School Cinema International Film Festival To Screen Global Films In Over 41,000 Indian Schools

Over 40,000 government and 1,000 private schools across the country will have a screening of international films on the occasion of eighth edition of School Cinema International Film Festival (SCIFF). The festival will be organised from November 14-30 wherein over 100 curated films from 25 countries including France, Spain, Germany, Kyrgyzstan and the UAE will be showcased to the students. 

Prominent global film festivals such as Annecy International Animation Film Festival (France), AniMela Festival (India), Giffoni Film Festival (Italy), and ZERO PLUS International Film Festival (Russia) have extended their support to SCIFF 2025. The festival also draws support from country partners France and Spain.

News agency PTI quoted, Syed Sultan Ahmed, Festival Director, SCIFF, and Founder and Chief Learner, LXL Ideas as saying that the school has been created to nurture a generation that "watches with awareness, learns with curiosity, and expresses with empathy." "SCIFF was created with a simple yet powerful idea - that cinema must be accessible to every child, not confined to film festivals or privileged spaces. Films are not just entertainment, they are pedagogical experiences that teach children to see, feel, and think differently. Every frame becomes a classroom - and every story, a lesson in life," he says. 

The initiative was previously known as the International Kids Film Festival (IKFF). SCIFF uses film as a teaching pedagogy. Through age-appropriate, thought-provoking storytelling, SCIFF nurtures creativity, critical thinking, empathy, and global awareness among students. It helps them engage with the world through imagination and dialogue. Last year, SCIFF engaged with over 23,000 schools and reached more than 100,000 students across India.

Since its inception in 2017, SCIFF has reached over 10 million students and engaged over 60,000 schools through school-based screenings.

(With inputs from PTI)