First Edition of Indus Valley International Film Festival Announced
New Delhi: First edition of Indus Valley International Film Festival (IVIFF) will be held from 1st to 9th August. Organized by SAFACH (South Asia Forum for Art & Creative Heritage), the most unique aspect of this festival is, being “South Asia’s first Borderless Digital Film Festival” with a vibrant mix of Film Screenings, Workshops & Masterclasses, Interaction with Celebrities, Music Concert and Award ceremony. In the Covid19 scenario, the first edition will be online and on free registration audience gets access to the festival.
The festival will open with an Opening Remark by Vishal Bhardwaj, and Opening film will be ‘Patakha’. The festival will close with a closing Remark by Nandita Das, with her film ‘Manto’ is the closing film. A film by Brahmanand Singh ‘Jhalki’ will also be screened during the festival.
Indus Valley International Film Festival presents a very impressive line-up of films from other South Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan & India as well. The audience will get a rare opportunity to not only watch the films from the region but also interact with eminent directors and star cast.
Announcing the Festival Harsh Narayan, Founder, and Creative Director – Indus Valley International Film Festival said “We have a cultural & historical legacy and cinema is the modern medium of expressing continuously evolving our artistic traditions. South Asian art, music & folk traditions are interconnected and they get evolved further through communicating with each other. So, I believe, a popular platform connecting cinema & art practitioners, production houses, Studios & creative professionals will immensely benefit the creative economy of South Asia.”
Four films from Bangladesh will be part of the festival. Superhit film of Bangladesh Nolok, with interaction with Shakib Khan; Maya the Lost Mother, an award-winning film , Qasida of Dhaka, a documentary on this art form and a short film Mala Bhabi will be screened.
Dying Candle, an internationally award-winning film from Nepal, with interaction with its Director Naresh Kumar KC, and actress Srijana will also be screened.
Thanha Rathi Ranga (Between Yesterday & Tomorrow) from Sri Lanka, with interaction with its director Nilendra Deshapriya will be another attraction for film enthusiasts.
‘Moor’ and ‘Motorcycle Girl’ the two internationally acclaimed and award-winning films from Pakistan directed by Jami and Adnan Sarwar respectively. They will be present for interaction along with actors of the films.
A documentary directed by acclaimed Theatre Director of Ajoka Theatre of Lahore, Shahid Nadeem, titled: Pakistan’s Best Kept Secrets’ will be screened. Shahid Nadeem will also interact with the audiences online.
Apart from these, there are many features and short films from South Asian countries that will be available for the audience. The details are available on the website www.iviff.com
Another key attraction of IVIFF is Workshops and Masterclasses by renowned names of the industry. Director, Author & Producer- Brahmanand S Singh will be conducting a workshop on “Fiction and Documentary Filmmaking”. Shahid Nadeem of Ajoka Theatre, Lahore will be steering a Masterclass on ‘Theatre Direction & Acting’ whereas Karachi based Haider Ali Masterclass will be on modern evolving art form – Truck Art
Indus Valley International Film Festival will also host panel discussions and one such topic is ‘Traditional Arts and Filmmaking in South Asia’. This is a non-political discussion, to understand connectivity and continuity of traditional arts with the modern style of filmmaking in South Asian context. It will be attended by prominent Filmmakers from across South Asian countries.
It hopes to help the film fraternity from across South & South-East Asia to network, seek collaborations, Joint Ventures, co-productions, distribution partnerships, sales & marketing, line-production & technical support, provide internship opportunities for young film aspirants, organize workshops, etc.
There will also be online live music concerts during the festival, one such concert is by Kamal Sabri – Sufi Rock.
About Indus Valley International Film Festival: www.iviff.com . It is being organized by SAFACH (South Asia Forum for Art & Creative Heritage), an NGO:www.safach.com, SAFACH aspires to become a strong medium to facilitate dialogues between the creative industries, encourage Creative & Artistic collaborations create a networking platform for the Film Fraternity, facilitate cinema-making and establish a forum to share art, culture, literature, etc.