Patna Film Festival is an

international film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

Patna, India Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 ...

. Participant countries include

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, China, Japan, Sweden,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Patna Film Festival started in 2006. It was jointly organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), directorate of the film festival, National Film Archive of India,

Federation of Film Societies of India Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) is the umbrella body of film-screening societies in India. FFSI is currently a member of the International Federation of Film Society that has its Central Office in Paris. The international organisati ...

, and the state government.

History

The first Patna Film Festival was held the week of February 11, 2006, at Mona Cinema hall,

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

Shekhar Kapoor Shekhar Kulbhushan Kapur (born 6 December 1945) is an Indian filmmaker and actor. Born into the Anand-Sahni family, Kapur is the recipient of several accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a National Film Award, a National Board of Review Award a ...

Sudhir Mishra Sudhir Mishra (born 22 January 1959) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for directing the films '' Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'', '' Dharavi'' and '' Chameli''. Mishra has had a 30-year career, with his work recognised by the Gover ...

Aziz Mirza Aziz Mirza (born 15 August 1947) is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter known for his works in Bollywood and Indian television. Background Mirza was born the son of bollywood script-writer Akhtar Mirza. He is a brother of the fi ...

Shatrughan Sinha Shatrughan Prasad Sinha (born 9 December 1945) is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Earlier he was elected as Member of Parliam ...

Shekhar Suman Shekhar Suman (born 7 December 1962) is an Indian actor, anchor, producer, director, and singer. Personal life Shekhar Suman married Alka Suman on 4 May 1983, and has a son Adhyayan Suman, a Bollywood film actor. An older son, Aayush, died o ...

Manoj Bajpai Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1969), also transliterated as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. Regarded as one of the finest actors of Hindi cinema, he i ...

Prakash Jha Prakash Jha (born 27 February 1952) is an Indian film producer, actor, director and screenwriter, mostly known for his political and socio-political films such as “Hip Hip Hurray” (1984), '' Damul'' (1984), ''Mrityudand'' (1997), ''Gangaaj ...

were among the attendees. A total of 24 films from India, Iran, Canada, and China were screened, in the

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

languages. ''

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'' (A Thousand Wishes Like This) is an Indian political drama film made by director Sudhir Mishra in 2003 but released in 2005. Set against the backdrop of the Indian Emergency, the movie tells the story of three young ...

'' was the inaugural film. The second event was held in February 2007. The foreign segment of the festival had one movie each in French,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

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, and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

languages. The third festival was held the week of April 5, 2008, at Regent Theater. Participant countries were Japan, Sweden, Germany, Russia, the United States, and India. ''

Taare Zameen Par ''Taare Zameen Par'', also known as ''Like Stars on Earth'' in English, is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language drama film produced and directed by Aamir Khan. The film stars Khan himself, along with Darsheel Safary, Tanay Chheda, Sachet Engineer, Vi ...

'' was the inaugural film. Bhojpuri, Kannada, Marathi and Telugu language films were also part of the festival.

Patna International Film Festival

The organizers of renamed Patna International Film Festival (PIFF) launched a pre-festival campaign on March 22, 2015, in several districts of Bihar. The campaign started in Patna with a screening of '' Children of War'', based on the 1971 Bangladesh war. Popular actors like

Raima Sen Raima Sen (born Raima Dev Varma on 7 November 1979) is an Indian actress who is known for her work in the Hindi and Bengali films. Early life Raima Sen was born on 7 November 1979 in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Moon Moon Sen and Bharat Dev Varma ...

, Riddhi Sen, and Pawan Malhotra, as well as director Mritunjay Devavrat, were present. The PIFF, organized by Cineyatra, commenced at the BAMETI auditorium on April 16. Based on the theme a Ganga, Gandhi aur Balidana, it was the first of its kind in the state. It was decided to host the festival in April as

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

visited Patna on April 10, 1917, before launching his Chamapran Satyagraha. Prior to that Gandhi held several meetings across the state. The theme aimed to commemorate his visit. Fifteen feature films were screened, including six from Sri Lanka. Documentaries and short films were shown from altogether seven countries, including Sri Lanka, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, China, Nepal, and Malaysia. The PIFF concluded on the banks of the Ganga at Patna College. Sri Lanka was granted a special guest status with a festival country (''utsav desh'') tag. Bihar and Sri Lanka share a common bond, especially because of Buddhism, which spread from Bihar to the island. Sri Lankans visit Bodh Gaya, the seat of Buddha's enlightenment. The festival logo included the Sri Lankan flag, says Raviraj Patel. The festival was divided into four segments a Bharatiyam, Vishwachaya, Bihar in Cinema and Samkatha. Guest film makers in PIFF : Vimukte Jay sundare from Sri Lanka, Dhanushka from Sri Lanka, Bijaya Jena, Sanjivan Lal, Karan Baali, Shubhadra Chaudhary, Sudhir Palsane, Dilip Patnayak, Joshi Joshef, Kapilash Bhuinyan and Susant Misra. The festival was organized by Bihar state film development and finance corporation limited under the Art, Culture and Youth Department government of Bihar. Guest film personalities included Seema Kapoor, Lenin Rajendran, Uthara Unni, Pawan Malhotra, Sandeep Sawant, Paresh Mokashi, Nandu Madhav, Sabyasachi Mohapatra, Atal Bihari Panda, Susant Misra, Dilip Patnayak, Ramkumar Singh and Gajendra Sarotriya. The festival was coordinated and curated by Raviraj Patel, a youth filmmaker, and writer from Bihar.

References

{{Reflist Cinema of Bihar Recurring events established in 2006 Film festivals in India Culture of Patna Festivals in Bihar