Chaos at South Asian Film Festival
(No Ratings Yet)Chaos marked the inauguration of the first South Asian Film Festival this evening, as the chief guest, Chief Minister Sheila Dixit could not make it to the function due to Eid celebrations.
Guests, foreign film makers and enthusiastic viewers had to wait for more than an hour before the event finally kicked off with the lighting of the lamp by famous Sri Lankan director, Bennet Ratnayake and the screening of the Sri Lankan movie ‘Dheeravi-Fisherman’s Daughter.
Expressing regret at the delay, Rameeza Akhtar, Festival Director said “many of our viewers even left before the screening of the film due to the delay”.
Speaking at the inauguration, Ratnayake said, “It’s a great pleasure to be here in Delhi and participate in the event. It is a very good platform for young talent to showcase their work of art and reach out to a global audience,” Bennet Ratnayake said at the function.
Sri Lanka has sent eleven entries, the maximum from any country. “I hope that this festival is a great success and we can exchange our ideas with our counterparts from the eight participating nations,” Ratnayake said.
Seventy films from eight different nations including Pakistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Nepal will be showcased in the week long event.
The movie screenings will take place at Siri Fort, Max Mueller Bhavan and Indian Habitat Centre. “The aim is to dissolve boundaries and get maximum number of people to watch the films which otherwise are not avilabe in multiplexes,” Shirin Mehra, Executive Director said here.
This is the first time that South Asian Foundation is organising the festival which not only aims to provide a paltform to talented directors and actors, but also generate employment for developmental purposes.
— PTI
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