A remarkably tall man in a royal blue dungaree with a logo saying ‘paper-pilot’ is explaining the history of human flight, design and mechanism of a plane that can be seen on the screen behind him. Then a new airplane appears on the screen and he starts explaining its dynamics.

He distributes paper among children. Every child gets a coloured A4 paper. He holds a paper in his hands and folds it step by step. At every step, he asks the children to do the same and eventually all of them succeed in making planes that fly. Wow!

Alhamra Hall III is packed to capacity with school children in uniform. Only the front row is scantily occupied as if in expectation of dignitaries who have yet to arrive but the children don’t have the patience to wait any more, so the show starts without the front seats being taken.

The man, James Norton, an Australian, holds workshops for children where he educates them about how planes evolved, their design and how they work but this one-hour long workshop that he conducts is fun throughout.

It evokes joy in children. At the end of the workshop, Norton himself goes to the far end of the hall and everybody present there darts their planes towards the stage. Not a single plane falls in the way; all reach the stage. This shows he is highly successful in imparting the skill to his audience.

With the landing of more than a hundred planes there is uproar in the hall -- kids screaming with joy. Children’s faces light up with the newfound confidence they have gained. Skills certainly enhance our confidence.

This wonderful workshop was organised by Little Art at 8th Lahore International Children’s Film Festival. This workshop was among 80 of the best international films made for children from 26 countries including France, Germany, Russia, the US and Australia etc that were screened at the festival.

"Children enjoy learning through play. They are responsive and that makes me happy. That’s how I learned -- by doing," says James Norton in an exclusive chat with TNS. He won a national paper planes contest back at home and started full time paper plane workshop last year. "Since 2015, I throw paper planes for a living."

The secret behind the smooth sailing of his planes lies in his being an origami expert, which is all about paper folding.

Norton has a formal education in Architecture. He worked as a landscape architect for eight years before he participated in an international paper planes championship in which his colleague won.

The paper-pilot James Norton says, "Little Art is a fantastic organisation. It helps children interact with different cultures. This event facilitates children’s voices. Children have a lot of stories. If they are heard, it’s great. I asked a child who was here, as to how he found the festival, and the child said, ‘I haven’t seen such a big TV before. It’s wonderful.’ This is cinema, a powerful way to convey a message," says Norton who was visiting Pakistan for the second time, and finds it beautiful.

James Norton made a family movie with Australian kids, titled Paper Planes, in 2015. The film became the highest-grossing Australian feature of the year. James Norton and Dylan Parker are two Canberra based paper plane enthusiasts whose ingenuity and passion for the art of paper plane making inspired the film.

The festival organised by Little Art in Lahore reached out to over 18,000 children, youth and families in 6 days with interactive sessions and workshops with international filmmakers.

Nearly 80 per cent of the audience included children who were attending a film festival for the first time.