Originally Published: 2007-07-22

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“By involving thousands of youngsters we are promoting passion for cinema, commitment and values at this edition of the Giffoni Film Festival, just like we do every year,” said Claudio Gubitosi, the festival’s founder and director. The youngsters were able to enjoy Italian previews of The Simpsons Movie, Shrek the Third and Ratatouille. Persepolis, the French animation movie about an outspoken Iranian girl which won the jury prize at Cannes this year, was also among the 54 films screened in out-of-competition sections. C/O Footpath, by 11-year-old Indian boy Kishan Shrikant — the world’s youngest feature film director, according to organizers — was one of 64 movies taking part in the five competitive sections.
Shrikant started out in the film industry as an actor at the age of four. He has appeared in an Indian soap opera and over 24 films. His directorial debut is about street children who have no other address than the footpaths of India’s big cities.
Gubitosi first organized the Giffoni Film Festival, which focuses on films for, and sometimes by, children and teenagers, in 1971. It is now considered the most important event of its kind. During its long history the festival has attracted a number of film greats to a sparsely populated town hidden in the hills of Salerno province.
Past guests of honour included actors Robert De Niro, Anthony Quinn, Alberto Sordi and directors Franco Zeffirelli and Bernardo Bertolucci. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev came in 1997.
Giffoni has set up sister events in the Australia, Poland and Armenia. The 2007 Giffoni Festival also featured an exhibition of shots taken by Italian photographer Giacomo Pirozzi during a 2006 tour of the conflict-torn Central African Republic by actress Mia Farrow, who is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. The show, entitled Faces I Won’t Forget, was inaugurated by Culture Minister and Deputy Premier Francesco Rutelli.

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