135 Films Shortlisted; Festival to Revive Bollywood Connect, Boost Film Tourism
KD NEWS SERVICE
Srinagar, September 5: Jammu and Kashmir is preparing to place itself on the international cinema map with the first edition of the International Film Festival of Jammu & Kashmir, which has attracted nearly 1,100 entries from 92 countries, signalling substantial global interest in an event that the administration hopes will evolve into a major annual cultural and film-tourism platform.
Of the entries received, 135 films have been shortlisted for screening, with the selected works representing more than 40 countries, Joint Director Information and Public Relations Kashmir Syed Shahnawaz Bukhari said while speaking to reporters in Srinagar on Saturday.
The scale of participation, officials said, has given the inaugural festival an international character even before its opening, while the administration is positioning the event not merely as a film-screening programme but as part of a broader effort to reconnect Jammu and Kashmir with the global film industry and revive the region’s historic association with Indian cinema.
At the heart of the initiative is an ambition to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s place as a preferred destination for filmmakers, while simultaneously using cinema as a vehicle to expand the region’s tourism profile, create opportunities for local talent and encourage filmmakers from India and abroad to explore the possibilities offered by its locations.
Bukhari said the festival has been conceived with the larger objective of reviving Jammu and Kashmir’s historic Bollywood connection and promoting film tourism.
For decades, Jammu and Kashmir served as one of the most recognisable cinematic landscapes in Indian popular culture. Its mountains, lakes, meadows, valleys and distinctive built heritage became part of the visual vocabulary of Hindi cinema, with numerous productions using the region as a backdrop for songs, romance, drama and adventure.
That relationship, however, weakened considerably over the past several decades as a combination of circumstances made regular film production in the region more difficult.
The administration now believes that the time is right to rebuild that relationship and establish Jammu and Kashmir not merely as a location where films are occasionally shot, but as a destination capable of hosting a sustained film ecosystem.
“Our effort is to promote film tourism here,” Bukhari said, while indicating that the government is simultaneously working towards institutionalising the festival as an annual event.
The festival will be spread across three prominent venues—SKICC, INOX and Gulmarg, giving the event both an urban and destination-oriented character. While the principal activities are planned at SKICC and INOX, Gulmarg will host a dedicated day-long programme, bringing cinema closer to one of the region’s most prominent tourism destinations.
The programming at SKICC is expected to extend well beyond conventional film screenings. According to Bukhari, the venue will host screenings alongside master classes by leading figures from the film industry, panel discussions involving media professionals and professors from local universities, and interactive sessions designed particularly to engage students.
The educational component is significant because the festival is also being viewed as an opportunity to expose young people from Jammu and Kashmir to the professional realities of filmmaking and related creative industries.
Students will have opportunities to interact directly with established names from the industry, participate in practical exercises and gain insights into various aspects of cinema that are difficult to acquire through conventional classroom instruction.
The organisers hope such engagement will help young people understand that the film industry encompasses far more than acting and directing, with opportunities extending across cinematography, editing, sound, production design, screenwriting, animation, visual effects, production management, publicity and a wide range of technical and creative disciplines.
The international response to the inaugural edition has further strengthened the administration’s confidence in the festival’s long-term potential.
Of the approximately 1,100 submissions received from 92 countries, the jury has selected 135 films for screening, representing filmmakers and cinematic traditions from more than 40 countries.
The participation is expected to add an international dimension to the festival and provide audiences in Jammu and Kashmir an opportunity to encounter films and storytelling traditions from different parts of the world.
Bukhari said delegates associated with some of the shortlisted films are also expected to attend, potentially creating opportunities for interaction between visiting filmmakers, local artists, students, media professionals and audiences.
In a significant move towards ensuring that the festival also provides a platform to home-grown talent, a special category has been created for films from Jammu and Kashmir. The jury has shortlisted entries from the region for consideration and screening, giving local filmmakers an opportunity to present their work within an international festival environment.
For the region’s emerging filmmakers, such a platform could prove particularly valuable by placing local stories and creative voices alongside films from other parts of India and the world.
The organisers are also preparing the detailed screening schedule for films to be shown at INOX, which, Bukhari said, would be released shortly.
Beyond the festival itself, however, the administration appears to be pursuing a much larger objective: putting Jammu and Kashmir back into the imagination of filmmakers.
Bukhari said the government wants Bollywood personalities, producers and filmmakers to return to Jammu and Kashmir and experience the region first-hand.
“We would like Jammu and Kashmir to be the film frame,” he said, articulating an ambition that goes beyond the revival of an old cinematic association.
The idea is to transform the region’s natural and cultural assets into a sustained economic opportunity by encouraging film crews to shoot in Jammu and Kashmir, stay for longer periods, employ local professionals and utilise local services.
Such a film ecosystem could potentially benefit a broad range of sectors, from hotels, transport and catering to event management, photography, production services, tourism and local handicrafts, while simultaneously generating visibility for destinations that may not receive comparable exposure through conventional tourism campaigns.
The proposed annual character of the festival is therefore central to the administration’s strategy.
Rather than treating the inaugural edition as a standalone cultural event, the government wants to gradually develop it into a recognised international platform on the lines of established film festivals elsewhere in the world.
Bukhari said the administration wants to institutionalise the festival and expressed confidence that Jammu and Kashmir could, over time, develop a globally recognised film festival.
That ambition will ultimately depend on consistency, quality of programming, international participation, professional festival management and the ability to build a strong relationship between the event and the global film community. But the response to the first edition, officials believe, provides an encouraging beginning.
The festival is also expected to receive support from prominent personalities from the Indian film industry. Bukhari specifically mentioned filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, whose long association with cinema and Jammu and Kashmir gives the initiative an important connection with the industry’s established creative community.
He said the festival would feature several notable jury members and hinted at a number of “surprises” for participants and audiences.
The decision to include Gulmarg as one of the festival venues also underlines the administration’s attempt to merge cinema with destination tourism. Rather than restricting the festival to conventional indoor venues, the programme seeks to place filmmakers and visitors in direct contact with one of Jammu and Kashmir’s most internationally recognised landscapes.
For Jammu and Kashmir, the significance of the festival could consequently extend well beyond the screening of 135 films.
If sustained and professionally developed, the event could become a meeting point for filmmakers, producers, actors, academics, students, media professionals and audiences, while simultaneously serving as a platform to showcase the region as a destination for film production.
The larger proposition is straightforward but potentially transformative: cinema can market a destination in ways that conventional advertising cannot always replicate. A location embedded in a compelling film can remain in the public imagination long after a tourism campaign has ended.
Jammu and Kashmir has experienced that phenomenon before. Its landscapes became inseparable from the visual identity of several generations of Indian cinema. The administration now wants to revive that relationship in a contemporary form—one that combines international cinema, local filmmaking, education, tourism and economic opportunity.
With nearly 1,100 submissions arriving from 92 countries for its inaugural edition, the International Film Festival of Jammu & Kashmir has already secured an encouraging level of international attention.
The challenge now will be to turn that initial momentum into a durable institution.
If the festival succeeds in attracting filmmakers year after year, encouraging productions to return to Jammu and Kashmir, nurturing local talent and creating a credible international platform for cinema, the initiative could mark the beginning of a new chapter in the region’s relationship with the film industry.
For a territory whose landscapes once provided the backdrop to some of Indian cinema’s most enduring images, the message from the inaugural festival is unmistakable: Jammu and Kashmir wants the cameras back—and this time, it wants to build an entire film ecosystem around them.
