25 films to be screened at Free Spirit Film Festival

As many as 25 short films will be screened at the five-day Free Spirit Film Festival to be held in this Himachal Pradesh hill station from Friday, an organiser said on Thursday.

The festival will begin with the screening of "The Free Spirit". The film showcases how religious dissection is creating division among human beings and is directed by Rahman Leenin, organiser Lobsang Wangyal told IANS.

The documentary shows how semi-educated religious teachers influence the minds of children like Aynal.

The festival, the 13th in the series, will also showcase "The Last Sun of the Night", directed by Matteo Scarfo on October 29.

It talks about the Italian government that decides to create some safe areas after a devastating war where thousands of selected people have to be deported in order to safeguard the values of Western society.

Thirty-minute documentary "One Way Home" directed by Qingzi Fan talks about China's new elite education policy for Tibetan students that comes with a loss of identity, language and culture and will be screened on October 29.

The films are from various genres, some based on true stories, some fiction and some abstract. There will be four feature films, two documentaries, and the rest are in short film categories, Wangyal said.

To honour and celebrate their best films, 13 awards will be given in different categories, decided by a grand jury. The audience will choose an audience award.

The films will be screened at Hotel Tibet here.

Started in 2004, the fest aims to show a wide variety of film genres, encapsulating the free spirit nature of the festival.

Wangyal is the producer and director of the popular Tibetan Music Awards and Miss Tibet pageant. He believes such events help the exiled community to draw the attention of the world to the cause of Tibet.

--IANS

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