In an energised environment of global film culture, there are still some films outside the circumference of mainstream viewing. But every now and then comes a film festival with a burst of cinematic entertainment, replete with what was missed. One such is the Jagran Film Festival. Not limiting itself to metropolitans, it will travel to Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Dehradun, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bhopal, Indore, Hisar, Ludhiana, Meerut, Raipur, from Delhi, finally reaching Mumbai.
Manoj Srivastava, the Strategic Consultant of the festival, was called impractical, and his idea of taking movies to smaller towns, labelled as ridiculous. “Who will watch these films there,” he was told a number of times. To his amazement, right after the first two festivals, he realised that an informed audience was not just a thing of large cities. Little towns also turned up in admiration of large-screen engagement. “They all come out to meet, watch, question and share and what they see,” he says.
There are 130 films being screened under the categories, World Panorama, Indian Showcase, Jagran Shorts, Jagran Discovery, Country Focus and the Retrospective of Films.
In the first classification, you watch international feature films. In the second, view some of the year’s best work in Indian languages. Jagran Shorts is about short films. Jagran Discovery has select films with a distinctive approach towards film-making. Country Focus brings you cinema of a country in a nutshell, from the origin to the modern day, decade-wise. This year it’s Morocco. Finally, you have a retrospective of Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor.
Exclusive this year is the Knowledge Series in association with Barry John Acting Studio to be held in all the 16 cities. You get to partake in interactive master classes with film professionals after watching their work. A new addition is The Achievers segment that presents biopics. International documentaries from Israel, Syria, Mozambique, Germany and India will also be screened. “The list includes award-winning films such as A Memory in Three Acts, India Has No Name, Babylon Dreamers, From the Edge of Sanity, and The Art of Moving,” says Srivastava.
The Indian repertoire brings you Amaraavati, Anarkali of Arrah, Angamali Diaries, Antareen, Charandas Chor, Doctor Rakhmabai, Hindi Medium, Mukti Bhawan, Jolly LLB 2, Martin, Messi, Naam Shabana, Pink, and others. “This year we received submissions from 152 countries, of which films from 51 in 26 languages will be shown. We hope to grow from strength to strength from here,” says Srivastava.
It’s been a long ride, but still many miles to go before he sleeps.
On till July 5, at the Siri Fort Auditorium. 10 am onwards. For registrations, log on to jff.co.in.