IFFI 50, XI: Kashmiri film Nooreh to open non-feature Indian Panorama
The 50th International Film Festival of India, 2019 will witness over 200 best films from 76 countries, 26 feature films and 15 non-feature films in Indian panorama section and around 10,000 delegates and film-lovers are expected to participate in the golden jubilee edition.
Indian Panorama is a flagship section of IFFI, which showcases the best of contemporary Indian Feature and Non-Feature Films of the years. This year, the Feature Film Jury was headed by acclaimed film-maker and screenwriter Shri Priyadarshan. The Jury has chosen the film HELLARO (Gujarati), directed by Abhishek Shah, as the Opening Feature Film of Indian Panorama 2019.
The Non–Feature Jury was headed by well-known documentary film-maker, Shri Rajendra Janglay. The Non-Feature film Jury selected the film “Nooreh”, directed by Ashish Pandey as the Opening non-feature film of Indian Panorama 2019.
Hellaro (The Outburst) is a 2018 Indian Gujarati period drama film co-written and directed by Abhishek Shah and produced by Ashish Patel, Aayush Patel, Prateek Gupta, Mit Jani and Abhishek Shah, under the banner of Saarthi Productions and Harfanmaula Films It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film at the 66th National Film Awards.
It was a historical moment, for no Gujarati film so far had won the top prize, for which the National Film Awards Jury chooses from across all Indian languages. Set in 1975, in a small village in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, the social drama centres around the fraught lives of women in a highly patriarchal society.
Manjhri, a young girl, is married off into a small village in the middle of nowhere in the Rann of Kutch. There, she joins a group of women shackled by patriarchal mandates. Their only escape from the suppression is when they go out to fetch water every morning to a distant water body. Other than those few hours every-day, their lives are bound by the rules made by men which they have to abide by. A chance discovery of a man (Jayesh More) in the middle of the desert creates a seismic shift.
Nooreh is a Kashmiri short film directed by Ashish Pandey. The girl, Nooreh, is the protagonist of Ashish Pandey’s titular short film. The 22-minute short explores the mind of a child growing up in a strife-ridden Kashmir. The film recently premiered at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival, where it also bagged the Sonje Award, the top award in the short film category.
Set in Kashmir, the film introduces us to young Nooreh, whose life in a small village on the Indian-Pakistani border is disrupted by daily crossfire. One night, Nooreh discovers that she can monitor the gun battles by keeping her eyes open, and vows to constantly stay awake.
Restrained and nicely observed, the film offers an intimate glimpse into daily life in a region where child’s play constitutes counting bullet holes dotting the school building. With a sensitive lens and a rich soundscape, writer/director Ashish Pandey delicately weaves together themes of violence and fantasy, blurring the lines between dream and reality and giving us rare insight into a child’s mind and the subliminal effects of political conflict onto its psyche.
List of 26 Feature Films, selected in the Indian Panorama 2019 is as follows:
No. Name of the film Language Director
1. Kenjira Paniya Manoj Kana
2. Tujhya Aaila Marathi Sujay Sunil Dahake
3. Anandi Gopal Marathi Sameer Sanjay Vidwans
4. Bhonga Marathi Shivaji Lotan Patil
5. Mai Ghat: Crime No 103/2005 Marathi Ananth Narayan Mahadevan
6. Pareeksha Hindi Prakash Jha
7. Oththa Seruppu Size 7 Tamil Radhakrishnan Parthiban
8. Nirban Bengali Gautam Halder
9. Kolaambi Malayalam T K Rajeev Kumar
10. Jyeshthoputro Bengali Kaushik Ganguly
11. Ek Je Chhilo Raja Bengali Srijit Mukherji
12. Ranganayaki Kannada Dayal Padmanabhan
13. Netaji Irula Vijeesh Mani
14. Uyare Malayalam Manu Ashokan
15. Jallikettu Malayalam Lijo Jose Pellissery
16. Iewduh Khasi/Garo Pradip Kurbah
17. Photo-Prem Marathi Aditya Rathi & Gayatri Patil
18. House Owner Tamil Lakshmy Ramakrishnan
19. Bahattar Hoorain Hindi Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan
20. In the Land of Poison Women Pangchenpa Manju Borah
21. Hellaro Gujarati Abhishek Shah
Mainstream Cinema
22. Uri: The Surgical Strike Hindi Aditya Dhar
23. F2 Telugu Anil Ravipudi
24. Gully Boy Hindi Zoya Akhtar
25. Super 30 Hindi VikashBahl
26. Badhaai Ho Hindi Amit Ravindernath Sharma
List of Non–Feature Films
No Title of the Film Language Director
1. Bohubritta Assamese Utpal Dutta
2. Bouma Bengali Debatma Mandal
3. Mamatva Brij Kirti
4. Letters English Nitin Shingal
5. A Thankless Job English Vicky Barmecha
6. Elephants Do Remember English Swati Pandey, Manohar Singh Bisht &Viplove Rai Bhatia
7. Bridge Hindi Bikramjit Gupta
8. Maya Hindi Vikas Chandra
9. Sathyarthi Hindi Pankaj Johar
10. Nooreh Kashmiri Ashish Pandey
11. Shabdhikunna Kalpa Malayalam Jayaraj
12. Iravilum Pakalilum Odiyan Malayalam Novin Vasudev
13. Gadhul Marathi Ganesh Shivaji Shelar
14. Son Rise Hindi Vibha Bakshi
15. The Secret Life of Frogs English Ajay Bedi & Vijay Bedi