KIIT Hosts Tri-Continental Session on Film, Institutional Safety & Youth Empowerment with Prague TAG Team and  CUNY Delegation

The KIIT School of Film & Media Sciences, in collaboration with the International Relations Office (IRO), hosted the premier session of TAG (Together Against Grooming), a pioneering European initiative that bridges research, public policy, and cinema to promote institutional safety and youth empowerment.

The session was hosted by Prof. Smruti Choudhury, Director of KIIT Film Studio and Vertical Lead at Keystone, who delivered the context-setting address, highlighting how cinema serves as an indispensable, visceral medium to unpack complex societal power dynamics, institutional safety, and human rights. Joining virtually from Prague were Dr. Slávka Karkošková, Associate Professor at UJEP and European Commission-appointed expert on child sexual abuse prevention; Jiří Konečný, award-winning European film producer (ENDORFILM); and Gabriela Plattner, TAG International Project Coordinator and Lead Facilitator.

The event was attended by eminent academic leaders including Prof. Dr. Amareswar Galla, Chairman, Advisory Committee, KIIT & KISS; Padma Shri Advait Gadanayak, Director General, KIIT Academy of Arts; Prof. Bibhu Prasad Mohapatra, Director, KIIT School of Public Policy, Dr. Ramya Pinnamaneni, Director, KIIT School of Public Health and Dr. Sakshi Kaul, Dean, School of Liberal Studies. It also brought together a 38-member faculty and scholar delegation from the City University of New York (CUNY) under the India Trek programme, along with students from KIIT’s Schools of Film & Media Sciences, Liberal Studies, Design, Public Policy, and Public Health.

Following a screening of the acclaimed European feature film Broken Voices (Sbormistr), participants engaged in a live cross-continental discussion and deliberation with the Prague team. The exchange explored manipulation, institutional authority, social conditioning, and practical approaches to creating safer institutional environments and encouraging active upstanding.

The session concluded with students completing an anonymous research-backed digital questionnaire contributing to global youth safeguarding research, followed by a networking reception that further strengthened KIIT’s commitment to international, interdisciplinary engagement on critical social issues.