J&K Eyes Global Filmmaking Destination Status

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer)

• Four-day maiden festival draws global filmmakers; 1,100 entries from 80+ countries
• Cultural Performances Mark Closing; CM Omar calls for focus on local stories, talent
• By Dabirah Hassan/Sameer Hussain

Srinagar- The first-ever International Film Festival of Jammu & Kashmir (IFFJK) concluded in Srinagar on Thursday with a vibrant closing ceremony, bringing the curtain down on four days of films, discussions, masterclasses, cultural performances and industry engagement across Jammu and Kashmir.

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The maiden festival, organised by the Department of Information and Public Relations, J&K, was held from September 7 to 10 across Srinagar, Jammu and Gulmarg. It brought together filmmakers, actors, technicians, artists, industry professionals and cinema enthusiasts from India and abroad.

Addressing the closing ceremony, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Dr L. Murugan said Jammu and Kashmir was emerging as a global destination for cinema and the wider creative industries.

Congratulating the J&K Government for organising the festival, Murugan highlighted the international response to its inaugural edition, saying around 1,100 films had been submitted from more than 80 countries.

Omar calls for a filmmaking ecosystem rooted in J&K

Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said Jammu and Kashmir must move beyond being merely a beautiful filming location and become a place from where its own stories emerge, talent is discovered and films are conceived and created.

“Our ambition must go beyond being a beautiful filming location. Jammu and Kashmir must increasingly become a place from which stories emerge, talent is discovered and films are conceived and created,” Omar said.

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The Chief Minister said the four-day festival had brought filmmakers and audiences together, connected established professionals with young aspirants and created a platform for cinema from Jammu and Kashmir to engage with India and the world.

“You came as our guests, I hope you leave as friends of Jammu and Kashmir and partners in what we are trying to build,” he said.

Festival creates connections across generations of filmmakers

Omar said 120 films from more than 30 countries were screened during the festival, but its deeper value lay in the connections created between filmmakers, young talent and audiences.

“A young writer meeting a director, an aspiring filmmaker learning from a professional or two people meeting here who may one day make a film together,” he said.

He congratulated those recognised during the festival and thanked the jury, filmmakers, delegates and members of the film fraternity who participated in the inaugural edition.

Kashmir's cinematic memory returns to the screen

Recalling his remarks at the opening of the festival about Jammu and Kashmir's long association with cinema, Omar said the past few evenings had witnessed something special as films that shaped Kashmir's visual memory were screened again in the region.

“Those films and others from that era have returned to Dal Lake,” he said.

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He said films including Junglee, Arzoo, Kashmir Ki Kali and Kabhi Kabhie had been screened against the very landscapes that helped make them memorable.

“For decades, Kashmir travelled to audiences through a cinema screen. This week, in a sense, the screen came back to Kashmir,” Omar said.

However, he said nostalgia could not define the future of Jammu and Kashmir's film industry.

He said J&K had far more to offer cinema than its landscapes, with stories rooted in its cities, towns and villages, as well as its languages, literature, music, craft, history and everyday lives.

“Our landscapes may bring filmmakers here, but our stories, our people and our professional filmmaking environment can bring them back,” he said.

Young talent at the heart of J&K's film ambitions

The Chief Minister called for a two-way relationship with the film industry, saying Jammu and Kashmir should welcome filmmakers from India and across the world while creating opportunities for local talent to find audiences and collaborators beyond the region.

“At the heart of this must be investment in our young people,” he said, describing their participation in the festival as particularly encouraging.

Omar said the success of IFFJK a decade from now should not be measured merely by the number of films screened or personalities attending, but by the careers launched, opportunities and collaborations created and the stories from Jammu and Kashmir that reach audiences across India and the world.

He said the presence of filmmakers and artists had given the inaugural edition its stature and expressed hope that the inspiration and opportunities created through the festival would help a new generation from Jammu and Kashmir find its place in cinema.

Omar seeks year-round platform for cinema

Omar said IFFJK should grow beyond a four-day annual event into a continuous platform for screening, learning, training and collaboration throughout the year.

