Jamshedpur: The first edition of Jharkhand National Film Festival was inaugurated at the Michael John auditorium in Bistupur on Thursday. Organised by Asma, a dance academy and Mitra Film Production, the four day fest will continue till October 28. Popular actors Yashpal Sharma, Akhilendra Mishra, CID fame Aditya Srivastava and senior superintendent of police (SSP) East Singhbhum Anoop Birtharey, were present on the occasion.
More than 50 feature, short and documentary films in Hindi, Santhali, Nagpuri languages will be screened at Michael John auditorium and Srinath College of Education in Adityapur. The prize distribution ceremony however will be held at the Tata auditorium.
Films ranging from four minutes to more than two hours will be screened during the festival. After the three day screening, more than 200 awards will be distributed to motivate filmmakers. The organizers have categorized the awards in two segments– one for entries from Jharkhand and the others at a national level.
�The purpose of the festival has always been to showcase the creative work of budding film makers especially from Jharkhand and give them a platform thus enabling them to move forward in film making. Screening of movies by professional film makers would help the amateurs to learn and set goals for themselves. This blend of film makers creates a healthy environment of cinema which is now 100 years old in our country,� said Raju Mitra of Mitra Productions.
Veteran theatre and film personality Md Nizam, during a break at the inaugural ceremony, observed, �Filmmaking actually opened up career options for people with the advent of SHORTS anchored by Tata Steel and Take5 Communications of Kolkata. This was the stage that set the ball rolling for young filmmakers with creative talents. Over a decade of SHORTS, the list of this creative bug has continued to grow and improvement in their work has been a constant feature.�
Another film director and actor whose short films have been appreciated over the years for content and technical inputs and whose first feature film venture, GANGSTER DULHANIA in Bhojpuri language, has been creating waves across the national spectrum is the young and dynamic Sourav Suman �Zen� Jha.
Interestingly, Zen�s film has most of the artistes and technicians from Jamshedpur to a greater extent and also some from other districts. When contacted during the Jharkhand National Film Festival (JNFF), Saurav opined, �Sir, I am definitely happy for the success of my first feature film venture. The craze for enhancing my skills in filmmaking was given a boost with the entry of SHORTS.
Many of us started dreaming of making films, acting and directing them and then presenting them to audiences. These dreams of ours gradually started taking shape as we continued to experiment with the qualitative forms and every time, SHORTS gave us a platform. We are indeed grateful to Tata Steel and Take5 Communications for what we are today.�
Raju Mitra, the founder of Mitra Productions, is himself a multifaceted theatre and film person who unhesitatingly shares his experience with other eager artistes who also nurture dreams of creativity. One enthusiast said, �This festival comes at the right time and the right place and Raju Sir and all the other organizers need more than a pat for this venture which all of us hope will become an annual engagement in this city of creativity.�
