Kashmir Film Festival To Feature 45 Movies From Italy, USA & Iran

SRINAGAR — Prominent film person­alities from all over India will be attend­ing the third edition of Kashmir World Film Festival (KWFF), which commences from 19-25 June at Tagore Hall in Srinagar.

The celebrities who have been locked for the festival include Tanishaa Mukerji, Rajit Kapur, Imran Khan, Raj Bhansal, Komal Nahta, Gauhar Raza, Mir Sarwar and others. The delegates are coming from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Trivandrum, Jaipur, Chandi­garh, Jammu and other cities.

KWFF director Mushtaaque Ali Ahmad Khan said that the preparations for the festival are in full swing. “All the people connected with the festival are working day and night to com­plete the preparation for its third edition on time,” he said.

Film personalities too are in high spirits ahead of the film festival. “I have been associ­ated with this festival since the first edition and I will always be there. To make this festival a huge success, we need the sup­port from so many quarters. I am very positive about the fu­ture of the festival and it has to go a long way. I see a bright future for KWFF,” said Rajit Ka­pur, an actor and a director.

Komal Nahta, a Bollywood trade analyst who will be visit­ing the valley for the first time, says, “I’m excited for two main reasons – one, anything that is films catches my fancy, and this is an entire film festival; secondly, the venue is Kashmir which, when I used to study in school, used to be referred to as ‘swarg ka kona!’ I’ve never been to Kashmir and this festi­val gives me an opportunity to be there. I’m sure, festival di­rector Mr. Mushtaaque Ali Ah­mad Khan and his team must be putting together a fantastic festival.” “It is a very coura­geous step taken by the organ­isers. This film festival and the similar other festivals are the need of the hour in Kashmir. I wish the festival such success so that international filmmak­ers would aspire to join it,” said Gauhar Raza, a poet and filmmaker.

Mir Sarwar, a Bollywood actor of Kashmiri origin, said “KWFF is a wonderful platform for the budding filmmakers of Kashmir. The best thing about the festival is that the audience and students get to see some rare films, especially world class cinema which is not eas­ily available to us. I have great hopes from this festival”.

Khan said so far they have received more than hundred films for the screening. “But we will be screening only around 45 films in the seven day film festival,” he said. The organisers have received films from various countries in­cluding Italy, USA, Iran, Korea, Poland, Turkey, Japan and Ne­pal. The films are of different languages as well that include English, Italian, Hindi, Kash­miri, Persian, Korean, Assa­mese, Punjabi, Nepali, Turkish, Marathi, Japanese, Malyalam and Sindhi.

Khan said that he aspires to make KWFF among the top ten film festivals of the world. “We want to make this festival a success and want it be recog­nized internationally,”