Sarthak Kanjilal & PIB
Port Blair, Nov 01: The much awaited Centenary Celebration of Film Festival begins tomorrow. The Islands Lt Governor, Lt Gen
Bhopindher Singh will inaugurate this festival at Port Blair on Friday evening.
Interacting with the media persons on the eve of the film festival, the Director of Information, Publicity and Tourism, Amit Sathija informed that the festival starts with the screening of the first Indian film Raja Harishchandra which was made in 1913, as a special tribute to the legends of Indian Cinema. He said this time the festival evokes much expectations among the islanders, as it will show-case the depth and diversity of the films made by the legendary film makers. He further said as a significant feature of the event, the festival brings live the heritage of Indian Cinema through an exclusive exhibition being organized by the National Film Archives at the festival venue, BRAIT auditorium.
This three day long festival will be held at four venues including PBMC auditorium, ALHW multi purpose hall and ASI auditorium. He informed that the islanders will get the opportunity to view popular old as well as recent hit films like Fashion, Zindagi Na milegi Dubara and Ishqiya during the festival. He added that the Directorate made special efforts to bring the recently released films, especially the nominated film for Oscar entry Burfi for this film fest. Besides, as a special segment of the festival, there will be the screening of popular regional language films such as Kannathil Mutthamittal in Tamil by the renowned film maker Maniratnam, Urumi In Malayalam and Virodi In Telugu, he added. A 1957 Bengali film by the legendary film maker Tapan Sinha, based on the novel by Rabindra Nath Tagore Kabuliwala will also be screened.
The Information Director also informed that a one day workshop will be organized on the nuances of Indian Cinema exclusively for the media persons, while responding to a query by a scribe about the assurance given by the then Director regarding conduct of short term Film appreciation course for the island journalists through National Film Archives.
A host of reputed film personalities are expected to take part in the festival. However, Mr Sathija disclosed that the film personalities could not participate due to their pre occupations during the period of this festival. This film festival is being organised by the Directorate of Film festival in association with the Islands administration. (PIB)
