Shimla film festival to begin from April 12

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By : Mohan Verma

One of the famous film shooting locations in North India and the erstwhile capital of Raj, Shimla, will now have its own annual film festival that would present a wide ambit of films and film making. Announcing this on Tuesday, the Himachal Media Private Limited director Ravinder Makhaik, a former filmmaker and journalist said, the first film festival is focused on establishing a connect between local and global filmmakers and vice versa.

Though having a long tradition of theater and providing some excellent locales for bollywood films and international documentaries the convention and practice of film making could not make its own mark from the hill state of Himachal, felt the majority of youngsters from Himachal Media Limited.

“If any of such efforts are taking place, they are scattered and strewn everywhere and not resulting in any benefit to the state, to its people or to the art itself”, said Vivek Mohan, a known film maker from the state and also a member of three men jury for the Shimla Film Festival. A former script writer from Lintas, Vivek had made the award winning documentary, “In Search of Malana”.

Seeing the huge response the organisers have kept the works of Himachal filmmakers only in the competitive section this year. The entries have been invited in six different categories of feature films, short films, documentary, music videos, spots and corporate or promotional films. Two awards per category will be selected by the independent jury.

In the open section category, filmmakers will not compete for any awards but the best films entered will get a commendation and will be screened during the film festival, informed Mr. Makhaik who has plans for making the Shimla Film Festival a much bigger and broader event in the coming years.

Efforts are on to bring and make artists from Himachal like Anupam Kher, Priety Zinta, Kangna Ranaut and Mohit Chauhan, participate in the three day film festival, said Makhaik.

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ML Verma is a Senior journalist, with more than a decade of experience of active reporting for electronic media, news agencies and fast paced online media.

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