LAHORE - Pakistan's first ever nine-day Children Film Festival began at the Ali Auditorium, Ferozepur Road, on Saturday attracting a number of students from different schools. The event has been organised by the Children's Film Foundation, a project of the Ali Institute of Education, in collaboration with theatre group Punjab Lok Rahs. Talking to The Nation, Shoaib Iqbal of the Punjab Lok Rahs said the objective of the festival is to explore and encourage art media as a learning support for children. "The workshops would be held during the festival and go beyond as well. There would be four eight-day workshops on filmmaking and animation." "The children aged between 8 to 16 years would learn the basics of simple animation and filmmaking. At the end of each workshop the children would produce their short films." "In August when the schools would open after summer vacations we would show these short films produced in the three workshops in another film festival. There would be a competition among them for top prizes." "Besides that there would be eight-day workshop on painting and sculpture. There would also be arts education and theatre workshops for teachers about using visual and performing arts for language, science and arts teachers. These workshops aim to help teachers to produce quality theatre in their schools and enhance their teaching skills with the aid of visual and performing arts," he explained. The workshop titles are 'Integrating drama in education', 'Producing theatre in your school', 'Playing with visual and performing arts' and 'Understanding technical theatre for school environments'. Iqbal disclosed that this festival was the first of series of such events planned for children. "We will hold Shakespeare Festival in October to be followed by Children Reading Festival in December. In this festival fiction and non-fiction writing competition would be held. All the writing would later be published in the shape of a book," he said. "The response of the children towards this festival is heartening. We had sent invitations to nearly 200 schools and distributed about 50,000 brochures. The registrations for next shows are complete and we hope to have full houses throughout the festival," Iqbal was of the view.   He said next January Contemporary Art Festival for children has been planned. "We are working on these projects for children. In schools the concept of art for children is very limited. We want to expand that and encourage such activities that may help in grooming the children and building up their personalities. All events are for children from the age of eight to 16," he said. The 6 pm screenings are for kids and at 8 pm films are about children aimed at parents and teachers. On Saturday 'Bee movie' of one hour 30 minutes duration was shown at 6 pm while Iranian film 'Children of heaven' having duration of one hour and 28 minutes was screened. The Ali Auditorium having 380 seats was packed to capacity. Many children who could not get registered in time had to go back disappointed. All film screenings are free. Online registration facility is available. A stall has also been set up at the venue for registration. On Sunday English movie 'Ratatouille' having one hour and 51 minute duration would be screened at 6 pm to be followed by one hour and 45 minutes duration Chinese film 'For the children'. On Monday English film 'The incredibles' having one hour and 55 minutes duration would be screened followed by one hour and 30 minutes duration Chinese film 'Country teachers' would be shown. All foreign films being shown at the festival are with English subtitles. The Children Film Festival would continue till June 22 and attractions in coming days include Hollywood blockbuster animations made for kids like 'Ice age', 'Finding Nemo', 'The polar express', 'Chicken run', 'Ice age', 'Monsters Inc' and 'Madagascar'. Foreign movies for children from Iran, China, Japan, USA, France and Korea are being screened at the festival.