Kaval bags children's film awards

Kaval, a 20-minute film directed by Praveen Das of Government Higher Secondary School, Thrissilery, bagged the award for the best film in the higher secondary school category at the State Children's Educational Film Festival, which concluded in Thiruvanthapuram on Wednesday.

Praveen Das also won the P. Ramadas Award for the best director, instituted in memory of P. Ramadas, director of the Malayalam film Newspaper Boy (1955). Kaval, is an adaptation of a short story for Class X students written by P. Valsala.

A total of 78 films, including 41 made by children, were screened during the three-day film festival, on the theme "Children have something to say, hear and see", organized by the State Institute for Educational Technology (SIET). The films covered a variety of topics ranging from adulteration and pollution to issues more relevant to children and adolescents.

Speaker K. Radhakrishnan has given away the awards at the valedictory ceremony. Minister for Education and Culture M.A. Baby, who presided over the function, said that the government hoped to conduct the film festival on a national level from next year.

Beena Paul, chairperson of the five-member jury, said these films made by children reflected a great amount of innocence and closeness to reality and judging them was an eye-opening experience.