A two-day Sambalpur Film Festival held at the Nari Seva Sadan here concluded on Sunday with the screening of nearly 35 short and medium interval films.
The organisers received 51 films in total, of which 35 were selected after a thorough scrutiny. Vulgarity and nudity was totally discarded to give a high impression to the audience, said managing director of the film festival Panini Pranjya.
“Interestingly, some films were even of one minute duration, but had a strong message for the society,” said Dr Panchanan Mishra, one of the chief organisers of the festival.
MlA Dr Raseswari Panigrahi, film director Sabyasachi Mahapatra, actor Kuna Tripathy and loka Kabi Padmashri Haladhar Nag were present at the inauguration ceremony. The speakers expressed their concern over demolition of such film halls in the State for construction of shopping malls.
“Cinema speaks of the society and life. At the same time, it teaches the art of living a life even in an adverse situation,” said actor Tripathy. On the valedictory event, Oasis bagged the best film award and its director Suresh Prasad Rath received the best director award. Besides, Chakrapani Dash, Saroj Das, Ashis Satapathy, Ashis Pradhan, Harishankar Meher were given Pranjyashree Samman for their outstanding contributions to filmmaking.