CHANDIGARH: The four-day Children’s Film Festival—titled Cinematic Lens: Learning through Light… Sound… Action…—concluded on a highly successful note on Thursday, having positively impacted over 8,500 students from both government and private schools across Chandigarh and Panchkula.
The mega-event was collaboratively organized by the Chandigarh Citizens Foundation (CCF) and SPIC MACAY, in partnership with Delhi Public School (DPS) Chandigarh and Dass and Brown Experiential Learning School, Panchkula. Over the course of the festival, 16 thoughtfully curated film screenings were hosted across two distinct venues to offer young participants an engaging blend of learning and entertainment.
Cinema as a Pedagogical Tool
The core objective of the initiative was to showcase how meaningful cinema can be seamlessly integrated as a powerful classroom tool. The festival was inaugurated earlier in the week by Chandigarh Administration Education Secretary Prerna Puri, who had urged students to watch the films with a learning mindset and imbibe positive values from the stories.
The curated screenings successfully helped children develop a wide array of essential life skills, including:
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Critical thinking and analytical skills
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Creativity and visual literacy
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Empathy and cultural awareness
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Collaborative learning and effective communication
To maximize the educational impact, each screening was followed by interactive discussions and reflection sessions. These post-screening dialogues encouraged students to actively analyze the narratives, understand diverse perspectives, and relate the on-screen lessons directly to real-life situations.
“Thoughtfully curated films can help nurture empathy, cultural awareness, values, and analytical thinking among children,” noted Bal Film Mahotsav convenor and DPS Director Reema Dewan, emphasizing that the medium should be viewed for reflection and lifelong learning rather than mere entertainment.
Fostering Inclusion and the NEP 2020 Vision
Another major outcome of the four-day festival was its success in bringing together students from government and private schools onto a shared, common platform. This unique initiative not only fostered a strong sense of inclusion but also promoted collaborative peer learning across different educational backgrounds.
The organizers expressed immense satisfaction with the event’s outcome, stating that the festival successfully reinforced the role of meaningful cinema as an engaging educational resource. By prioritizing visual and experiential learning, the Cinematic Lens festival strongly complements traditional classroom teaching and directly supports the progressive vision of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
