Indian films in spotlight at Dubai festival

DUBAI - The upcoming edition of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), to be held Dec 12-19, will see a melange of movies from different and diverse nooks and corners of India.

Drama, comedy, documentaries, features and short films from Mumbai, Kerala, West Bengal and Kashmir, have been included in the seventh edition of the festival.

“This year, we have films from Kashmir, a part of the subcontinent with hardly any local film industry, and we also have examples of superbly sophisticated filmmaking and cutting-edge films with all-Indian star casts,” Dorothee Wenner, DIFF consultant for the subcontinent programme, said in a press statement Saturday.

“These films highlight the depth and breadth of Indian cinema and celebrate some of the country’s finest filmmakers and its emerging talent,” she added.

Among the films to be showcased are filmmaker and actress Aparna Sen’s Bengali project “Iti Mrinalini” (an unfinished letter/yours, Mrinalini) and veteran director Shyamaprasad’s Malayalam drama “Elektra”.

Two films highlighting Kashmir will also be showcased. While one is an Urdu feature film “Harud” (Autumn), which focusses on the volatile events in the area over the last 20 years, Ashvin Kumar’s “Inshallah, Football”, also has Kashmir as a central element.

The noise and chaos of Mumbai will also be there for all to see through Ekta Kapoor’s “Shor”, a gritty drama and satire on the city.

Also lined up is “Khule Darwaaze” (open doors), a short film by Ashish Pande, a graduate from the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute.

Additional selections from India will be announced in the coming weeks, according to Wenner.