Cinema is a medium that allows us to showcase the very best of our cultural heritage:Ketan Mehta

Bhubaneswar:7/6/24:The Bhubaneswar Film Festival, an exclusively 3-Day Odia Film event commenced on Friday, at Jayadev Bhawan and witnessed high enthusiasm among cinephiles & general audience with the screening sessions going houseful.

The first screening featured the Odia classic ‘Maya Miriga’ by Nirad Mahapatra. Four other nationally & internationally acclaimed cinemas like ‘Chha Mana Atha Guntha’ by Parbati Ghose, ‘Bhija Matira Swarga’ by Manmohan Mahapatra, ‘Hello Arsi’ by Sambit Mohanty & ‘Remembering Promod Pati’ by Films Division, also received an impressive response by Odia Cine lovers.

The Bhubaneswar Film Festival is hosted under the banner of Bhubaneswar Film Circle. The formal inaugural ceremony of the festival was hosted in the evening. The ceremony boasted a distinguished lineup from the Odia & Mumbai film fraternity Directors Ketan Mehta and Prashanta Nanda, Cinematographer and Director AK Bir, Actor & Producer Deepa Sahi along with Actor & Director of National School of Drama (NSD) Chittaranjan Tripathy.

“We’ve been discussing the importance of culture, and cinema as undeniably the most powerful tool humans have ever created to express. Cinema is a medium that allows us to showcase the very best of our cultural heritage, which we need to celebrate continuously. Thus, a crucial balance should be maintained between cinema’s commercial and cultural aspects,” says Ketan Mehta, the Chief guest of the evening.

“Indian cinema, especially the regional industries will thrive only when the people visit theatres to watch films. This love by the audience will support filmmakers to come up with good cinemas and boast the entire entertainment ecosystem,” says Chittaranjan Tripathy.

At the opening of the ceremony Sanjoy Patnaik, Filmmaker & Convenor of the festival welcomed the guests and all to the event. He briefly presented the design of the festival along with the expected outcome of promoting Odia cinema while supporting the stakeholders in the ecosystem.

A scholarly publication, titled “Odia Cinema@90,” was launched at the festival. This collection of essays, written bilingually, explores different aspects of Odia filmmaking, marking nine decades of the industry’s voyage since its beginning in 1936.

Veteran personalities like Actress Namrata Das, Cinematographer Surendra Sahu, Music Director Mohammad Mushir, Lyricist Sachi Mohanty & Makeup Artist Samaresh Pal, were felicitated during the event for their enormous contribution to the Odia Film industry. Similarly, the visiting Bollywood Director, Amit Rai, was also felicitated at the event.

Ollywood Actor & Co-organiser, Sukant Rath along with Madhumita Mohanty anchored the inaugural ceremony. Similarly, Bollywood Sound designer & Co-convenor of the festival Subash Sahoo, thanked everyone for joining & making the festival a success.

Ashok Palit, Cine Journalist & Co-organiser hosted the movie screening sessions while the filmmakers & artists of movies were felicitated at the event.

The event will continue till Sunday having 5 Odia classics scheduled to be screened each day from 9:30 AM. The screening is open to everyone.