Hyderabad will be hosting the 20th edition of the prestigious biennial International Children's Film Festival of India (ICFFI) from November 8.
The event will be inaugurated at a colourful function on Wednesday.
On the eve of the opening of the festival, Minister for Cinematography Talasani Srinivas Yadav inaugurated the media centre at the Prasads Mall this afternoon.
Addressing the media later, the minister extended a warm welcome to the delegates from various countries gathering here for the week-long mega event.
He said that the films selected for the festival would be screened in all parts of the state, including at 13 screens in Hyderabad. He added that efforts were being made to make the city a permanent venue for the global film festival.
Chief Executive Officer of the ICFFI Shravan Kumar was of the opinion that the children's film festival is an event apart, and the 20th ICFFI was especially so as a large number of countries were taking part in this year's festival. Little directors from 31 countries were participating in the event, he added.
"The ICFFI is one of the largest and most colourful children film festivals in the world. Children travel from little villages and towns across India to view high quality children's films that they are unlikely to be exposed to otherwise. Eminent guests and directors drawn from different parts of the world, too, gather in Hyderabad and share their experiences. ICFFI is dedicated to these little delegates and to those imaginative filmmakers who attempt to make films for the toughest audiences of all - children," he said.
He opined that the people of Telangana were film-savvy and had been patronizing children's films since long.