Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF) Right Platforms For Selling Art Films: Moderator

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The third Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF) had a lively discussion on the impact of film festivals in propagating the film culture, here on Sunday. The discussion got across the message that film festivals are the right extravaganzas where art films can be popularized.

The panel discussion moderated by filmmaker Roma Zachemba had Polish actress and filmmaker Ewa Bukowska, Bangladeshi director Noor Imran Mithu and Finland filmmaker Helkki Kujanpaa as panelists.

Roma moderated that film festivals are for cine lovers. “Such festivals are mainly for art films. Since commercial films pull most of the crowds, art films rarely get takers among the common cine goers. However, film festivals do give a platform for art films to get popularity and get the message across,” she said, and added: “The 3rd GIFF has been pulling crowds, and this is a positive sign.”

Ewa Bukowska, one of the panelists, said: “As a first-timer in filmmaking, the experience I got here will help me in making films and in acting.”

Noor Imran Mithu of Bangladesh said, “We make low-budget films in Bangladesh. However, we cannot get the investment back. Such film festivals help us getting back our invested money.”

Assamese actress Aimee Baruah said: “We can’t afford to lose such a festival. I’ve seen almost every movie screened in this festival.” The festival witnessed long queues of students and other cine goers an hour before the festival to start screening.

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