Curtains come down on AICEAVF

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Entries from Kerala bagged a good number of  awards at the 17th All-India Children’s Educational Audio Video Festival (AICEAVF). Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb distributed the awards at the closing ceremony held at the Animation Centre, Vellayambalam on Wednesday evening.  ‘Daivasoothram’ in Malayalam bagged the national award for the best film in the student production category among video programmes. Awards in other video categories are as follows: pre-primary - ‘Oont Chala’ (Hindi), primary- ‘Mere Aagan Main Aao’ (Hindi), upper primary- ‘Corals- Rain Forests of the Ocean’ (English), secondary and senior secondary- ‘The Young Guardian of Mangroves’ (English), teachers -’In pursuit of Success’ (English) and ‘Rah Chunie Bat Bani’ (Hindi), animation category- ‘Jaano Phool Ko’ (Hindi).  Prof Vijay Mulay award for best child producer went for Roopak Chauhan for ‘Dengue’.  In the audio categories ‘Aawaz’ (Hindi), ‘Meino Khubi’ (Manipuri), ‘Bhool Chook Leni Deni’ (Hindi), ‘Tajmahal-Karishma-e-Kareegari’ (Hindi), ‘Ayurvedam’ (Malayalam) were selected as the best works in pre-primary, primary, upper primary, secondary, senior secondary and teachers categories.  The individual excellence award was given in six categories for best script, camera work, editing, sound recording (studio), sound recording (location) and direction in video programmes. In the audio programmes individual excellence awards were given for best script, sound and production.   In the festival, a special award instituted by the Central Government including a prize money of Rs 30,000 and certificate was given for the best film made by children. The second best film received ` 25,000. In the video programmes the best entry in pre-primary, primary, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary and teachers category got ` 40,000. In the audio programmes, the best entry got ` 20,000.   In two screening centres at the Animation centre, Vellayambalam, 64 audio-video educational programmes were screened. There were 27 audio programmes and 37 video programmes in the competition category. There were entries in Malayalam, English, Manipuri, Hindi, Telugu, Odisha and Marathi for the festival.   The festival was jointly organised by the Central Educational Technology under the Central Human Resource Department, State Institute of Educational Technology (SIET)  and Government of Kerala. It is after four long years that Kerala has again hosted the film festival.   At the centre, 11 audio and 10 video programmes were screened on the first day. The second day had 22 video programmes and two audio programmes. Third day had 19 programmes including 14 audio and five video productions. There were also discussions and seminars on all days on the new trends happening in educational short film-making which were led by experts in the subjects concerned.