Saiful Mandal was gifted a camera by chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee after his earlier success at the Kids for Kids International Children?s Film Festival. A Telegraph picture

The world has changed for 12-year-old Saiful Mandal and his friend Rinku Babu Mondal.

Saiful and Rinku Babu?s film, Inner Eye, based on the plight of AIDS patients, is all set to be screened at the Kids for Kids International Children?s Film Festival, in Cyprus, later this year.

Based on their personal experience of the trials and tribulations of a man wrongly diagnosed as an HIV-infected patient by a quack in a village, the film has been selected for the short-film category for children between six and 12 years.

The movie was shortlisted from more than 500 short-film entries across 53 countries. Inner Eye is the only Indian short film in the festival.

Apart from selecting the film, the festival organisers, Unesco and Unicef, have also invited Saiful as a jury member for the competition that will start on June 15 and continue for three days.

?It is not just about the film, but it is also about their amazing talent. When we rescued Saiful from Deganga and brought him to our home, no one expected him to direct a movie like this,? said a proud Swapan Mukherjee, secretary of Centre for Communication and Development, Muktanir.

Muktanir has sheltered Saiful and Rinku Babu after they left their village and were living on the road two years ago.

The 10-minute-film, edited at Roopkala Kendra, revolves around a man who is boycotted by his family and villagers, after a quack diagnoses him with AIDS.

Beaten and shunned by the villagers, the man is picked up by a blind beggar outside his village.

The beggar takes him to hospital, but the doctors refuse to treat him, owing to various rumours about the disease (AIDS).

The man finally dies in the hospital but donates his eyes to the blind beggar, who returns to the village and informs residents that his donor was not infected with AIDS.

While Saiful has worked behind the lens, Rinku Babu has penned the script. Twelve-year-old Biswanath Kisku, one of their fellow home-mates from Bankura, has played the lead role in the film.

Another Indian film based on the tsunami has also been selected for the one-minute film category in the festival.