Guwahati: The 1st Guwahati Asian Film Festival (GAFF) is all set to celebrate the rich cinematic traditions from across Asia.
Scheduled for 7 to 9 February, 2025 at the Jyoti Chitraban premises in Guwahati, Assam, the film festival in its first edition would screen a total of 25 films.
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The Iranian film, In the Arms of the Tree by Babak Khajehpasha is the Opening Film of the festival. The film festival will be graced by invited dignitaries including but not limited to eminent Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage, eminent Indian actor Sheeba Chadha and eminent Indian filmmaker Onir.
The films selected for Northeast India Films Competition includes – Mirbeen by Mridul Gupta, Before Spring by Shrutismriti Changkakoti, Joseph’s Son by Haobam Paban Kumar, Collage by Amardeep Gogoi, Ata Nirjon Duporiya by Khanjan Kishore Nath and Amateurs by Dhiraj Kashyap.
The competition between Northeast India films is organized to provide a boost to local filmmakers belonging to the Northeastern states of India and provide them a platform to screen their craft in front of a wide audience.
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The film festival also promises to host a wide array of open-air events for the creative individuals, filmmakers, cinephiles, scholars and everyone who can associate themselves to cinema.
The events include workshops, panel discussions, celebrity talks, meet the guest sessions, and many more. In a discussion on the future of Northeast India cinema to be moderated by Film Critic, Dr Dipsikha Bhagawati, the conversation will focus on the challenges, opportunities, and global prospects of Northeast cinema.
The panellists include filmmaker and film critic Utpal Datta and Sibanu Bora, filmmaker Kangkan Deka, and filmmaker Deep Choudhury.
In a session to be moderated by film critic Dr Pranjal Borah, the panellists will discuss the new landscape of Indian contemporary indie-cinema with filmmaker Arfaz Ayub, Promita Bhowmik, Abhilash Sharma and Haobam Paban Kumar.
Arfaz Ayub’s Level Cross, Promita Bhowmik’s The Light Within, Abhilash Sharma’s In The Name of Fire and Haobam Paban Kumar’s Joseph’s Son are also scheduled to be screened in the festival.
A special discussion on Youth and Cinema: The Changing Face of Storytelling will be moderated by author, poet and film critic Aparajita Pujari.
The participants of the session include writer-directors Maharshi Tuhin Kashyap and Krishna Kanta Borah, and cinematographers Kulanandini Mahanta and Aniruddha Barua.
A workshop by Nikon will explore Digital Film-Making and Nikon Mirrorless Camera to be conducted by mentor Soumyajit Maitra who is a Nikon Technical Officer.
The meet the guests’ sessions will include interactions with eminent actor, Sheeba Chadha and critically acclaimed filmmaker, Onir and eminent filmmaker from Sri Lanka, Prasanna Vithanage.
The sessions will be presented by filmmaker Prerana Barbarooah, senior journalist Mrinal Talukdar and filmmaker, film historian and critic, Parthajit Barua, respectively.
The other films scheduled for screening in the festival are – A Lab Story by Carlo Obispo (Philippines), Shambhala by Min Bahadur Bham (Nepal), Bahadur the Brave by Diwa Shah (India), Celestina & Lawrence by Vikram Kumar (India), Captain by Mohammad Hamzei (Iran), The Stranger by Biplob Sarkar (Bangladesh), Not What You Think by Vuslat Saracoglu (Turkey), House by Jamshid Narzikulov (Uzbekistan), The Great Phuket by Liu Yaonam (Hong Kong), Joqtau by Aruan Anartay (Kazakhstan), A Road To A Village by Nabin Subba (Nepal), Cold As Marble by Asif Rustamov (Azerbaijan), Teach Me by Shyam Fernando (Sri Lanka), and Second Chance by Subhadra Mahajan (India).
The closing film of the festival is Australian production, My Melbourne, an anthology directed by Indian filmmakers – Imtiaz Ali, Rima Das, Onir and Kabeer Khan.
The 1st Guwahati Asian Film Festival (GAFF) will not only celebrate cinema of the Asian countries but also screen films in Indian languages like Karbi, Manipuri, Magahi and Bengali among other languages.
The festival team includes – Srinivasa Santhanam, Festival Curator and Monita Borgohain, Festival Director (Honorary), and advisory board members includes – filmmaker and film critic Utpal Borpujari, filmmaker Manju Borah and film critic Christopher Dalton.