Scintillating live performance of Tango by Hernan Ohaco captivated the young cinephiles at the Opening Ceremony of Argentina & NFDC Film Festival which commenced with the Diya Lighting at the hands of D Ramakrishnan, General Manager of National Film Development Corporation of India amid the gracious presence of Daniel Quer Confalonieri, the Hon’ble Consul General of Argentina.
Jayita Ghosh the Manager of National Museum of Indian Cinema meticulously anchored the launch event that began with the felicitation of veterans of the Indian film industry Ravi Gupta (director of Rudaali), Dolly Thakore, Vivek Vaswani and the youth icon Taha Shah Badussha who is the darling of the masses with his performance in the trending OTT series Heeramandi.
While speaking about the movies to be shown in the Argentina & NFDC Film Festival, the promos of Argentina Tourism and India Tourism were screened. All the movies to be screened during this festival are digitally restored classics from the Argentine and Indian film industries. The opening film is Un Lugar En El Mund and on the subsequent days Ek Din Achanak, Made in Argentina, Rudaali, Casas De Fuego and Manthan will be screened on the last day.
Daniel Quer Confalonieri, CG of Argentina spoke exclusively to Paresh B. Mehta, Editor of Filmytown.com, “The vibrancy and colour is striking in Indian films so as in Argentine movies. Another similarity is the impact of culture in our films though the cultures of Argentina and India are quite apart. Argentines are also similar to Indians as they are very dynamic, creative and colorful and welcoming to foreigners. We belong to Latin America and have heavy Spanish influence while India has its own history and has British influence.”
The CG is just loving India, “I have been in India for the past 2 and half years and would like to be here more as I like the Indian people as they are very friendly, open to foreigners and are quire forthcoming. Although India and Argentina are quite far from each other, I see ample opportunities for co-operation in arts and culture between the two countries during the Argentina & NFDC Film Festival.”
“I find the Indian youth is quite enterprising as the country is on a modernization trajectory that is full of opportunities for foreigners too. The Indian filmmakers are most welcome to shoot films in Argentina, the land of open landscapes and opportunities as it is open to welcome creative talent there with our endeavor to facilitate them to the top. Having lived in many foreign countries, I feel at home in India. I like the Pav Bhaji, fish and butter chicken delicacies of India,” revealed Daniel Quer Confalonieri.
Speaking to Filmytown.com, D Ramakrishnan, GM of NFDC said, “Cinema is basically a mirror of Human conditions which connects everyone through one language that of Humanity. This is our initial step to invite embassies to NFDC to showcase films from their countries and explore avenues of collaboration. We want our people to see more of the films from several other countries and this initiative paves way for more industry (films) participation from other countries and India in our forthcoming MIFF and the IFFI in Goa. This is just a pathway towards the larger goal of bridging cultures and bring cinephiles around the world closer,” .
“Promoting co-production being the main motive of NFDC, we have already signed co-production of films with 16 countries and more countries increasing very soon. This facility offers incentives to provide maximum benefits for the filmmakers from both sides. The benefit to Indian people is that with foreign film unit offering opportunities for our creative technicians and artists and this benefits the tourism industry too,” adds the GM.
“A number of countries are being lined up with the likes of Indonesia, Chile, Sri Lanka, Russia, Iran and several other countries keen to have a tie-up with NFDC. Presently the expression of interest is received from almost 40 countries.” he concluded.
That reveals the dynamism of the NFDC in its new avatar!
(Photos credit – Manoj Tarkar, NFDC, Films Division)
