The inaugural Mumbai International Children’s Film Festival (MICFF), organized by The Ryan Foundation, concluded with a grand Closing Ceremony. The star-studded ceremony was jam-packed with children and parents, held at St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra, Mumbai.

Madam Grace Pinto, Managing Director, Ryan Foundation welcomed the special jury members, the guests and all the children and parents for the finale of MICFF’09.

Many renowned celebrities were present to celebrate this mega event. Amongst the honorable guests were Mr. Anupam Kher, Mr. Amole Gupte, Mr. John Jerome Lee, Ms. Uma Da Cunha, Mr. Aftab Shivdasani, Aamna Sharif, Shriya Saran, Mr. Balkrishnan-Bureau Chief, and many more.

Actress Daisy Bopana from the film Garam Masala fame was also seen after a long hiatus, who is making a comeback in Bollywood, as well as actor Parikshit Sahni was seen at the closing ceremony. And if it’s a Children Film festival, the cynosure of everybody eyes was the immensely likeable Purav Bhandare, the exceptional child artiste who played the lead in Santosh Sivan’s film “TAHAAN’

Every speaker on the dais spoke about their heart felt need to encourage children film, made from their perspective. The entertainment program started off with children with varied Indian costumes, performing the rendition of 5 children’s film songs. It was followed by an enthralling performance by the Children Comic Opera from Romania, which brought forth the global outlook of the festival.

The much awaited competition outcome was revealed before the super charged audience. In the World Cinema: Feature film category Frogs and Toads from Netherlands won The Golden Mango Award, leaving behind the favorite “Mommo-The Bogeyman’ (Turkey) on second place and Little Robbers (Latvia) on third.

In the Short Film Category, Home Away from Home (Finland) bagged the first prize while Paul’s Grandpa and Hakim both from Germany secured second and third place respectively.

Animation Short Film category too witnessed a close competition. USA’s Gerald’s Last Day receives first prize followed by Special Deeds for Special Needs (India) on second and The Children’s Tree (Germany) on the third position.

In the Children’s Produced Film Category, Navrachana School, Vadodra bagged both the first and the second position. While the first prize went to “The sapling and the soul, “Towards a better tomorrow’ stayed on a second position. The third place was secured by Campion School’s, “Fire the Firecrackers’.

The Winning film in the World Cinema: Feature Film Category received a cash prize of 1,00,000 INR, While the Winners of the Short Film and Animation Film got 25,000 INR each. As promised by the festival, films created during the workshops held at the Whistling Woods International were premiered in an overcrowded auditorium. The films created by the students were a short film-”Break Down’ and Animation Film-”The Snail and Caterpillar’. Megan Mylan’s Academy Award Winning film “Smile Pinki’ was screened as the Closing Film of MICFF ‘09.

-Sampurn Media