Fragrances from the North-East, a festival of films and cultural heritage of the Northeastern States of India, kicked off in the Capital from Friday. Five-day 13th International ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU-ROBOCON) organised by Doordarshan also began on the same day in Pune. The first-ever Chinese film shot in India with Sino-Indian theme will make a debut in China soon
The NE film festival is being held at the Sirifort Auditorium organised by the Directorate of film festivals of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B).The opening film of the festival will be Khawnglung Run (The Raid of Khawnlung) in the Mizo language. The 122-minute-long movie has been directed by Mapuia Chawngthu. The closing film will be RI: Homeland of Uncertainty in Khashi directed by Pradip Kurbah.
Other films being screened are: Yarwng in Kokborok by Joseph Pulinthanath; Phijigee Mani in Manipuri by O Gautam Singh; Sonam in Monpa by Ahsan Muzid and Ajeyo in Assamese by Jahnu Barua. ABU-ROBOCON, on the other hand is a TV programme where students compete with their hand-made robots. The contest aims at encouraging scientific temperament of undergraduate engineering students in the Asia-Pacific region. These events also offer opportunity to broadcasting agencies for advancing their technological skills and international cooperation.
This year, broadcasters and ROBOCON teams from 17 countries will be participating in this contest. Prominent participants include Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), Russia State TV & Radio Broadcasting Company (RTR) and Egyptian Radio and television Union (ETU). The theme of ABU-ROBOCON is “A Salute to Parenthood”.
The Chinese film My amazing trip to India, graphically portrays the travails faced by a Chinese traveler in the country will be released soon. According to Nirupama Kotru, Director, (Films), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting the two countries are close to reach an agreement on co-production of films which could be finalised during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s to India.