Film buffs will have a veritable treat at the five-day Assam Film Festival to be held at Eleye Cinema here from December 19. Some of the must-see works of the greatest film-makers ever have been lined up for viewing at the festival which is being organised by Assam Film Society. The Jorhat-based film body was formed early this year.
The film festival is the first of its kind to come up after a gap of 11 years in Jorhat, said general secretary of Assam Film Society Jayanta Madhab Dutta. "Apart from screening films under three packages billed as world classics, regional masterpieces and Assamese section, we will pay special tribute to two late masters of the medium-Swedish Ingmar Bergman and Italian Michelangelo Antonioni," he pointed out. Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1957) and Antonioni's Sonata will be shown along with Orson Welles' Citizen Kane and Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. The movie carnival will be inaugurated by seasoned Assamese actress Mridula Baruah. A felicitation ceremony will also be held to honour Manisha Hazarika, the first woman music director of Assam and widow of late maestro Jayanta Hazarika, and Nilima Das who had acted in Manumati, the second film of Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala. Two local artistes - danseuse Pratibha Hazarika and culture activist Bhuban Chandra Baruah - will be feted also. The highlight of the film festival will be a seminar on Assamese film industry and its future which is being supported by the Mrinal Kanti Das Memorial Trust. Film critic Manoj Borpujari, film-maker Moulinath Senapati and educationist Sitanath Lahkar, who is also a theatre activist, have been roped in as the panellists for the seminar, the general secretary of Assam Film Society said. "A multi-lingual souvenir in English, Assamese, Hindi, Bengali and Mising will be released by Principal of Jorhat College Dr PP Goswami, a musician in his own right," Dutta added. "Our efforts are aimed at reviving the decadent cinema culture in the State on the one hand and providing a scope for appreciation of quality cinema on the other," he maintained. The seminar is expected to address the immediate problems plaguing the show business in Assam like closure of cinema halls and low viewership, Dutta stressed. KOUSHIK HAZARIKA./ http://www.hardiq.co.nr
