We see ourselves as constantly evolving as we learn more about the world and our own identities and seek meaning in our experiences. There is much that our experience from the last 8 years has taught us through various interventions with children and youth in Pakistan. Many of our friends say that we are not so “little” anymore. Maybe it is our transition from toddlerhood to becoming a grown child.

With the start of the new year we opened new chapters in our journey. We are setting out to continue creating opportunities for children and youth to explore arts and culture as a means of knowledge, understanding and being able to express self. As Nietzsche put it, those who actively discover, create and re-create themselves are truly “free spirits” — artistic creators of their own lives.

While speaking with a primary school teacher in a rural school of Bhakkar, Ms. Farhat   “Children have very less time and resources to explore their creativity. The state system of education doesn’t have much room for anything but grades”.

According to Wajiha Raza Rizvi, independent researcher at the Film Museum Society and jury member of the Lahore International Children's Film Festival “Through moving images children will be able to understand not only what is on the screen but also what lies beyond the frame; stories of life, experiences and relationships”

We talked to the students who attended our film making workshops. Tehreem eagerly shared with us“ I didn’t know that I also had the talent of being a photographer. I would love to make more short films as I have many ideas now”  

A young student, who reflected on his experience of attending the international film festival “I liked the story of the boy who wrote a letter to his late father and sent it to the sky.”

A teacher while reflecting on her experience of watching a film (I says, Bhalaji) at the Children’s Film Festival, “It was a very sentimental and moving film for me, seeing the story of the teacher who has to transform his ways to understand his teenage students better. It was a learning moment for me.”

With all this understanding, we are venturing into a new phase at The Little Art.

We are now touring with the Festival films to remote areas of Interior Sindh and South Punjab. Children from these areas will be experiencing international Festival films and making films themselves for the very first time. Workshops will be conducted on using visual arts and filmmaking to tell stories and enhance media literacy skills.

We will be in the rural District of Bhakkar (South Punjab), running filmmaking workshops with children and holding the Festival there by the end of February/March, and holding extensive visual arts workshops with children and teachers of low-income schools.

In Tando Jam, a small city in interior Sindh, we will conduct visual art workshops with children from 10 primary schools, and hosting the film festival for the city in Agriculture University TandoJam in February.

In Jamshoro (Sindh), we will host the 2nd International Children's Film Festival in collaboration with Institute of Sindhology, University of Sindh. The Festival will run for 5 days for the city and neighborhood schools.

We are proud to have supporters, specially CKU (Center for Culture and Development) Denmark for their help to enable children from far flung areas to not only experience world class cinema, but also tell stories of their lives, with the themes of education, rights, peace and equality.

We are thankful to our partners, supporters and collaborators. It was not possible without their kind support.