The workshop is being conducted by Karen Cirillo, executive producer of Children’s Broadcasting Initiatives of the communications division of the UNICEF. Around 19 students from various schools in Mumbai are participating in the workshop where they will be taught the basic techniques of film-making. Their films will be screened at the Dubai International Film Festival in December.

On their first day, Saturday, the students were asked to write scripts based on the given theme. “We have come across some interesting ideas,” she added.

The theme assigned to these young film-makers is ‘Daily Life in Dreams’ and time duration allotted is one minute. “At the workshop we plan to introduce them to the various filming, script-writing and editing techniques. UNICEF has been conducting film workshops since the past five-six years in various cities around the world,” said Cirillo as she helped a student with his script.

Participating at the workshop are two former street children who are now with the Shelter Don Bosco. Since his childhood, Rashid Hussain had lived on the streets of a remote village in Jharkhand. Two years ago he ran away from his home and came to Mumbai in search of a job. Today, he is undergoing training in animation at Tej Prasarini. “I had always wanted to learn film-making. I will try to learn as much as I can from this workshop. My film will be based on orphans and their lives. In the future I would like to pursue a career in animated films,” said 16-year-old Rashid adding, “I do not have any contact with my parents. I wish I could show them my film.”

Zuber Rahin another student of the shelter said, “When I came to Mumbai from Bhopal, I observed that in spite of having all the comforts, the rich are not very happy. I will try to highlight that in life, money is not everything.”

“At the workshop, I have tried to gather students from all kinds of backgrounds. While there are students from the shelter we also have students from some high-end Mumbai schools. In addition to film-making, they will also learn to interact with each other,” explained Father Joaquim Fernandes, director, Tej Prasarini.

Aspiring fashion designer, 11-year-old Divya Dadlani of Villa Theresa school said, “I like doing creative things. This workshop is a great opportunity for us to learn the art of film-making.”

Impressed by the enthusiastic participation of the children, Scott Behr, consultant at UNICEF said, “They are very talented and thoughtful. Their ideas consist of real and unreal experiences. They are very eager to learn.”