Kishore Sharma, lecturer at Jyoti Chitraban Film and Television Institute, offers tips to students at the workshop in Guwahati on Thursday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Nov. 17: The lights came on, the camera rolled and Aniruddha Goswami was a boy transformed.

For a teenager making his first film, the Class X student of Hindustan Kendriya Vidyalay was confidence personified as he wielded the camera. Filmmaker Manju Borah, whose latest film Lajja has been widely appreciated, was at hand to encourage and help Aniruddha and his cast.

The venue of this first-ever filmmaking workshop for children was appropriately the Jyoti Chitraban Film Studio, acknowledged as the cradle of Assamese cinema. ?We need more like them to ensure a better future for Assamese cinema,? said an appreciative Borah.

The workshop is a collaborative effort by Jyoti Chitraban and the Children?s Film Society of India, Mumbai.

One of the participants said the success of scriptwriter-director Jahnu Barua and singer-music director Zubeen Garg inspired her to attend the workshop. ?I want to be in filmmaking or anything to do with films.?

Borah was certainly impressed by the inquisitiveness of the wannabe filmmakers and actors. ?I went through the Oxford Film Studies once again over the last few days to prepare myself for this. Children can pose very difficult questions at times. There are several here who have it in them to get into filmmaking with the right kind of grooming,? she said, patting Aniruddha?s back.

The filmmaker spent nearly five hours with the 70-odd children who had gathered at Jyoti Chitraban.

After a lecture and practical demonstration of what filmmaking entails, it was time for Aniruddha to guide his cast through the shooting of his first film, Dustbin and a Small Boy.

?Learning the art of filmmaking should be a continuous process. I would advise Jyoti Chitraban to start a special course in filmmaking for children,? Borah said.

Plaban Sarma, who played the lead role in Dustbin and a Small Boy, said he was passionate about acting, just like his favourite Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan. He said parental support and encouragement at school was essential for a child to develop into a good actor.

Bobeeta Sarma, chairperson of the Assam State Film Finance and Development Corporation, said there were reasons to be optimistic about the future of Assamese cinema. ?We only have to create the right environment for filmmaking to thrive. Grooming children is one of the requirements.?

Sarma promised help to Jyoti Chitraban in organising more events to promote child artistes,

A three-day children?s film festival was held at the same venue prior to the workshop. The festival package comprised six acclaimed Indian and foreign films.