Premendra Mazumder, Vice President of the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) and General Secretary of FIPRESCI-India, was with the team of Nitte International Film Festival on June 8. He said he is an ardent cinema lover. No cinema can be judged based on its storyline, cinematography because it takes a lot of time and effort to make it. Therefore, every film has been objectively looked into and appreciated, he asserted.
Mazumdar emphasised how Nitte’s film festival stands out from other student-organised film festivals as it helps the audience reach excellent films of various genre and languages rarely watched in the theatres. He calls Nitte’s Film Festival unique and interesting for taking it beyond the campus and presenting it to the general public. He has been attending and conducting film festivals for about 45 years and says more than 3500 film festivals are screened all around India.
Mazumder remarked that it is unfortunate as some of the film festivals are fake and fraudulent and are organised for making money. According to him, this contradicts the very purpose of organising the film festivals which aims at promoting better cinema and the propagation of film culture throughout the country.
His passion for Cinema has taken him to the highest levels as a film critic, making him to occupy highest office of the association like the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI), which procures movies from various countries and provides them to its member societies. And also, FIPRESCI-India promotes Film Culture. It greatly helps the students in gaining information, participation and enjoyment. Audiences will be exposed to many more movies, including global ones with opportunities to travel to different countries for festivals and many more.
Mazumder’s observations on cinema and audience
“I liked how so many common people come together, sit with students, watch films, and interact with each other on various aspects of movies naturally; it has a huge impact.”
“I believe Cinema can communicate in a way other forms of Art cannot. It can spread love, culture, and much more while breaking global boundaries, which is very important.”
(By Shreya Jaya Shetty ans Ayesha Ayath Aslam, Students, NICO)