PPF at India Habitat Centre.

PRAVASI FILM FESTIVAL

New Delhi, 4 January:
Delhi has perhaps never seen such a galaxy of non-resident filmmakers or those of Indian origin.
The first major event of the new year, the first-ever Pravasi Film Festival to be held in the country, commenced in the capital with several filmmakers expressing how their cultural roots bind them to the country of their origin.
Inaugurating the festival, renowned filmmaker Deepa Mehta said ‘we are like children who have left their mother and gone away. And we keep coming back because the mother is so good and pulls us back.’ The VIPs also lit the traditional lamp to declare the Festival open. Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahay said cinema was an excellent medium for integrating NRIs with their motherland. The competitive Festival has been organized by the Pravasi Today Group in association with the Mauritius government at India Habitat Center from 3rd to 6th January. Around 35 films from different countries are being screened at the Festival and a large number of the filmmakers have come to India to attend the event.
The eminent jury members present comprised veteran filmmaker Basu Chatterjee who is heading the feature jury and Latika Padgaonkar who heads the non-feature jury, filmmakers Rahul Rawail and Sanjay Singh, critic Namrata Joshi, senior critic Aruna Vasudev who is also an Advisor to the Festival,and senior critic Utpal Borpujari. Festival Co- Director Pankaj Dubey and Puja Kumar who is an actress based in New York and, compered the inaugural ceremony. Welcoming the guests, Festival Director Anil Joshi recalled how the Mauritian President Sir Anerood Jugnauth accompanied by his wife Sarojini Jugnauth had unveiled the awards to be given away at the Festival in a ceremony on 1st December.
Film list
•Life Goes On
•Red ,Blue, Yellow ,Green
•Desh ki shaan (Pride of Country)
•Shapes of Happiness
•Shor (Noise)
•Bismillah of Benaras
•Earth
•Waterborne
•Flavours
•Land ,Gold , Woman
•A Collage for Woman
•New York
•Blind Ambition
•Akhiri Decision (Final Decision)
•Gulabari
•Zindgi Ek Kavita
•Bristol Pilgrimage
•Azizan Mastamni
•Bombay Summer
•Beyond Partition
•Monsoon Wedding
•Extrospection
•Flying Sikh
•Chehere
•Once More Removed
•Tea shop on the moon
•Three of Us
•Blind ambition
•The Inner World of Shah Rukh Khan
•President is coming

ORGANIZER
1. Dr. Padmesh Gupta
International Co-ordinator

2. Anil Joshi
Festival Director

3. Rajesh Jain
Festival Co-Director

4. Divya Mathur
MA, FRSA (International Co-ordinator)

5. Dr. Nikhil Kaushik
Filmmaker

6. Pankaj Dubey
Festival Co-Director

7. Prof. Rajesh Kumar
Festival Secretary

8. Anuranjan Jha
Media Adviser

9. Ms. Bhawna Pandey
Member, Organizing and Programming Committee, PF

10. Sumanta Mishra Sumanta Mishra is the editor with Nai Duniya Bombay edition.

11. TITIKSSHA
Member Organizing Committee

12. Pankaj Narayan Pankaj Narayan, a poet, writer and journalist, started his career with writing in India Today, Outlook, Pravasi Today, India News, Life and Time.