From river Arno to Ganges

‘River to River Florence Indian Film Festival’ founded by Selvaggio Velo, is one of the festivals in Italy which is solely dedicated to films from and about India.

Says Selvaggio Velo, “For me the connect between India and Italy is the flow of river Arno in Florence and the beautiful river Ganga in India. I have come to Hyderabad for the first time to be a part of the Krishnakriti Festival. I am a student of Humanities and have been interested in art and have come from the University of Bologna. In 1998, I organised an exhibition of hand-painted posters of Indian films in Florence and later invited the artists from India to hand paint four great Italian films as a part of a street performance. Suddenly a new world opened before my eyes and I decided to curate an Indian film festival.

“There has been tremendous response for Indian films in Italy and the festival has been growing. Most of the films screened are away from the ‘Bollywood scenario’ and the focus is on showcasing the diverse culture of India.

“As of today, we have had the pleasure of hosting many big names from the Indian cinema industry like Aparna Sen, Ketan Mehta, Amitabh Bachchan, Rahul Bose, Goutam Ghose, Shabana Azmi, Anurag Kashyap, Joy Bimal Roy, Koel Purie, and Irrfan Khan. The films are selected through a detailed process, in which I myself watch all the entries and it’s a 360 degree representation of Indian cinema that includes the works of Satyajit Ray and Guru Dutt.

“The post-screening discussions between the audience and the directors of the film usually brings in a sense of ‘oneness’ between two countries,” concludes Selvaggio Velo.

The writer is a musician, creator of ‘Jaywant Guitar’ and a photographer

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