Assamese movie in world's biggest festival for kids

New Delhi :  Awards and recognitions are a not a new thing for filmmaker Bidyut Kotoky, but when his latest movie on kids raised in troubled regions was selected for the world’s biggest film festival for children and also given a 4.5 star rating, his joy knew no bounds.

Kotoky’s “Xhoihobote Dhemalite” (Rainbow Fields) had just won the ‘best foreign film’ award in the Hollywood CineFest. “I was elated to receive a communication from a juror of KIDS FIRST! saying my film offers an inside look at children growing up during a violent period in Assam and shows how they are affected,” Kotoky told PTI.

Juror Juanita S also felt the film encourages the idea of keeping promises and dreaming big no matter what happens and recommended it for ages 12 to 18, he said. “The scenery of the Indian State of Assam is stunningly beautiful and calming, especially the scenes of the river bordering the village,” a note to Kotoky said.

“This film encourages the idea of keeping promises and dreaming big no matter what happens. I recommend this for ages 12 to 18 and give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.”  KIDS FIRST! is a programme of the Coalition for Quality Children’s Media, a national, non-profit organisation founded in 1991 for teaching children critical viewing skills and increasing the visibility and availability of quality children’s media.

The programme evaluates, rates and endorses films, DVDs, audio recordings, TV shows, apps, screenplays and games using volunteer, community-based juries of adults and children from diverse backgrounds and offers a variety of means to showcase and enhance consumer awareness of endorsed products.

In its 17th year, the KIDS FIRST! film festival offers a showcase for short and feature films from major studios as well as independent and student filmmakers. The festival partners with more than 50 venues nationwide that host screenings of selected films year-round.

Kotoky says he feels really encouraged on being reviewed by KIDS FIRST!  The nature of the KIDS FIRST makes this platform very interesting. Each KIDS FIRST! venue partner offers its own awards and prizes. Accepted feature films get a first look opportunity for distribution by Engine 15 Media Group and Soundview Media Partners, he says.

“Xhoihobote Dhemalite” is semi-autobiographical in nature, inspired by true incidents from the director’s life. It stars Victor Banerjee, Nakul Vaid, Naved Aslam, Nipon Goswami and Nikumoni Barua besides supermodel Dipannita Sharma. It is produced by India Stories, a Mumbai-based production house, and co-produced by Kotoky’s Dhruv Creative Productions and Kurmasana Kreates, a US-based production house.