Film Festival!
When these two words come to mind, being a resident of West Bengal, we immediately turn to Kolkata International Film Festival at Nandan - the Hub of Calcutta’s Art and Culture. It is one of the biggest events in India, undoubtedly.
But at Habra, the scenario is too changing and shaping the culture of this area. Film is now an inseparable part of our life and those who are truly interested, must know it closely and thus Habra Film Festival started in 2018.
Unlike many other film festivals, the theme of this film festival is about the common folk. Each cinema screened here talks about the conditions of the common people, their past, present andfuture. And more importantly, this festival allows everyone to join and give their opinion actively because they have made it an open forum and it is completely free. You don’t have to pay a penny to enjoy a film there, that talks about you.
The entire festival is crowd-funded. When you enter the festival arena, you will literally be able to comprehend the hard work and dedication, the committee puts to organize the entire event.
There are mainly two categories in which the shows are screened - Documentary and Film ( Regional and Foreign). The dates are fixed - from January 4 to 6, every year.
This year, some new initiatives are taken and implemented successfully. A special “Discussion on World Cinema” has been arranged and the faculties of the Film Studies of the prestigious Jadavpur University illuminated the panel with their thoughts and ideas. The national award winner, Farah Khatun, whose documentary, ‘ The Jungle Man Loiya’ has been screened, was present and shared some good thoughts with audience and encouraged others to attend the Habra Film Festival more.
“Cinema at School” initiative has been highly successful. This year, the film festival committee screened cinemas like ‘Modern Times’, ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ etc. at Habra High School (H.S.) and Prafullanagar Vidyamandir (H.S.), two regional schools and the response was huge. The entire initiative was something new to the schools and was highly applauded.
Please do visit next year if you are in the locality.
Cheerio,
Paban Dey
(Blueswanderlust)
