40th Giffoini Film Festival, Europe’s largest children’s film festival, had invited ‘I am Kalam’, the feature film produced by Smile Foundation, to compete in the 10+ elements category – Gryphon Award. The film festival was held in the provincial town of Giffoni Valle Piana, in South-west Italy, between July 18 and 23, 2010. Giffoni Film Festival was established in 1971 to promote and develop cinema for young people, elevating it from the marginal position it had, back in those days. What makes its concept unique is its jury comprising exclusively of young people. Over the years the number of jurors has out grown 3000 people coming from over 44 different countries embracing all the continents. The age of jurors ranges from 3 to 17 and they are placed into four official competitive sections according to their age group. The jurors view, assess, discuss about and vote for films in the sections.

'I am Kalam' crew members with few judges of Giffoni

‘I am Kalam’ was included in the Elements + 10 category dedicated to jurors aged between 10 to 12 years. ‘I am Kalam’ was world premiered at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in May 2010. Apart from the Giffoni Film Festival, it has also been nominated for the Lucas International Film Festival (Germany), Buster International Film Festival (Denmark), Cine Kid International Film Festival, London Children’s Film Festival (UK) and the Vienna International Children’s Film Festival (Austria). Read more about 'I am Kalam'

Director, Madhav Panda at the Giffoni venue