Andaman and Nicobar’s first ever film festival begins

Port Blair: The first ever film festival of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Indian Panorama Film Festival has begun here with the screening of short film `Three of us` directed by Umesh Kulkarni.

Altogether 14 films, including documentaries, would be screened in the three-day event which was inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar, Lt Gen (Retd) Bhopinder Singh last evening. "The film festival would be organized every year coinciding with the Island Tourism Festival," Singh said. He also urged eminent film personalities to choose these islands as their shooting destination and assured them full support of the administration. The film festival would give good exposure to the people of the Islands and encourage the younger generation to look for a career in cinema, he said. `Gandhi the Mahatma`, a feature film by Naresh Chander Lal, Aamir Khan starrer `Three Idiots`, Mani Ratnam`s `Raavan`, Golden Peacock winner `Maner Manush` by Gautam Ghosh and documentaries `Rupban` by Supriyo Sen are some of the films to be screened in the festival. Eminent film personalities like Mani Ratnam, Girish Kasaravalli, Madhur Bhandarkar, Naresh Chandra Lal, Divya Dutta, and documentary makers Tiainla Jamir, Supriyo Sen and Mukeshwar Lal were present in the inaugural programme. PTI