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International Film Festival in J&K: Students flock to SKICC for film screenings, expert classes
Hundreds of college students of Kashmir converged at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar to witness screening of films and attend various master classes by experts on filmmaking, screenplay writing and resurrecting heritage using artificial intelligence and animation on the Day 2 of International Film Festival in J&K.
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Hundreds of college students of Kashmir converged at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar to witness screening of films and attend various master classes by experts on filmmaking, screenplay writing and resurrecting heritage using artificial intelligence and animation on the Day 2 of International Film Festival in J&K.
A number of films –both Indian and foreign – were screened at various screens installed on the lawns of the SKICC amid a plethora of filmmakers and students, who had come from different colleges in the Valley. Many more attended lectures and panel discussions in the auditoriums and halls of the convention centre.
Prominent film director and screenwriter Sriram Raghavan, known for neo noir thrillers of Indian cinema, addressed a session on direction and screenplay writing on the topic ‘The trouble with fairy-tale endings’. He dwelled into his own journey of filmmaking while nudging the students towards the essentials and suspense of the film making.
Many students, particularly from media departments of various colleges, attended the session.
Shafia Mir, a journalism student from a college in Srinagar, said that she had a great experience attending the film festival and its discussions on film making.
“People working in the field were here to guide us. It was an enriching experience. Putting these cinematographers, story tellers, directors and writers together on a single platform, it was great to learn from them,” she said.
“We learnt about script writing from Raghavan sir. How he creates that suspense in his writing and films,” she said.
“It will help students like us because Kashmir has a lot of talent but no platform and if we get proper guidance from people like them, it will be amazing for the students,” she said.
The films screened on the day included The Last Rites by Yuga J Vardhan from Malaysia, Sudden Rise by Mohammad Sajad Motaharizadeh from Iran, And the God who is close by Mojtaba Darbandi from Iran , Stone Beach by Sofia Bost from Portugal, Tugas Sedih Yang Panjang by Herdiansyah Dwi Saputra from Indonesia, The Stiff Fingers (Daun yang Merekah) by Hilmi Fauzan from Indonesia, Somos Agua (We Are Water) by Jorge Malpica from Mexico , Painted memories by Jaydip Mukherjee from India, Ricard Dance by Shihab Ongallur from India among others.
There was also a panel discussion on use of Artificial Intelligence and animation to resurrect heritage and J&K’s visual identity. The 8-member panel included many important names in AI and animation including moderator Dhwani Gautam who has been into animation for the past more than three decades.
She dwelled into the emergence of animations using computers and how that had once caused uneasiness among people using conventional technologies, in the similar fashion the emergence of AI is causing right now.
Another expert Sanat PC, who worked on visual effects of films like Bahubali, said that J&K was a place with a high cultural background and strong art forms. He said that the biggest challenge to using AI for preserving the art-forms was the generation of data. “The need is to start studying the forms, go into how it evolved, document it and generate models,” he said.
Aimed at putting the Himalayan region back into the imagination of international filmmakers and promoting the union territory as a premier filmmaking destination, the festival, themed “Rang-e-Cinema” (colours of cinema), features the screening of 135 films, including short films and documentaries, bringing together filmmakers, cinema lovers, artists and storytellers from over 40 countries.
Organised by J&K’s information department, the films are being screened at the Sher-i Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) and INOX in Srinagar, and at the Wave complex in Jammu. The famous ski resort of Gulmarg is also among the venues.
5 J&K films selected for film festival
Five films, helmed by directors from Jammu and Kashmir, have been selected for the J&K Select Section, the competitive category of the 1st International Film Festival of Jammu & Kashmir (IFFJK), 2026.
The films were recommended by the Preview Committee constituted for the festival, following a review of submissions and assessment of their artistic merit and suitability for the competitive section. The selection reflects a diverse range of narratives, genres and perspectives, with a particular focus on stories rooted in Jammu and Kashmir’s cultural heritage, social realities and human experiences.
The selected films include Searching for the Grandpa, directed by Mohammad Wali; Arifa, directed by Rohin Ravendran Nair; Batt Koch (The Lost Lane), directed by Siddarth Koul and Ankit Wali; Tasrufdaar (Djinns of Kashmir), directed by Kapil Mattoo; and Naqsh-e-Daur (The Story of Ghulam Nabi Dhar), directed by Baba Tassaduq Hussain.
Spanning Kashmiri and Hindi languages, the films explore themes ranging from childhood, family and memory to displacement, identity, heritage, resilience and the changing social landscape of Kashmir.
The selected films will form part of the competitive programming of the four-day International Film Festival, offering audiences and filmmakers an opportunity to engage with distinctive cinematic voices and stories from Jammu and Kashmir.
