Showcasing 40 films from 14 countries, the 11th edition of the much-awaited three-day annual festival of films on art and artists will be underway at the IDCOl Auditorium here commencing from Friday. The unique event, the only of its kind in India, is being hosted by the city-based Jatin Das Centre of art (JDCA).
Addressing the media here on Wednesday, JDCA founder and internationally-acclaimed Odia painter Jatin Das informed that the decade-old national festival would go global this year with participation of films from Afghanistan, Cambodia, England, France, Germany, Japan, lebanon, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA besides host India. “Since its second edition, each festival has been thematic, and this year’s focus has been on architecture,” he informed.
The films from India and abroad have been curated by a committee comprising festival director and eminent film scholar Aruna Vasudev, associate director Biren Das, Raman Chawla, Sudhir Tandon, U Radhakrishnan and Sunit Tandon. Similarly, the Odia film section has been finalized by well-known film-makers like Manmohan Mohapatra, Raju Mishra, Prakash Nayak, Gadadhar Puty, Chakradhar Sahu and Kapilas Bhuyan, he said.
The festival will open with ‘Nabakalebar’ (Gods Own People) directed by Odisha’s internationally-acclaimed Nila Madhab Panda. The festival further includes films related to legendary artists of Odisha - pattachitra painter Gokul Behari Pattanaik, actor Sarat Pujari, artists Ajit Keshari Ray and Muralidhar Tali.
Aruna Vasudev said, “Seven poetic films on architecture will be screened. They include Steffi Giaracuni’s documentary about the legendary Kangra Valley architect and Christopher Rompré’s documentary titled The Man who Built Cambodia, the highly acclaimed, award winning films Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry directed by Alison Klayman, Jai Ho, a film which explores the evolution of AR Rahman’s style of music and Metamorphosis, a film about eminent artist Satish Gujral”.
India’s iconic lens man Raghu Rai will deliver an illustrated talk during the festival. Further, there will be talks by experts in the field of architecture, art and design by PK Das, eminent urban planner and architect from Mumbai, Dr SS Ray who will discuss vernacular architecture of Odisha and Subrata Bhowmick, a leading designer, will speak on designing museums. Marta Krolikowska, an art historian from Poland who takes care of one of the most important modern and contemporary art collections in Central Europe, The GraIJyna Kulczyk Collection, will offer a lecture on Polish contemporary art while Malin Pettersson Öberg, the director of Reading Glass (Att läsa glaset) will also talk on the craft of making in Sweden.
The festival offers two filmmaking workshops - Cinematic Films on a Budget, to be conducted by award winning documentary filmmakers Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl. Sudhir Tandon, former executive director lok Sabha TV and Additional DG of Doordarshan will also give a presentation on visual composition, informed the hosts. Among others, festival committee members former Ambassador Abasar Beuria, festival associate directors Biren Das and Siddharth Das were present.