Bhubaneswar, The 13th International Film Festival on Art and Artists organised by the JD Centre of Art, which witnessed multiple film screenings, workshops and talks by several senior artists, concluded here on Monday.
The festival had an underlying theme of bringing out the tumultuous experience an artist goes through in life and the effort he/she puts in before the piece of art is produced.
Spread into two days, the festival began with the screening of the film ‘Gurrumul’ by Paul Damien Williams of Australia, which centred around one of Australia’s most important musicians — the indigenous artist Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu.
Blind from birth, Yunupingu found purpose and meaning through songs and music inspired by his community. The award-winning film was premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.
Another notable film, ‘Sand Says Something’ by Manoranjan Badatya on the life of Odia sculptor Sudarshan Pattnaik, captured the years of struggle the artist went through before his art form received recognition.
An Odia movie ‘Through the Eyes of an Artist’ by Abhishek Swain on the legendary Gotipua Guru Birabara Sahu found an emotive connect with the audience. The film captured the efforts made to keep the ancient Odia dance form alive.
Greek film ‘The Art of Making’, which captured in three minutes the 299 hours that goes into making a guitar, also left an indelible impression.
Adwaita Gadanayak, the head of the NGMA, New Delhi, and Bose Krishnamachari, President of Kochi Biennale Foundation, delivered illustrated lectures during the two-day event.
Workshops on the art of filmmaking were also held by national award winning filmmaker Nandan Saxenam while singer Vidya Shah sang an eclectic mix of classical and folk music.
The festival ended with the film ‘Raghu Rai an Unframed Portrait’ by Avani Rai.
In all, 48 films from 17 different countries were screened at the festival.
