The 6th edition of the upcoming Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival will be held from 28 November to 1 December, at the Pragjyoti ITA Centre, Machkhowa, Guwahati.
This year, te festival will be attended the likes of Boman Irani of Munna Bhai MBBS fame, filmmaker Shakun Batra, who was behind Kapoor & Sons, and writer, producer and director Rajesh Mapuskar, who made films like Ventilator and Ferrari ki Sawaari.
Every year, the Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival screens a number of films and documentaries, most with an explicit focus on filmmakers, themes and subjects from the North East. This year’s films include Nani Teri Morni from Nagaland, Ralang Road from Sikkim, Chor from Assam, Bornodi Bhotiai from Assam, Spring Thunder from Jharkhand, and the Hindi movies Devil and The Lost Idea, among others.
It will also host the release of Rockumentary: Evolution of Indian Rock, by the filmmaker Abhimanyu Kukreja, who worked as a Director’s Assistant to Vivek Agnihotri on the 2016 cult film Buddha in a Traffic Jam. The rockumentary traces Indian rock from the 1930s up to the present time.
The Festival also organises a short film contest festival every year for “filmmakers from the Northeast and for films shot in the Northeast or featuring stories from the region”. This year, they received over 300 entries, and jury members include filmmaker and scriptwriter Reema Kagti, producer Shiladitya Bora and producer Ronnie Lahiri. The top 15 short films will be screened at the film festival, and the top three winners will be awarded prizes of over Rs 2 lakh.
The festival also awards Lifetime Achievement Awards to notable filmmakers for their exceptional contributions to the North Eastern cinema. Previous Lifetime Achievement Award winners include filmmakers Aribam Syam Sharma and Abdul Majid, and the actor Jnanada Kakoti.
This year’s edition of the film festival also includes interactive sessions and a quiz, in addition to the highly anticipated award ceremony.