JAIPUR | It’s 4:30 P.M. at Maharana Pratap Auditorium, Jaipur and the ambience is surrounded by the worries of rapidly spreading OMICRON [third wave of COVID19] and chilling cold of the Pink City. Preparations for 14th Jaipur International Film Festival are taking place here.
Hopes were high, preparations were huge and the auditorium was supposed to be filled with cinema lovers from every corner of the world, but everything had to be limited because of the dangers of the approaching pandemic.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot
was about to come for the Opening Ceremony and to honour Javed Siddiqi
with JIFF Lifetime Achievement Award, but unfortunately he himself
caught COVID and could not make it. Though he conveyed his heart felt
wishes through a congratulatory note to JIFF and welcomed all cine
lovers to the beautiful city of Jaipur.
Despite all the
challenges, all were applauding and the Film Festival started with a
great enthusiasm saying loudly ‘SHOW MUST GO ON’.
Hindi – Urdu Film Writer Shri Javed Siddiqi is awarded JIFF LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Shri
Javed Siddiqi, a widely known Film Writer was honoured with this very
prestigious JIFF LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. JIFF founder director Hanu
Roj and spokesperson Rajendra Boda honoured Javed Siddiqi by giving him
a shawl and memento, as a symbol of his great contribution to cinema.
Film lovers expressed their reverence by giving a standing ovation to
Siddiqi, and he said, “My whole life, I’ve been playing with words and
creating magic with words, but today I’m falling short of words. Since
childhood, I’ve heard about art, culture and sculpture of Jaipur, but
now I feel that Jaipur is creating a new history of cinema through
Jaipur International Film Festival”. Next to it, Padma Shri Gulabo
Sapera and her fellow dancers presented the beautiful dance.
Born
in 1942, in Rampur, Javed Siddiqi has earned great name and fame by
writing screenplays and dialogues for more than 60 super hit films in
his career. He’s been honoured with prestigious Film Fare Award twice,
in 1994 for super hit film Baazigar and in 1996 for block buster Dil
Wali Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. Besides, he has been awarded with Star
Screenplay Award for writing screenplay of super successful film Raja
Hindustani in 1996.
129 AWARDS under 14 Categories
A
total of 129 awards under 14 categories were given, in the Opening
Ceremony. Directors, producers, actors and writers of approximately 50
winning films participated in the Opening Ceremony and received the
awards from dignitaries of the town. At this special occasion, prominent
artists, social activists and renowned guests including Padma Shri
Shakir Ali, Padma Shri Tilak Geethai, Padam Shri Gulabo, Bollywood
singer Ravindra Upadhyay, singer Veena Modani, Kathak Guru Manjari Kiran
Mahajani, and popular painter Sanjeev Sharma awarded the winners. Among
foreign guests, Mr. Robert Eugen Popa, film director from Romania and
Ms. Maryam Pirband, film director from USA added grace to the opening
ceremony by their esteemed presence.
“From the bottom of my
heart, I thank all the dignitaries for taking time to make this evening
special and audiences despite such tough times. We would make 14th
edition of JIFF successful being together as a family and follow all
COVID protocols and guidelines”, says delighted Hanu Roj, Founder -
Director of JIFF.
FILMS won the AWARDS
Under Feature
Film Category, Golden Camel Award ~ Leader, directed by Katia
Priwieziencew, Green Rose Award ~ Nani, directed by Samvid Anand from
India, Yellow Rose Award [Upcoming Film with World Premiere] Award ~
Dandelion Season, directed by Maryam Pirband from USA, Yellow Rose Award
~ Zorilo’s Secret [World Premiere Film], directed by Robert Eugen Popa
from Romania.
Best Actress Award ~ Matilda De Angelis for
Atlas, Best Actor Award ~ Yashwant Anand Gupta fo 4sum, Best Original
Screenplay Award ~ Leader directed by Katia Priwieziencew, Best Short
Documentary Award ~ Unseen Meghalaya directed by Sapan Narula from
India, Best Documentary Feature Award ~ Sadan Hanim directed by Goksel
Gulensoy from Turkey, Best Short Film Award [Mobile Film] ~ Garden Party
directed by Didier Mulleras from France, Best Song Award ~ Copper Lines
directed by Mayuri Joshi from United States. Brother Troll directed by
Gudmund Helmsdal from Faroe Islands won Best Short Film Award, Best
Script Award and Best Cinematographer Award.
These FILMS from RAJASTHAN get AWARDS
Best
Short Fiction Film Award ~ Washing Machine directed by Anand Singh
Choudhary, Lathi directed by Gajendra Shotriya, The Makeup Artist
directed by Raghav Tiwari. Special Jury Mention: Short Fiction Film
Award ~ The Last Call directed by RJ Mohit, Best Song Award ~ Roshaniyan
directed by Gaurav Bhatt, Special Jury Mention Award for SONG ~ Tanmay
Singh directed Holding Me Back, Best Feature Fiction Award ~ Aditya
Patwardhan directed A Nomad River, Sanjay Nirwan directed Veerangna, and
Aata directed by Hemant Sirvi.
Awarded Films would be screened at INOX
From
8th to 11th January, screening would continue from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M.
At INOX, GT Central, Jaipur ~ screening of films would continue from 10
A.M. to 10 P.M. Out of 108 films, 90 films are going to be awarded this
time. On 8th January ~ 31 Films from 10 countries, On 8th January ~ 31
Films from 10 countries, On 9th January ~ 23 Films from 13 countries, On
10th January ~ 32 Films from 15 countries, On 11th January ~ 22 Films
from 8 countries would be screened.
279 FILMS from 52 COUNTRIES would be screened at INOX, GT Central
JIFF spokes person Rajendra Boda informed that during the festival, selected 279 films from 52 countries would be screened in hybrid mode [Offline – Online mode]. On 8th January ~ 70 Films from 26 countries, On 9th January ~ 24 Films from 68 countries, On 10th January ~ 66 Films from 21 countries, On 11th January ~ 69 Films from 22 countries would be screened.