With inauguration of European Union Film Festival (EUFF) 2017 on Friday evening at its premises, the State government is all set to bring Audrey House in limelight as one of the most happening art and culture destinations of not only in the State, but in eastern part of the country as well.
Principal Secretary to the CM Sanjay Kumar said on Thursday that the scheduled EUFF at one of the oldest and most famous colonial buildings in region turned modern art gallery complex was only a fresh start to help this longstanding culture centre become more vibrant with culture programmes, film and television related workshops and other such activities.
As many as 22 feature films are scheduled to be showcased during August 18-26 in first ever EUFF presented by European Union in collaboration with Information and Public Relations Department (GoJ), Directorate of Film Festivals and Federation of Film Societies of India. Open for all with free entry, the films to be showcased have been said to have received accolades from internal platforms. They are also said to be not easily available for anyone and everyone on other public platforms, including online marketplaces. Usually 2-3 films on weekdays, two Saturdays and one Sunday in between will showcase four films during the festival where discussion sessions on films showcased on that particular day are being also planned.
“We were planning to make Audrey House more vibrant with series of cultural events taking place one after another. We are going to start the same with programme like EUFF-2017. local film aspirants willing to get accommodated in different verticals of film production, post production, acting, writing or anything related to film making as a professional will have so many things from this festival to take away,” said Kumar where IPRD Director Ram lakhan Gupta, Federation of Film Societies of India General Secretary Amitava Ghosh and others were also present.
“From Flying Home (Belgium) to Nice People (Sweden) and A Comedy of Tears (Slovenia) to Family Member (Cyprus), all the movies scheduled to be showcased during European Film Festival have received accolades from wherever they have been showcased so far. These are not ordinary films, nor is the move of organising such an important event at Audrey House,” said Ghosh.
Kumar said that the government was willing to start series of such events like Indian Films Festival, Regional Films Festival, Patriotic Films Festival or Jharkhand Film Festival in coming days to sharpen young aspiring minds willing to dive into sea of films and television. “Breaking the ice, sometimes, becomes the most difficult task, and I believe that has been done for Audrey House with launch of EUFF,” said Kumar.
“We are also going to start 6-day series of workshops on writing, acting, film production, technology, film and television writing in association with Indian Institute of Film and Television (IIFT) and Film Archives of India after EUFF concludes at merely Rs 4,000 which government is working on subsidizing further. This will see series of events taking place in Audrey House,” said Ghosh.