The 15th International Children's Film Festival 2022 (ICFFB) opened its doors to the moviegoers at the Bangladesh Film Archive (BFA) in Dhaka's Agargaon Saturday.

Children's Film Society (CFS) Bangladesh, the organiser of the seven-day festival, arranged a special inauguration ceremony at the Projection Hall of BFA in the afternoon. Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud joined it as chief guest.

State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak was the special guest at the ceremony.

CFS Bangladesh founder and prominent filmmaker Morshedul Islam, CFS President and eminent writer-educator Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, General Secretary Munira Morshed Munni, Advisor Dr Yasmeen Haque and BFA Director General Md Nizamul Kabir spoke at the event.

Inaugurating the film festival virtually from Chattogram, Hasan Mahmud thanked and congratulated the organiser of the festival for maintaining the regularity of the annual event.

"Children's films can improve the thinking patterns of our children and teenagers, and refine their sense of patriotism and devotion," the minister said.

The festival officially began with the screening of the German film "Jim Button and the Wild 13."

One hundred and seventeen films from 38 countries, selected from more than 2,200 entries, are being projected this year, Shahriar Al Mamun, festival director of this year's ICFFB, said.

Nine Bangladeshi films are participating in this year's festival, selected from 25. A three-member jury board will evaluate these films and three of these films will receive awards.

From 2,100 films across 90 countries, several awards will be given under the child filmmakers (Bangladesh and international), young Bangladeshi talents, social film, and international competition categories.

Popular director Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, Gias Uddin Selim and Shabnam Ferdousi will evaluate the best film from the international competition category.

Filmmaker Abu Shahed Imon, Fakhrul Arefeen Khan and Raka Nawshin Nawar will pick the best film from the young Bangladeshi talents category.

Considering the pandemic situation, the 15th ICFFB will screen films only at BFA. The films will be screened at 11am, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm every day.

The festival authority informed that children and their guardians can enjoy the films for free. However, they will have to follow health safety measures.

Also, ICFFB will feature four exclusive workshops and several engaging sessions with celebrities from different genres.

The 15th edition of the festival will conclude on March 11.

CFS was founded in 2006 and has been organising ICFFB since 2008.