Hyderabad, Nov 20th: Andhra Pradesh Film Development Corporation Managing Director and Information and Public Relations Commissioner C Parthasarathi on Friday said the State Government's path-breaking initiatives have made 'Golden Elephant,' the 16th International Children Film Festival, a grand success and truly a children's event. Talking to newspersons on the concluding day of the festival here, Mr Parthasarathi said the Government had coordinated with the school education department to draw children from all over the State for the festival.

He said for the first time in collaboration with NGO’s and Government agencies, orphans, street children, mentally retarded children, visually challenged children and children from juvenile homes were exposed to festival films. ''We decided to break from tradition of inviting only children from corporate schools and threw the festival open for children from deprived classes,'' he said. Claiming that the festival attracted a large number of personalities from the Telugu film industry, he said nearly 200 Telugu artistes, heroines, character artistes, film makers and directors participated in the week-long festival.

Workshops and Open forums were also conducted by the organisers. Unlike in other festivals, nearly 500 child delegates and film makers and directors of children’s films, including those from Iran, China, Germany and Sri Lanka, participated. ''We made special and comfortable arrangements for children and adult delegates and ensured their safety and pleasant stay for the entire duration of the festival,'' he added.