First Northeast India International Film Festival underway

Northeast India International Film Festival (NIIFF) commenced on December 12 at Niathu Resort, Chümoukdeima. The two-day festival is organised under the theme, “Promote the Northeast region as a Potential Filmmaking Destination and open the doors to broader audience for filmmaking in Northeast India”.
Under Secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Md Zahid Sharif, who was on official tour, addressed the gathering on the first day, stating that cinema was the only art form that was truly wedded to science and technology and was considered commercially viable. He said that cinematography as an art, had indeed travelled long way and reached even farthest corners of the world since the time of Lumiüre brothers, however lamenting that only Hollywood and Bollywood come to our minds when one spoke of film industry.
He expressed happiness stating that regional cinemas were staggeringly picking up their pace due to their unique rawness, storylines, plots, and above all livery of life.
Sharif shared that Indian cinema as a whole, still needed more inventiveness, imagination, integrity, a rooted to ground genuineness, which was uniquely and recognisably Indian, and even more appreciation of limitation of the medium.
Sharif informed that the Ministry was thinking of giving aid to interested film makers from North East for master classes in consultation and collaboration with NFDC and also provide assistance to documentaries from North East region.
The festival was organised by Find Studioz, in association with Shushma Production, and sponsored by ministry of Information & Broadcasting and National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).