Puducherry: The former French colony came alive with the spirit of cinema as the curtain went up on the first Pondicherry International Film Festival(PIFF) on Wednesday.
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy inaugurated the festival at a ceremony marked by simplicity at Alliance Française de Pondichéry.
Saibal Chatterjee, film critic and festival director of PIFF along with Abhishek Sinha, founder and CEO, Pickurflick an indie cinema streaming platform, officially announced the opening of the festival.
Inaugurating the festival Mr Narayanasamy expressed happiness over hosting the first edition of the international film festival as it will provide opportunity for people from all walks of life to watch films from various countries.
“It is the first International Film Festival in Puducherry and I am proud of it. I wish the organizing team success in the years to come. We want to assimilate different culture, ideology, caste, age and we believe all people are equal. Therefore we heartily accept whatever is good for the development of our state,” he said.
The Chief Minister also thanked the French Government and the French Counsel General for helping the government to maintain the Indo-French culture in Puducherry. Talking on the occasion Mr Sinha said the festival would be a treat for all cine-philes in Pondicherry and he hoped the festival could be made to an annual affair henceforth.
“We are delighted to announce the start of the first Pondicherry International Film Festival supported by Puducherry Tourism. With an exciting and diverse array of films,it will be a treat for all the cinephiles in Pondicherry and we hope to make it an annual affair henceforth” he said.
The inaugural session followed by the screening of National Award Winner for best Tamil Film in 2018 ‘To Let’ directed by Chezhyian which was well received by the audience present at the auditorium.
An interactive session was also held with the director who did not try to hide his happiness that his movie was selected as the opening film of the festival.
PIFF is scheduled from September 26 to 30 by Pickurflick in association with Puducherry Tourism.
The festival will showcase a wide array of feature films, short films, documentaries, animation and award-winning films like ‘What will people Say’ starring Adil Hussain, ‘Mayurakshi’by Atanu Ghosh starring Prosenjit and Soumitra Chatterjee, ‘Reservation’ by Nikhil Manjoo, ‘Paddayi’ by AbhayaSimha to name a fewk.
