(L-R) Amrit Pritam, Leena Yadav, Aimee Baruah, Ronni Lahiri, Sanjay Bhutiani, Ranjit Barthakur, Dr Hitesh Baruah and Tanushree Hazarika at the opening ceremony of the eighth Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival in Guwahati, Assam.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The 8th edition of the Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival kick-started on Thursday with a grand opening ceremony at the Jyoti Chitrabon Film Studio in Guwahati, Assam. Organised by Tattva Creations and Brahmaputra Foundation, the pageant goals to platform cinema from Northeast India and enhance the filmmaking motion in the area.
The pageant’s founder and director Tanushree Hazarika, alongside along with her workforce of organisers, Pallavi Chumki Barua, Samujjal Kashyap, Karma Paljor and Bjorn Deniese, felicitated the chief company — producers Leena Yadav, Ronnie Lahiri, Sanjay Bhutiani, actor Aimee Baruah, sound designer Amrit Pritam, music composer Dr Hitesh Baruah and businessman Ranjit Barthakur.
BVFF, which started its journey in 2013, is returning this yr after a three-year break due to the pandemic, and Tanushree Hazarika is over the moon. “There was a lot of resistance initially because it takes a lot of work to put together a festival of this scale. However, the kind of support we got from the community in these three years was heartwarming. In fact, many filmmakers, especially from the Northeast, encouraged us to come back and they are all very excited about this edition,” stated Hazarika.
Speaking at the occasion, producer Ronnie Lahiri stated that he has been a contented witness to the development of Northeastern cinema for over 50 years. “This year, I am really glad Tanushree and co. have added feature films as well. I’ve been looking forward to watching a lot of these titles but, unfortunately, most of them don’t get a release in Mumbai.”
Producer Sanjay Bhutiani is hopeful that efforts like these will take cinema from Northeast to newer heights. “The days are not far for when you’ll see a film from Northeast India premiere at the Cannes Film Festival,” he stated.
The opening ceremony additionally featured particular performances from dancer Mridusmita Das Bora and music band Bottle Rocket. After the ceremony, the pageant started with a particular screening of the Hindi crime drama Kooki, directed by Pranab Deka. It will finish on December 17 with the screening of Footprints on Water starring Adil Hussain and directed by Nathalia Syam.
The pageant is ready to function 30 films chosen from 200 entries in addition to panel discussions, masterclasses and a workshop on introduction to filmmaking carried out in affiliation with the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Notably, the BVFF has collaborated with streaming large Amazon Prime Video this yr, with an purpose to permit filmmakers to current their pitches immediately to the platform.