Shimla film fest to begin with Divya Dutta as celebrity guest

Shimla, Aug 18 (IANS) The eighth edition of the International Film Festival of Shimla will be held from August 26-28 at Gaiety Theatre in Himachal Pradesh capital with Bollywood actress Divya Dutta as the celebrity guest, it was announced on Thursday.

Festival Director Pushp Raj Thakur said the screening of Divya Dutta's transgender-based film Sheer Korma at the film festival will be presided over by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

This time, 81 films will be screened at the International Film Festival of Shimla. Twenty-seven films in the international category, 34 Indian films, 4 Himachali films and 15 national award winning films will be screened in the three-day festival.

This time, films from 17 countries including Canada, the US, Spain, Iran, Brazil, Iceland, Mexico, Australia, Greece, Russia -- will be screened. These include documentary, animation feature and short films.

Gujarati feature film '21 M U Tiffin' directed by Vijay Giri Baba, Hindi feature film 'Alpha Beta Gama' directed by Shankar Sri Kumar, Kannada feature film 'Dolu' directed by Sagar Puranik, Hindi feature film 'At Down Toofan Mail' directed by Aakriti Singh, Marathi film 'Funeral' directed by Rajendra Dubey, Telugu film 'Natyam' directed by Revanth Kumar Kurukunda, Kannada film 'Neeli Hakkia' directed by Ganesh Hegde, Hindi documentary 'Jugalbandi' directed by Chetan Bhakuni, Marathi documentary 'Marble of the Jungle' directed by Sohil Vaidya, Manipuri director Haubam Pawan Kumar's documentary 'Pabung Shyam', Garhwali film 'Sanpat' directed by Rahul Rawat, Odia documentary 'Backstage' directed by Lipika Singh Derai, Hindi documentary 'Naakara' directed by Anant Mahadevan, Gujarati documentary 'The Spell of Purple' directed by Prachi Barjania and Assamese documentary 'Veerangana' directed by Kishore Kalita will be showcased.

Fifty film directors from across the country and abroad will participate in the festival. They will also be interacting with audience at the British-era Gaiety Theatre, where Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling and legendary actors Prithviraj Kapoor and Balraj Sahni once performed.

This time, a film exhibition is also being organised by the National Film Archives of India of Pune at the festival. Various work related to the films will also be put on display in the exhibition.