Children's films on govt apathy land in trouble.A BUBBLY bunch of students in Andhra Pradesh had a taste of the state government's anger for highlighting the pathetic conditions in their schools in a documentary package they had filmed. As many as 15 such short films made by the students of Medak district were to be screened during the 16th International Children's Film Festival, which began in Hyderabad on Saturday. However, the organisers were told at the last minute that the films were removed from the list because state minister for information and public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most J. Geetha Reddy, who is from Medak, was unhappy and angry over these documentaries projecting her native district in a poor light. The films were made by 21 children of Class VIII, IX and X belonging to various government schools in the district. The films -- two of which are of 10- minute duration and the rest are of 2- 3 minutes -- project several discriminatory issues like a backward class colony being left out without a concrete road causing untold hardships to the people, lack of drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. , lack of toilet facilities for girl students in their schools and hostels, importance of administering polio drops to children, child marriages and Bathukamma Festival of the Telangana region. Geetha Reddy said there was no controversy about the screening of the films. " All that I pointed out was that the producers should not inculcate in·cul·cate tr.v. in·cul·cat·ed, in·cul·cat·ing, in·cul·cates 1. To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill: inculcating sound principles. a negative mindset mind·set or mind-set n. 1. A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretations of situations. 2. An inclination or a habit. into the children. They should be made to look at the issues in a positive angle," she said. The decision came as a rude shock to the producers -- department of communications and theatre arts, University of Hyderabad Location The university is located at GachiBowli, about 20 km from the city of Hyderabad on the old Hyderabad-Bombay highway. Stretching over nearly 2300 acres of land, the campus is the home of a variety of birds. , in association with Unicef under the banner of " Children As Mass Producers" ( CAMP). All through Saturday, they had a tough time convincing Geetha Reddy's department to permit screening of the films to encourage the children. Sources said the situation turned serious when National Commission for Child Rights chairperson and Magsaysay award winner Shanta Sinha intervened. Sinha, who happens to be on the jury of international films, described the minister's objection to the film as gross violation of the right to expression, especially that of child rights. At one stage, she even threatened to quit the jury and walk out of the film festival to take up the issue at the national level. " Finally, the state government has agreed to screen eight films at the festival. And the venue for screening these eight films was also shifted from the main centre ( Prasad's Imax) to Prasad's preview theatre in Banjara Hills, where there will be hardly any viewers," Vinod Pavarala, dean of the department of communications at University of Hyderabad, said. Copyright 2009 India Today Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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