowned festivals. Anu started her career with her short film Shift (2010), which was selected to more than 70 international film festivals and won 17 prizes from all over the world. In 2023 Anu released a documentary “Walker on Water” that portrays womanhood through the beloved Estonian poet Kristiina Ehin. Film recently had its international premiere at EU Film Festival India. Currently Anu is working on a new children’s film.
Vipin Sharma studied at the National School of Drama in New Delhi. His first film Taare Zameen Par was India’s official entry for the Best Foreign Film at the Oscars! He has been a part of some of the best films/series made in Hindi cinema since 2007, Gangs of Wasseypur, Shahid, Pan Singh Tomar, Night Queen, Family Man and Guns n Gulaabs. He is eagerly awaiting Dev Patel’s Monkey Man and Tarsem Singh’s Dear Jassi. Currently he is working on a feature film that he will be directing!