19 award winning films to be screened at Meghalaya fest

Shillong, Feb 28 (IANS) Nineteen award winning films of the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) will be screened here in Meghalaya, said an official on Tuesday.

The objective is to encourage local filmmakers and producers from the region to take their projects on the national and international stage.

The film festival, which would be held from March 1-3 at the premier North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), will feature documentary, short and animation films such as "Fireflies in the Abyss" related to rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya and "little Terrorist".

"Our intention to host the film festival here in Meghalaya is to promote local filmmakers and producers from the region to take their projects on the national and international stage," Films Division Senior Branch Manager Sumay Mukherjee told IANS on Tuesday.

"The northeastern states have so much of potential in the film industry and the filmmakers and producers have exhibited their quality productions at the national and international events," Mukherjee said.

"We are here to further assist and to encourage student's especially budding filmmakers from the region to come up in film making, and get the chance to learn," he added.

NEHU's department of journalism and mass communication teacher, Kamaljit Chirom said that such a festival would inspire students in filmmaking and help in catching them young.

Besides the 19 award winning films of MIFF, some of the finest cinematic works realised in the past few years throughout the world, including films from countries like Romania, Britain, Australia and India would be screened during the festival.

"Little Terrorist", which got an Oscar nomination in 2005, would be screened in the non-competitive section of the festival.

Directed by Ashvin Kumar, "Little Terrorist" is the story of a 12-year-old Pakistani Muslim boy who crosses the minefield-strewn border and enters India by mistake.

"Fireflies in the Abyss", directed by Chandrasekhar Reddy, tells the tale of rat-hole mining in the mineral-rich Jaintia hills. In the hostile pits, men and boys risk their lives every day to scratch coal out of hard rock, burrowing into narrow tunnels, armed with nothing more than a pickaxe and a torch.

Some other fine cinematic works from countries like Romania, Britain and Australia would also feature in the festival.

"On an average, more than 35 countries participate in every edition of the festival which serves as a platform for documentary filmmakers to meet, interact and exchange ideas and such festival attracts the best of films made all over the world on varied subjects," Mukherjee said.

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