Peace Builders International Film festival opens

A three-day Peace Builders International Film festival, celebrating women as peacemakers in a world brimming with violence, began today in the capital.

The festival, which is a part of the International Women's Meet on non-violence and peace held in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, has brought together 23 documentaries, animation and fiction films from countries like Iran, Sri Lanka, Canada, Pakistan, South Korea, the USA, Denmark and France.

These films will revolve around the idea of women reconciling conflict in their families, communities and societies.

There will also be a session for personal cinema in which the relationship between a mother and a daughter, sense of harmony within a home and feminine space will be highlighted.
 

"We are going to celebrate women's role in peace building and non-violent conflict resolution and after every film we are going to have a discussion during the festival. We have films from about more than 15 countries and we have tried to cover different context.

"We will also have Sampat Pal with us from Gulabi Gang, who will hold a special discussion with underprivileged women from different parts of Delhi," festival director Anupama Srinivasan told PTI.

Also organised by International Gandhian Initiative, PV Rajagopal, who is himself a Gandhian leader, said, "On one hand where the world is stifling in the blazes of terrorism, this festival can do a little help. It may not be a big event but people speaking about nonviolence and friendship building for the coming three days will definitely do a bit."

The festival will also have a short film contest named "What Peace Means to Me", where some of the acclaimed films will be featured, including, "The Look of Silence", "Lyari Notes", "No More Tears Sister", Deepa Dhanraj's "Invoking Justice" and Nishtha Jain's "Gulabi Gang", and the winners will be felicitated.

Filmmakers Sudath Abeysiriwardana, Yirmian Arthur, Uzma Falak, and Pradeep Lekhwar will attend the festival.