2nd Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF) begins today

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The week-long Second Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF) organized by Jyoti Chitraban in association with Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Regional Film and Television Institute and support from the Government of Assam will be kicked off on Thursday at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra and Jyoti Chitraban.

The opening ceremony of the GIFF-2018, scheduled on October 25 will be marked by screening of internationally acclaimed and twelve-time national award winner filmmaker Jahnu Barua’s ‘Broken Window’. On the other hand, the closing ceremony will be marked by Muhammet Tayfur Aydin’s film ‘Black Crow’. Throughout the festival, over 100 national and international films will be screened this year. Notably, 72 films were screened in the first edition of the GIFF-2017. This year, while as many as 70 filmmakers, actors and crew members are joining the GIFF-2018 from various countries, ambassadors from many countries shall be joining on different stages of the festival.

A special focus of the GIFF-2018 is on the 10 ASEAN nations that have assumed renewed importance from the government of India and the Assam Government’s increasing thrust on the Act East Policy. The unique diversity that these nations represent in terms of culture, landscape and history shall be reflected on their films and guests representing them.

An important feature of this year’s festival is the number of premier that GIFF-2018 has managed to secure. As such, two films from Lativa and one from Croatia are having their Asian premier in Guwahati in the presence of cast and crew as well as envoys from these nations. Other hand, films from Argentina, Combodia, Lithunia, India, UK, Brazil and Thiland shall have their India premier in GIFF 2018.

This year, the GIFF-2018 will pay tribute to one of Assam’s superstars Biju Phukan and its leading filmmaker Munin Barua by focusing on one of their works. The opening ceremony of the GIFF 2018 will be attended by Buddhadeb Dasgupta, one of the finest filmmakers of his time as the guest of honour.

Some of the films from the Northeast selected for the competition section are Arup Manna’s Aamrityu, Himjyoti Talukdar’s Calendar, Khanjan Kishore Nath’s Chor, Monjul Baruah’s Kaaneen, Biswajeet Bora’s Phehujali and Bidyut Kotoky’s Xhixobote Dhemalite.

Some of the international films to be screened during the festival are A Ciambra, A Family, All the Dreams in the World, Amok, Appendix, Ballad from Tibet, Barbaram Bhuban Majhi, Bilu: A Demon Within, Birds Are Singing in Kigali, Comic Sans, Cuernavaca, Daybreak, Dede, Denmark, Disappearance and many other. The opening ceremony will be inaugurated by State Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.