NE Film Fest begins on colorful note

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITAGAR, Feb 17: The four-day Film North East-2016, a regiol film festival, went off to a colourful start at I G Park here today with State governor J P Rajkhowa declaring the festival open by lighting the ceremonial lamp amidst a large number of eminent film persolities of the region including cinema aficiodos.

Calling the young filmmakers of the region to market the unique culture, heritage and customs of the region to the outside world by producing good movies, the governor urged them to refrain from producing cheap films for monetary benefits.

“The story line of the films should carry a louder social message to the audience as cinema is the best mode of communication with the masses,” Rajkhowa said.

 “Northeast has abundant potential for cinema industry with a vast scope for good stories. We should take our own story so that the outside world could know the uniqueness of the region,” he said.

Referring to Aruchal, the governor said that the State have of late picked up the passion for making films with several young filmmakers producing several good films.

 “Though the State government has initiated several measures for development of films in the State but the irony is that there is no adequate cinema halls which dampen the spirit of the filmmakers. I appealed the richer section of the society to come up to aid the filmmakers by establishing multiplexes,” he said.

In a inspiratiol note to the filmmakers Rajkhowa said, “There is no substitute for hard work, perseverance and commitment and one has to be dedicated in his work to achieve success.”

Reputed filmmaker from Manipur Aribam Shyam Sharma in his inspiratiol speech called upon the participants to take the opportunity to showcase the creativity potentials of Northeast to the outside world.

Doyen of Assamese film industry Jahnu Barua termed Aruchal as a virgin place in terms of storyline for producing films.

 “Aruchal is a place very close to the hearts of northeast film makers. We want that the young filmmakers should not suffer the pains while making films which we faced in early days. We want them to shine,” Barua said.

He said, India is the largest producer of cinemas and much ahead in the world in terms of cinema production.

Earlier, festival director Moji Riba gave an overview of the festival.

State Art & Culture Secretary Dani Sulu in his speech said that films from the region could able to win hearts of many film lovers across the country and abroad.

In his welcome address Film Federation of Aruchal (FFA) president Chopa Cheda said that through the State is a late starter in filmmaking, it has been gradually picking up the momentum with various good movies being produced in the past few decades.

 “The concept to organise the regiol film festival in the State was conceived by former Chief Minister bam Tuki and IPR Parliamentary secretary Bamang Felix, to provide a platform for the upcoming film makers of the State so that they could take filmmaking as a profession,” he said.

 “The main idea behind organising the event is to create a platform where filmmakers from the region can discuss issues concerning the film making industry and share ideas to take the industry to a new height so that it could compete with other film industries of the country as well as abroad,” he said.

The event would also serve an opportunity to the young film makers to learn many innovative ideas in film making including shooting, sound recording, editing, cinematography and voice dubbing, Chopa said.

 “Over the past decade, several talented young Aruchalees have made their film debuts. At the same time, our older generation of film-makers has maintained a stable level of production. This has ensured both quality and innovation. It has resulted in expanding domestic, regiol and tiol audiences,” the FFA chief added.

Altogether 75 films from across the eight Northeastern States would be screened during the festival cutting across genres in the competitive and non-competitive segments including shorts and films by debutant filmmakers.