Film Screening
Shiropa's "Five finger puppets"
Fayza Haq
Speaking at the inauguration of eight year-old Shiropa Purna's film "Five Finger Puppets" at the Bengal Gallery, her father, Khaled Mahmud Mithu said that Shiropa has an ideal setting for her work at home. "She is surrounded by paints, camera, lighting, and music. She has been encouraged to handle the camera. These children belong to the computer age." Rosella Morelli of UNICEF said, " This film done by a group of children had Shiropa as the director. It promotes children's creativity and team spirit. It was a child who decided on the story and children prepared the finger puppets. In Europe and all over the world children take part in theatre. The puppets are a good tool of expressing feelings. The topic that has been chosen is tolerance; respect for all helps children to get together and understand each other. The effort is certainly laudable." Mustafa Manowar, who jointly inaugurated the occasion with Rosella Morelli said, "It is wonderful how a little girl once came to my studio and was inspired to work with puppets. If all families encouraged their children in creative work such as this, the world would be a wonderful place. No education is complete without the work of creative ability. It is from the nurturing of imagination that all great works have come to pass. Puppets can present many sophisticated and thought provoking ideas. All families should encourage their children in the same way." Qayyum Chowdhury commented, "It is incredible that young children can produce such powerful work. This is definitely a new step in the film world." Shiropa says, "The subject of my film is not to hurt anybody. The story line is that five finger puppets went to the forest. One of them is Motu, a naughty boy who hurt a 'doel'. Trying to hurt a butterfly with a stick, Motu falls into a stream. Since he cannot swim he cries out for help. Hearing him, a dolphin comes and rescues him. This is followed by a song 'Bonbiralta gaan jey dhorechhey'. "When I played with dolls, I used to draw on my fingers. I told my father that I wanted to make a film and he said I must write a script first, which I did. I selected some of my friends like Progu, Sharar, Afreeda, Samiha and Sharmila. They all study with me in class two in Sunnydale. My elder brother Arjo, who has made three films before, shot the scenes."
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Shiropa Purna (L), a scene from the film |