The International Film Festival of Jammu & Kashmir (IFFJK) opens today, Sept. 7, with Sarah Francis’ Dead Dog, listed in the programme as the opening film under Cinema of the World. The screening is scheduled for 1 p.m. at INOX Srinagar – Screen 1, with Francis, a director from Lebanon, listed as the speaker. The festival runs from Sept. 7-10.
The programme across the four-day festival includes International Competition, Cinema of the World, Bharat Panorama, J&K Select, Best Debut, Documentary/Hybrid and Short Films, alongside masterclasses, in-conversation sessions and industry discussions.
The International Competition begins on Sept. 8 with films including Erige Sehiri’s Promised Sky and The Cost of Heaven (Gagne ton Ciel), Nikola I. Vukcevic’s Obraz (The Tower of Strength) and Ardit Sadiku’s Vizita. Ulrich Köhler’s Gavagai and Maja Ajmia Zellama’s Têtes Brûlées are also scheduled in the section on Sept. 9.
Cinema of the World selections include To the West, in Zapata, In the Name of Fire, The Message, Vanishing Goats (Les chèvres aussi S’evanouissent) and Whispering Grass & Silver Bones.
Bharat Panorama includes Dear Father, Bramhakamal, Goolar Ke Phool (The Cluster Fig Flowers), Raman Kutty is not a Coward! and An Evening Ballad Mwnabili. The Best Debut section includes The Writer's Inn, Paperheart (Cuore di Carta), Gülizar (Gulizar) and Feminine Singular (Femenino Singular).
The Sept. 8 programme also features the direction and screenplay-writing masterclass The Trouble with Fairy-tale Endings, with filmmaker Sriram Raghavan. Cinematographer and filmmaker Anil Mehta leads the in-conversation session Deconstructing visual subtext.
Other sessions that day include Resurrecting Heritage: Animation, AI, and the Jammu and Kashmiri Visual Identity, The Global Canvas: Who Gets to Be Seen?, Unlocking Jammu & Jammu and Kashmir: The Next Big Cinematic Hub and Faces of the Valley: The Beautiful Craft of Acting.
Special screenings listed for Sept. 8 include Mirzapur and Love In Vietnam. The J&K Select section features Arifa, while the Documentary/Hybrid programme includes Aboard Paban's Boat and Making a movie about Flora.
Sept. 9 brings the editing masterclass Cutting Visuals, or Cutting Emotions, led by director and editor Rabi Ranjan Maitra, and the theatre and acting masterclass Beyond the Stage: Inside the Actor’s Craft, with actor and director Chittaranjan Tripathy.
The day also features Echoes of the Chinar: Empowering J&K’s Next Generation of Storytellers, an in-conversation session on Jammu and Kashmir cinema with filmmaker Rahat Shah Kazmi. Industry sessions include The Gentle Truth: AI and the Beautiful Soul of Jammu and Kashmir and Global Partnerships in the Valley: Co-Producing Jammu and Kashmiri Cinema for the World.
The retrospective section presents Akbar Khan’s Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story on Sept. 9. Screenings and sessions are scheduled at SKICC and INOX Srinagar, with additional screenings at Waves Jammu.
The festival programme notes that the schedule is subject to change and advises audiences to refresh the website before checking individual screening and session timings.
Watch the trailer of the opening film here:
