The 4th Jagran Film Festival takes a kick-start

The festival got off to a rousing start with the ceremonial tradition of lighting a lamp. The event was graced by several eminent personalities of the Indian film industry. The presence of Chief Guest Akshay Kumar, Indian Film and Stage Actress Nimrat Kaur who lit the lamp, Anil Sharma, Sudhir Mishra, Dorothy Briere, Manoj Srivastava, Sai Tamhankar, Mayor of Mumbai Sunil Prabhu, Kavita Radheshyam and many others from the entertainment industry made the atmosphere almost contagious, filled with much of enthusiasm and anticipation.

The festival began with the screening of the film Water which also marked the Asian premiere of the film. This 120 minute feature was born out of a unique Israeli-Palestinian cinematic cooperation. Produced by the Film and Television department of the Tel Aviv University in association with Tu Vas Voir, WATER was a beautiful compilation of some fictional and self-experience based stories. Also present on the occasion were the directors of the film Yael Perlov, NirSa’ar and Maya Sarfaty, Mohammad Fuad, Yona Rozenkier, Mohammad Bakri, Ahmad Barghouti, Pini Tavger and Tal Haring.

Other films screened on the opening day of the festival were Haco Cheko’s 72 minute Turkish film Nowhere Li Vir, Sanjay Jadhav’s 132 minute Marathi film Duniyadari, and Kundan Shah’s 143 minute classic Jane Bhi Do Yaaron. The opening ceremony’s red carpet, followed by film screening witnessed an illustrious gathering of filmmakers, renowned litterateurs, cinephiles and scribes.