10 November,2017 08:50 AM IST | Mumbai | The Guide Team
In the run-up to Children's Day, a two-day festival seeks to address issues in today's digital age about the ease and access of content available to little minds
Children's Day is just around the corner, and what better time than now to discuss issues and concerns around them. A two-day event aims to bring to the fore key areas like parenting and ineffective media programming as well as the impact of unfettered digital media consumption on children. Experts will weigh all of these issues and they will seek to find answers on how to make smart media choices for a digital generation.
A still from Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya
"We have reached a point where there is an explosion of media content for children. We need to think critically about how to consume it, and the idea behind the festival is to get families to come together and do that. The films chosen for the festival are meant to be teasers on what good media content for children is all about," says Parmesh Shahani, head, Godrej Culture Lab, on the timing of the event. The panel discussion will have participation from Sashwati Banerjee of Sesame Workshop India, Monica Wahi, founder, South Asian Children's Cinema Forum, Lisa Heydlahuff, director-founder, Going to School, Dr Shabbi Luthra, founder-CEO, Consilience Learning, and Dr Anupam Sibal, pediatrician, Group Medical Director at Apollo Hospitals and author of Is Your Child Ready to Face the World? Karla Bookman, founder-editor of The Swaddle, will moderate the session.
Parmesh Shahani
Bookman, feels that children's media consumption and screen time are concerns unique to the world today, and parents have no role models to refer to. She elaborates, "While parents have a notion that too much screentime is bad for kids, they are also being told that technology can help their kids learn. The panel discussion is about exploring this contradiction, and the focus is on helping parents walk away with practical tools for making smart choices about truly educational media content for children."
Sashwati Banerjee
The second day of the festival will witness the screening of Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya and Ottaal (Malayalam, English subtitles) as well as award-winning short children's films from Canada in association with the Canadian consulate.
ON: Today and November 11
AT: First floor, auditorium, Godrej ONE, Vikhroli East. (entry from Eastern Express Highway).
LOG ON TO: indiaculturelab.org for full schedule
