KidzCinema2024 - An International Children's Film Festival

We are back with the 4th edition of KidzCINEMA, an online international children’s film festival. For centuries, storytelling has evolved through various forms and the tradition has been passed on through generations in many ways. From visual/oral to written, and digital – stories have been expressed through various mediums such as drawing, painting, photography, animation, and motion videos – giving it a new dimension. The evolution of children’s films has been an interesting paradigm in the world of cinema as it has the highest potential to impact children. Even in their formative years, children have tremendous cognitive abilities to grasp the essence of communication through films irrespective of the existing language barriers. Children’s films therefore not only become a great source of entertainment but also tools for learning and growth. The number of children’s film festivals organized in various countries including India has been established as well-known properties towards children’s cinema.

Cinema is the most powerful medium of creative expression globally. We are back with the 4th edition of KidzCINEMA. Children from all over the world will get to watch movies, interact with directors, actors, and also participate in various LIVE workshops around scriptwriting, animation, and filmmaking.

Birth of this Festival

The festival was born in the times of pandemic, where COVID-19 had brought the world to a halt, and the impact of the pandemic is severely felt by children, who always bring cheer and happiness to us. With parks and playgrounds closed, fun, outings, and socializing with friends coming to a standstill, kids have been confined indoors, and the physical entertainment has moved to digital. Their joy of little things has been eclipsed, their expression of creativity has been dwarfed, and their wings have been clipped off the freedom that they would otherwise enjoy on a day-to-day basis.

Festival Theme

In the post pandemic era, through this humble endeavour, we would like to salute those who create great stories that guiding our children towards a better future. Hence, this edition, we have kept the Festival theme as HAPPINESS. Universal Children's Day’s objective of promoting international togetherness can definitely be fulfilled with stories of future in these gloomy days.

Festival Format

KidzCINEMA 2024 is the 4th edition of this International Children’s Film Festival, KidzCINEMA, which will be attempted to be delivered in a hybrid format including online environment to the global audience and exhibition of the winning films in various schools and colleges during the festival period. It will give opportunities to young kids as well as teenagers to watch movies from across the globe and to know more and learn about the process of filmmaking. Children will get to watch movies, interact with directors, actors, and also participate in various LIVE workshops on scriptwriting, animation, and filmmaking.

It will be a month-long event starting on 1st December 2024 commemorating 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 GAJA Awards will be announced on 15th December 2024 and the online screening of the selected films will be available for a period of one-month starting from the festival opening date i.e., 1st December 2024..

We will also have physical screenings of the winning films in various schools and colleges during the festival period and/or later in various cities across the country.

Key Film Categories

The Film Festival will have Five (5) categories of competition films. Filmmakers from across the globe can submit entries in the following categories: