SCO Film Festival: India to host, festival begins tomorrow

In a first-of-its-kind event, the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO)’s film festival opens tomorrow in Mumbai. This is part of the initiatives taken by India after assuming Presidency of SCO. A total of 55 films will be screened during the festival, at two venues: the Films Division Complex, Peddar Road, and Nehru Centre. Proceedings will be kicked-off at an inaugural function, to be held at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point. Hosting the event are Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India and Dr. L. Murugan, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting.

Festival venues

The SCO Secretariat, based in Beijing, is the main permanent executive body of the SCO. Bringing together the colourful and distinctive cultures of Central and South Asia, China and Russia it promotes mutual assistance and team spirit among staff and provides reliable support on the basis of a stable administrative system, that has taken shape over 15 years. The current SCO Secretary-General is Mr. Zhang Ming, of China. One of the SCO Deputy Secretary Generals is Janesh Kain, from India, who, before taking on this assignment, was Deputy High Commissioner and Commercial Representative in High Commission of India, Mauritius. SCO has two official languages, Chinese and Russian. No wonder the invitation card to the inaugural ceremony is in three languages, including English.

SCO was formed in 2001, though India and Pakistan joined in 2017. Member states of SCO are People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Uzbekistan, Republic of Tajikistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Republic of India. Besides, the following countries are Observers: Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. There are nine Dialogue Partners too: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Egypt, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Uzbekistan handed over the rotating presidency of the eight-member SCO to India in Samarkand, in September 2022.

SCO Film Festival is being held with an aim to build cinematic partnerships, have an exchange of programmes, nurture young film-making talent and act as a bridge between the cultures of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation members.

With a spirit to unite and promote the art of cinema and build cinematic partnerships, the SCO and NFDC aims at making the SCO film festival a collective cinematic experience for the Indian and International film fraternity. It will showcase films from the SCO countries, build cinematic partnerships, have exchange of programmes, nurture young filmmaking talent and act as a bridge between the cultures of the (SCO) members, Observer States and Dialogue Partner States.

There are no films from Pakistan, although it is a full-member of SCO. Explaining the omission, Prithul Kumar, Joint Secretary (Films), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, told the media on the 24^th of January, “We asked all members to send in two of their best films. Unfortunately, we got no response from Pakistan.” In reply to two other questions, he responded, “We have sent invitations to some international celebrities from the participating countries, but no names have been finalised yet. And about prize money, we are not offering any money as prizes, only certificates.” Mr. Kumar added, “Not every country in SCO holds a film festival, but we felt that there is a great demand and appreciation of Indian films in the member countries, especially from the time of Raj Kapoor, including Mithun Chakraborty, so it will be a good idea to hold a film festival and showcase not only our recent films, but theirs as well.”

Among the films to be screened are restored classics, Chandralekha, Chidambaram, Iru Kodgul, Shatranj Ke Khiladi and Subarnarekha. A total of 55 films will be screened, with regular shows commencing 28^th January.

Registration charges are Rs. 300+taxes. Students can register for free. All information, including registration, the catalogue and schedule can be accessed on sco.nfdcindia.com.