Adil Hussain starrer Every 68 Minutes to open Global Cinema Festival in Sikkim

Sikkim is gearing up to host the Global Cinema Festival 2020 from February 28 to March 1, 2020. This edition of Global Cinema Festival is being held in Gangtok, in collaboration with Sikkim Film Cooperative Society Limited and is supported by the Govt. of Sikkim. The inauguration will be done by Honble CM of Sikkim Shri. Prem Singh Tamang on February 28, 2020 at 11:00 am at Manan Kendra.

The same was announced at a press conference in Mumbai attended by Sakshi Mehra (exhibitor), Kiran Shantaram (filmmaker), Ravi Kottarakara (General Secretary, FFI), Firdausul Hasan (President, FFI) and Namrata Thapa (Secretary Information and PR, Govt. of Sikkim) and Dr. Rahul Banerjee (from Sikkim Film Cooperative Society).

Global Cinema Festival is an initiative of Film Federation of India (FFI) to take good cinema to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities; especially where there aren’t enough movie theatres and where no film festivals of national or international standing have gone before.

The festival will open with Adil Hussain starrer ‘Every 68 Minutes’ directed by Anindita Sarbadhikari. Over three days, 20 feature films (national and international) will be screened along with documentaries, shorts, animation and experimental videos. Azerbaijan will be the country in focus at the film festival.

During the course of the festival, FFI together with Media and Entertainment Skill Council (MESC) and Peerless Skill Academy will organise a special media and entertainment related RPL drive for practitioners in Sikkim. In addition, there will be Master Classes and other locally produced cultural events.

Veterans of Hindi film industry like actor Randhir Kapoor, director Rahul Rawail and cinematographer Binod Pradhan will attend the festival. Binod Pradhan will be honoured with ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ for his significant contribution to Indian cinema. Members of film industry from all the regions viz the eastern, southern and western India, Presidents and senior members of various trade bodies will also be present during the festival.

Global Cinema Festival endeavours to bring quality Indian and World Cinema to these locations; films that the locals, film lovers, and filmmakers would not have the privilege of seeing in movie theatres.

By doing so, FFI seeks to become catalyst for promoting artistic, cultural, and tourism related activities in and around the festival venue, creating ripples that will percolate across town and state, paving the way for a permanent local festival. Global Cinema Festival will then move on to its next venue.

Firdausul Hasan said, “Film Federation of India decided last year that we would organise film festivals in 2 tier and 3 tier cities to promote films in smaller towns. Last year we did the film festival in Siliguri and this year we are organising it in Sikkim.”.

“Sikkim has given many talents to the industry like Danny Danzongpa and Geetanjali Thapa. Sikkim is a state where a Nature smiles. Films are very strong medium and through this platform and through films filmed in Sikkim, We can make our presence felt in rest of the country and globally.” Added Namrata Thapa.