After a successful stint in mentoring children from various parts of Bihar on the techniques of filmmaking and facilitating them to make five significant films, the ACEE filmmakers were off to Rajasthan for the second phase of the Children’s Film Society of India’s Little Directors Workshop. The second phase of the workshop took place from the 24th to 27th January 2018 in a place called Jhag, in the Jaipur district of Rajasthan.

CFSI in partnership with World Bank-DIME and Asian Centre for Entertainment Education (ACEE) organized the filmmaking workshops in association with I-India (Jhag Children’s Village) for children and adolescents in the age group of 7 to 14 years, belonging to rural areas of Rajasthan namely Jhag, Kishanpura, Khatwad, Savli, Bhagwatsinghpura, Shrinivaspura, Salrasu, Ratakheda, Saarada and Kanseland Bagru.

I-India is a NGO working for the rights of street and working children, established in the year 1993 by Prabhakar and Abha Goswami. I-India’s mission is to provide care, love and development for children living on the streets of Rajasthan. The organization tries to create a nurturing environment that can foster normal physical and mental growth of street and neglected children. Over the last twenty-four years, successful programs have been developed and implemented by I-India to fulfil the chronic and urgent needs of these children. Currently, the organization reaches over 3000 children daily through its street schools and contact points, residential homes, children’s village, mobile health vans, school on wheels, shower bus, vocational training centres and Jhag Children’s Village

Five ACEE filmmakers Denver Fernandes, Aaron Edwards, Aakanksha Solanki, Azeeemuddin Sayyeed and Debroop Chakraboorty, under the guidance of Ms. Vinta Nanda, MD of Asian Centre for Entertainment Education facilitated the five teams of children from the Jhag Children’s Village and taught them the various facets of filmmaking. The children were encouraged to make films on WASH issues intersecting with gender.  

The Filmmakers/ Mentors found the whole experience of travelling through Rajasthan a mesmerizing and aesthetic experience. They immersed themselves in the workshop with the kids who were so full of awe, wonder and enthusiasm. The kids, none of them strangers to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, brought out stories that were hard-hitting and from their actual life experiences. Team ACEE joins the five filmmakers in wishing these children from Rajasthan the best that life can offer them. Keep reading this space to watch the outcome of these workshops in the form of five short and beautiful films.