Film Festival in Indian Kashmir

A three-day long South Asian Documentary Film Festival was hosted in Indian Kashmir by Anhad Institute of Media Studies (AIMS), in collaboration with Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMMRC) of the University of Kashmir.

The documentaries screened at the festival highlighted varied social and political concerns of the South Asian region.

[Nilofer, Student, University of Kashmir]:
"Such festivals are very useful. They are really beneficial for students. After all, cinema has played a great role in social change. It is great that filmmakers from Pakistan have also come. Such film festivals are always welcome in Kashmir and we always look forward to such festivals in (the) future."

Filmmakers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and other South Asian nations took part in this festival where 23 films were screened.

A documentary film maker from Pakistan was applauded for highlighting the problems faced by the women in Afghanistan through her film "Search for Freedom."

[Muniaze Jehangir, Documentary Film Maker]:
"At that time when I made the film depicting the condition of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime and terrible militancy, I had not imagined that the conflict would reach Pakistan and we would lose lives in blasts I think that the documentary was very essential at the time.

Participants at the festival felt Kashmir should become a hub of cultural exchanges and wished the youth of Kashmir should identify the problems faced by the society through creative movies.

[Gauhar Raza, Organizer of the Film Festival]:
"Documentary filmmakers should come here and help Kashmir to come into focus. Kashmir "lends itself" to documentary filmmaking. Also Kashmir has been isolated for a long time, more so the youth of the region. Now they are in want of exposure. They must know that there are people in other lands who are fighting like them with their own weapons, a battle of ideas and beliefs."

The audience appreciated the filmmakers for their insight and foresight projected through their movies.

The festival ran from November 23 to the 25.

Category:

Film & Animation

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