2-day International Film Festival of Srinagar opens to jam-packed audience

With much fanfare and ceremony, 'The International Film Festival' of Srinagar (TIFFS) began with the first-ever Red-Carpet show for the local artists present here in Srinagar on Saturday.

TIFFS will take place at Tagore Hall over the course of two days, on October 29 and 30, and the closing event will include a major prize presentation. 30 foreign submissions will be screened, including short films, documentaries, and music videos. The location had a festive appearance and was quite popular with both artists and the general people. An incredibly large crowd attended the inaugural ceremony.

Divisional Commissioner Kashmir PK Pole was the chief guest on the occasion while Manoj Kumar Pandita, AIG, PHQ and Satish Vimal, writer, poet, and senior broadcaster were the guests of honour.

The event started with the traditional Rouf and solo dance followed by a welcome address by Festival Director Rohit Bhat.

"We felt a strong urge to bring Srinagar its own international film festival, with Srinagar embedded into it. More than the name, it is the history, contribution, and spirit that Srinagar has brought to cinema that it was about time that it got an international film festival with its name associated with it", Rohit added.

PK Pole, the chief guest expressed happiness that the film festival has got such a good response and delegates from all over India are attending it. He also hoped that international delegates would be hosted in future editions and make this festival a truly international destination for cinema lovers.

Senior artists from Kashmir expressed happiness over the grand Red-Carpet Welcome and well-organized festival and congratulated the organisers RIFK-Vomedh and qualifying entries.

In the opening section films from France, Georgia and Pakistan were screened.

"We are very delighted that we have received such an overwhelming response for the film festival in Srinagar. Drawing from our experience of the Jammu film festival, we will make TIFFS an international festival to reckon with in the coming times. We are grateful to the artist fraternity, our sponsors and people in general for all the support that we have got", said Rakesh Roshan Bhat, the festival co-director.

The panel of judges included Iranian filmmaker Alimohammad Eghbaldar, Content consultant and critic Amit Singh from Mumbai and playwright and director Rakesh Roshan Bhat. The panel is headed by Sangeet Natak awardee and well-known actor-director Mushtaq Kak.

"We are presenting the best of world cinema to cinema lovers in Srinagar. It is an excellent opportunity for the youth of J & K to learn and network, " said Ashok Saraf, the festival's advisor.

"We will have a separate section for J & K where we will showcase work from local talent. We have tried to accommodate most of the local projects for screening" added Mushtaq Kak, the jury head.

Many prominent artists from the UT are scheduled to perform in the opening and closing ceremonies. TIFFS is organized by RIFK Entertainment in association with Vomedh which is a very prominent cultural organization of J-K.