Guwahati International Film festival from Oct 25

The good news for the serious film lovers are back. The next edition of the Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF) shall be held  from October 25, where altogether 108 films from 30 countries shall be screened.

This was announced last evening by Assam Cultural affairs minister Naba Doley.

The first edition of the GIFF was wildly popular as Guwahati finally got the taste of the world cinema, something so far had remained with the cine club members only.

This will be a three day jamboree of film goers, writers, film critics, artists besides intellectuals and foreign delegates from across the world.

This is organized under the aegis of the cultural department of the State Government, Jyoti Chitrabon Film Society and have earmarked a budget of Rs 3 crore for this. There will be three cash prizes for three top films and that will be Rs 3, 2 and 1 lakh respectively.

1st edition of Guwahati International Film Festival held from 28 October to 2 November jointly at Srimanta Sankaradev Kalakshetra and Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film and Television Institute commonly known as Jyoti Chitraban. Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal formally inaugurated it on 28 October and festival began on October 28 with screening of the Oscar winning 'The Salesman', directed by Asghar Farhadi.

78 films from 32 countries were screened in 1st GIFF. Six Iranian movies that were screened at the GIFF are 'Dokhtar' by Reza Mirkarimi, 'Rokha Divaneh' by Abolhassan Davoodi, 'Malaria' by Parviz Shahbazi, 'Raftan' by Navid Mahmoudi, 'Valderama' by Abbas Amini and 'Inja Kassi Nemimirad' by Hossein Kondoir. The five films of Turkey were 'Ember' directed by Zeki Demirkubuz, 'Yarim' by Cagil Nurhak Aydogdu, 'Toz Bezi' by Ahu Ozturk, 'Rauf' by Baris Kayer and Soner Caner, and 'Kalander Sogugu' by Mustafa Kara. Films from Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Latvia, Japan, Belgium, Ireland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Israel, Greece, Austria, Russia, Philippines, Afghanistan, Peru, Romania, Denmark, Cyprus, Estonia and the United States were also shown.[2]

The GIFF had sections on World Cinema, Indian Panorama, Retrospectives, Cinema of North East, Cinema of Assam and the Tribute. The list of Assamese films included renowned director Jahnu Baruah's 'Hkhagoroloi Bohu door', 'Ajeyo', 'Halodhiya Choraye Baodhan Khai' and 'Konikar Ramdhenu'.Films by pioneering filmmakers of Assam — Dr Bhupen Hazarika ('Shakuntala'), Abdul Mazid ('Chameli Memsahib') and Dr Bhabendra Nath Saikia ('Sandhya Raag') were also shown.