ITANAGAR, 8 Feb: The 9th edition of the Arunachal Film Festival (AFF), organised by the information & public relations (IPR) department, began at Dorjee Khandu Convention Centre here on Thursday.
Offering a brief insight into the two-day festival, IPR Secretary Nyali Ete emphasised on “quality rather than quantity of the participants,” and urged all the participants to “make use of the suggestion box by stating constructive criticism for betterment for all.”
Also present on the occasion was Kolkata (WB)-based Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute director Himansu Sekhar Khatua, who spoke about “the potential of Arunachal Pradesh” and highlighted the importance of such festivals.
He urged the state government and the IPR department to come up with a film policy like other states of the nation to promote the local filmmakers. He spoke also about the benefits that the state’s filmmakers would receive after the establishment of the Film & Television Institute in Jote near here.
IPR Director Onyok Pertin and Deputy Director Marbang Ezing also spoke.
The event began with the screening of an award-winning short film by director Stenzin Tankyong of Ladakh, titled ‘Last Days of Summer’.
The first day of the AFFe featured a diverse lineup of regional films created by talents of the state, along with the classic film by late director Bhupen Hazarika, titled ‘Mera Dharam, Meri Maa,’ the first feature-length movie of Arunachal.
The film was screened at the Mobile Digital Movie Theatre, alongside the best short-film contenders of this year.
The session ended with the screening of an award winning film, ‘Rapture’, by filmmaker Domenic Sangma.
Simultaneously, discussions were held at the amphitheatre with film critic and curator Meenakshi Shedde and filmmaker Dominic M Sangma as the moderators.
Consecutively, at the other venue, the theme of the discussion was ‘Film future: Roadmap for emerging filmmakers’.
Another workshop, on colour grading, was conducted by colourist Prithvi Bhuddavarapu, during which interested participants got to learn about the art of colour grading and its importance in filmmaking.
The day ended with a panel discussion and a Q&A session on ‘Promotion and marketing of regional films’ with panellists Domenic Sangma, Tai Gungte (actor), FFA VP (protocol) Jack Taniya Budh, and FTGA president Mingkeng Osik, with Sanju Dodum as the moderator. (DIPR)
