Guwahati: The organizing committee of the 9th Chalachitram National Film Festival 2025 (CNFF-25) is gearing up to host the event on 25 and 26 October at Jyoti Chitraban Film Studio located at Kahilipara in Assam’s Guwahati, and has already received nearly 100 film entries by 15 August from across Northeast India and beyond.
The two-day annual festival aims to foster nationalism through cinema and pay homage to India’s millennia-old civilization, culture, and heritage. The festival invites short features and documentaries (produced between 1 November 2024 and 15 September 2025) with a maximum runtime of 25 minutes.
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Chalachitram (www.chalachitram.in), a subsidiary of Vishwa Samvad Kendra Assam, is organizing CNFF-25 with the central theme ‘Our Heritage, Our Pride’. The festival aims to provide a dignified platform for serious filmmakers, cine professionals, enthusiasts, and general audiences.
Filmmakers have submitted entries for both the competition category (limited to Northeastern filmmakers) and the screening-only category (open to filmmakers from the rest of India) through FilmFreeway and other digital and offline modes. The organizers expect a few more entries by 20 September.
The festival will present awards in several categories: Best Short Feature, Best Documentary, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing under the Northeast category, and Best Short Feature and Best Documentary under the national category.
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Meanwhile, CNFF-25 Secretary Bhagwat Pritam Dutta said the winners will receive trophies, certificates, and cash prizes. He further added that a high-powered review committee and a jury board have already been formed.
VSK Assam Secretary Kishor Shivam said the organizing team has received entries exploring a range of sub-themes including: Indian heritage, indigenous societies, heroes of the freedom movement, epics and mythology, national integration, traditional arts and artisans, manuscripts and paintings, museums, wood carving, indigenous festivals, ethnic groups, heritage sites, traditional sports, women empowerment, family values, yoga and Ayurveda, cultural nationalism, human rights, and tourism potential.