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