At IFFJK closing, CM invites filmmakers to return, collaborate and create in J&K
Srinagar, Sep 10 : Jammu and Kashmir must move beyond being merely a beautiful filming location and emerge as a place where stories are created, talent is discovered and films are conceived and produced, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday.
Addressing the closing ceremony of the first-ever International Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir (IFFJK) in Srinagar, the Chief Minister, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said the four-day festival had brought filmmakers and audiences together, connected established professionals with young aspirants and created a platform for cinema from Jammu and Kashmir to engage with India and the world.
“You came as our guests. I hope you leave as friends of Jammu and Kashmir and partners in what we are trying to build,” Omar said.
He said around 120 films from more than 30 countries were screened during the festival, but its deeper value lay in the connections and opportunities it created.
“A young writer meeting a director, an aspiring filmmaker learning from a professional or two people meeting here who may one day make a film together,” he said.
Recalling his remarks at the opening ceremony about Jammu and Kashmir’s long association with cinema, Omar said the festival had brought back films that helped shape Kashmir’s visual memory.
“Over the last few evenings, something rather special has happened. Those films and others from that era have returned to Dal Lake,” he said.
He said films including Junglee, Arzoo, Kashmir Ki Kali and Kabhi Kabhie had been screened against the landscapes that helped make them memorable.
“For decades, Kashmir travelled to audiences through a cinema screen. This week, in a sense, the screen came back to Kashmir,” he said.
However, Omar said nostalgia could not define the future of Jammu and Kashmir’s film industry.
“Our ambition must go beyond being a beautiful filming location. Jammu and Kashmir must increasingly become a place from which stories emerge, talent is discovered and films are conceived and created,” he said.
He said J&K had far more to offer cinema than its landscapes, with stories rooted in its cities, towns and villages, as well as its languages, literature, music, craft, history and everyday lives.
“Our landscapes may bring filmmakers here, but our stories, our people and our professional filmmaking environment can bring them back,” Omar said.
The Chief Minister called for a two-way relationship with the film industry, saying filmmakers from India and across the world should be welcomed while opportunities must also be created for talent from Jammu and Kashmir to reach wider audiences and find collaborators beyond the region.
He said investment in young people must remain at the heart of the effort, describing their participation in the festival as particularly encouraging.
Omar said the success of IFFJK a decade from now should not be measured merely by the number of films screened or personalities attending it, but by the careers launched, opportunities and collaborations created, and the stories from Jammu and Kashmir that reach audiences across India and the world.
He said IFFJK should grow beyond a four-day annual event into a continuous platform for screening, learning, training and collaboration throughout the year.
“Government can provide a platform and an enabling environment, but a vibrant film culture must be sustained by the creative community itself,” he said.
The Chief Minister also highlighted the wider economic opportunities created by cinema, saying filmmaking could support professionals, local services, artists, jobs and businesses.
“Films coming to Jammu and Kashmir should therefore leave behind not only valuable images but also skills, employment and stronger local capabilities,” he said.
Addressing visiting filmmakers, actors and delegates, Omar invited them to return to Jammu and Kashmir.
“Come back to shoot, write, teach, collaborate and discover more of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
To young filmmakers and storytellers, he urged them to learn the craft, experiment and begin telling stories from their neighbourhoods, villages, families and generations.
“Some of cinema’s most powerful voices are intimate and local. What matters is that the voice be authentic and the craft remain strong,” he said.
Reflecting on the setting of the closing ceremony, Omar said Dal Lake had for centuries reflected the mountains, sky and changing seasons around it, while cinema had reflected the spirit of the world.
“Perhaps the opportunity before us now is for Jammu and Kashmir increasingly to reflect itself through cinema—to tell its own stories, its own voices with confidence and to share them with audiences across India and the world,” he said.
He said although the curtain had come down on the first edition of the festival, he hoped it would not mark the end of the idea that brought everyone together.
“If years from now, filmmakers from Jammu and Kashmir are standing in festivals across the world, the story is that first-hand encouragement of opportunity here,” he said.
The Chief Minister thanked filmmakers, artists, jury members, delegates, young filmmakers and audiences for being part of the festival and expressed hope of welcoming them back to Jammu and Kashmir—(KNO)