“Government can provide a platform and an enabling environment, but a vibrant film culture must be sustained by the creative community itself,” he said.

He said the future of the festival should be shaped by what organisers had learned from participants and audiences during its inaugural edition.

Film industry can drive jobs and local capabilities

Highlighting the wider economic potential of cinema, the Chief Minister said filmmaking could support professionals, local services, artists, jobs and businesses.

“Films coming to Jammu and Kashmir should therefore leave behind not only valuable images but also skills, employment and stronger local capabilities,” he said.

He said the benefits of filmmaking should extend beyond the images captured on screen and contribute to building stronger local skills and professional capabilities.

Omar invites filmmakers to return to J&K

Addressing visiting filmmakers, actors and delegates, Omar extended an invitation to return to Jammu and Kashmir.

“Come back to shoot, write, teach, collaborate and discover more of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

He said the mountains and lakes may bring filmmakers to the region once, but the experience of working in Jammu and Kashmir, along with its stories and people, should encourage them to return.

Young storytellers urged to tell authentic local stories

Addressing young filmmakers and storytellers, Omar urged them to learn the craft, experiment and begin telling stories from their neighbourhoods, villages, families and generations.

“Some of cinema's most powerful voices are intimate and local. What matters is that the voice be authentic and the craft remain strong,” he said.

He said the participation of young people in the festival had demonstrated the potential for a new generation of filmmakers from Jammu and Kashmir.

Reflecting on the setting of the closing ceremony, Omar said Dal Lake had for centuries reflected the mountains, sky and changing seasons around it, while cinema had reflected the spirit of the world.

“Perhaps the opportunity before us now is for Jammu and Kashmir increasingly to reflect itself through cinema, to tell its own stories, its own voices with confidence and to share them with audiences across India and the world,” he said.

He said this would allow Jammu and Kashmir not only to be represented on screen by others but also to tell its own stories and present its own voices to audiences across the country and the world.

Festival closes, but the larger journey begins

Omar said the curtain had come down on the first edition of IFFJK but expressed hope that it would not mark the end of the idea behind the festival.

He said if filmmakers from Jammu and Kashmir were, years from now, participating in festivals across the world, the first IFFJK could be remembered as the beginning of that journey.

The Chief Minister thanked the filmmakers, artists, jury members, delegates, young filmmakers and audiences for being part of the inaugural festival and expressed hope of welcoming them back to Jammu and Kashmir.

Diverse programmes bring global and regional cinema together

The festival featured a diverse cinematic programme, including International Competition, Best Debut Director, Jammu & Kashmir Select, Bharat Panorama, Cinema of the World, Documentary/Hybrid and Short Films.

It also included masterclasses, in-conversation sessions, panel discussions, special screenings and retrospectives.

The programme covered areas including direction and screenplay, cinematography, editing, acting, sound, animation and AI, documentary filmmaking, regional cinema, industry development and co-production.

These sessions provided opportunities for interaction between established professionals and emerging filmmakers.

The festival opened on September 7 with Dead Dog, directed by Sarah Francis of Lebanon, while the closing film, Simsim, directed by Sondos Al-Smerat of Jordan, was screened at INOX Srinagar on Thursday afternoon.

The festival also featured the Floating Cinema programme, with screenings of films including Junglee, Kashmir Ki Kali, Arzoo and Kabhi Kabhie, adding a distinctive public-facing element to the programme.

Usha Uthup, Gulzar Ganie add musical note to closing

The closing ceremony was marked by a performance by veteran singer Usha Uthup, who enthralled the audience with her distinctive voice and energetic stage presence.

Adding a strong Kashmiri cultural touch to the evening, singer Gulzar Ganie performed the Kashmiri Sufi kalam“Yaar Doad Naar Khoth”, penned by renowned Kashmiri poet and Sufi figure Wahab Khar.

The performance drew an enthusiastic response from the audience and added a local musical flavour to the closing celebrations.

With its inaugural edition, IFFJK brought international cinema to Jammu and Kashmir while placing the region's own stories, talent, culture and creative potential at the centre of its larger filmmaking ambitions.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah and other dignitaries attended the closing ceremony of the event.

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