The fourth Film festival on Rural Development

 The fourth Film festival on Rural Development was organised on 20th November  by National Institute of Rural Development, NIRD. They received fifty five films and a three member Jury, Dr. P. Kennedy from University of Hyderabad and Prof. Rizwan from Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Media and communication Department and C. B. Sriguha, a film maker and editor, selected  the best three documentaries. I really liked the very imaginative way of  introducing the participants to the audience through visuals. The morning session after the inauguration saw a panel discussion on  feminism and Cinema. Though, I have not really studied films as an academic subject my interest  in films has always been there and one can analyse films through a feminine perspective. I found myself in the panel along with women film makers from Bollywood and documentary makers and it was really nice to get to know their issues. The first prize went to the film, Village of lesser God, directed by Anant Narayan Mahadevan, which tells the story of theTalasari Village about 65km from Mumbai and how it was very backward and how a homoeopathic doctor Jatin Nandlal Valia took upon himself to rehabilitate the village and we met the very humble  Dr. Nandlal Valia.  It was very nice meeting Mr. Raj Kumar Upadhyay, who is the ADG of Doordarshan. He shared that Doordarshan is now having a Gender Sensitisation document for its producers and directors. In the afternoon session we also got to see some films. The highlight of the program was that we could watch these films, have a discussion with the directors and understand their journey in making their films. We also saw films made by amateurs on the mobile and it was a good effort. A beautiful program organised by Akanksha, the Head of the Communication and Documentation Centre.