Ladakh hosted the first-ever Himalayan Film Festival, which was inaugurated by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, officials said. The five-day festival was held from September 24-28 as a part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.
Shershaah, a film on late Captain Vikram Batra, was shown on the big screen for the first time during the opening session of the festival in the presence of actor Sidharth Malhotra and his co-actors, director Vishnu Vardhan and film personalities such as Vidhu Vinod Chopra and film critic Anupama Chopra.
The film festival, showcasing films from 12 Himalayan states and Union Territories to provide a platform to filmmakers, was organized by the administration of Union Territory of Ladakh in collaboration with the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The film festival was hosted in collaboration with the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh, the officials said.
Speaking during the event, Thakur termed cinema as one of the effective mediums to foster cultural diversity.
Thakur assured that the demand for collaboration between Ladakh and the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) would be fulfilled at the earliest. Ladakh Lieutenant Governor (LG) R K Mathur expressed hope that the festival would encourage filmmakers and talented youth from Ladakh to take up this field. He also stated that the administration would make efforts to nurture the talent of the creative youth of Ladakh by imparting professional education and training to them.
He put emphasis on the need for having a premiere film institute in the region to connect local film enthusiasts with the mainstream film industry.
Member Parliament from Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, highlighted that a lot of initiatives have been taken in Ladakh by the Centre and the LG in the last two years.
The event, he said, was a significant event to pay tribute to the freedom fighters from the Himalayan region on the occasion of celebration of the ”Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” across the country.