THE Gorakhpur Film Society and Jan Sanskriti Manch (JASAM) organized the 13th Gorakhpur Film Festival on 12-13 January 2019 at Gokul Atithi Bhavan in Civil Lines. Addressing the inaugural session, JASAM National Vice President and poet Kaushal Kishore said that the journey of the Gorakhpur Film Festival which began in 2006 has reached far flung rural areas. The cinema of resistance nurtures different art forms and literatures. When attacks on the marginalized increase, it becomes necessary to join the feelings of the people with this medium.
Cinema of Resistance National Convener Sanjay Joshi told the audience that ‘Pratirodh ka Cinema’ (Cinema of Resistance) began in the form of the 1st Gorakhpur Film Festival. From 2006 to 2019, 68 Film Festivals have been organized across the country. Earlier, Organizing Committee Chairman and senior story writer Madan Mohan gave the welcome address and said that the art of film making is of prime importance in the artistic depiction of reality and making the common people conscious through its extensive reach, advanced techniques, visual appeal and easy dissemination. We wish to reach a wide audience through films and other forms of people’s art.
Young filmmaker and Director of ‘Life of an Outcaste’ Pawan Shrivastava and Director of ‘Apni Dhun Mein Kabootari’ Sanjay Mattoo also addressed the inaugural session. Gorakhpur Film Society Convener Manoj Kumar Singh thanked the attending filmmakers, audience, and the citizens who had contributed to the organization of the festival. The session was conducted by festival convener Prof Dr Chandrabhushan Ankur.
The film festival began with the screening of music videos ‘Rang Ek Geet’ and ‘Ek Desh Bada Kab Banta Hai’ produced by Hyderabad team Hoi Choi and based on poet Laltu’s song. This was followed by the screening of renowned filmmaker Mrinal Sen’s ‘Bhuvan Shome’ in his memory. The festival then screened Sanjay Mattoo’s ‘Apni Dhun Mein Kabootari’ based on the life and art of Uttarakhand folk singer Kabootari Devi, and ‘Nach Bhikhari Nach’ directed by Shilpi Gulati and Jainendra Dost.
The 2nd day of the festival began with the screening of Carlos Saldanha’s animation film ‘Ferdinand’ with its message of peace and love opposed to violence. The festival then screened Vaibhav Sharma’s ‘Ardha Ticket’ and Mohd Gani’s ‘Gubbarey’, depicting the touching stories of footpath children and a child who sells balloons respectively. The next film was Vijay Prakash’s ‘Who is Tapasi’ based on the life of freedom fighter Tapasi Kushwaha. Odisha filmmaker Debranjan Sarangi’s ‘Those Stars in the Sky’ brings to the fore corporate loot of farmers’ lands and the violence and injustice perpetrated by corporate companies in collusion with the state.
Other films that were also screened at the festival were ‘Lynch Nation’ (made by Ashfaq, Furqan Ansari, Vishnu Sejwal and Shahid Ahmed anguished by the lynching of 16 year old Junaid lynched in a running train) and documentary film ‘Paramanu Urja—Bahut Thagni Hum Jaani’ directed by Fatima Nizaruddin. Then came Randeep Maddoke’s ‘Landless’ depicting the woes of the landless dalit agrarian workers of Punjab and their subsequent organization. The film festival concluded with a question and answer session between the audience and film editor Saheb Singh Iqbal and consulting editor Amaninder Singh.
