Its first edition (2011) was organized by Parallel Post – an e-magazine in collaboration with Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST), Awantipora and was held annually thereafter. It was the first National Students Film festival in Kashmir. The festival is aimed to explore the budding talent among the students in the field of film making. Twenty-two films were screened in the first edition of the film festival dealing with various ‘hard-hitting and pressing issues’ such as livelihood issues, loss of tradition and heritage, conflict and its various facets of presentation, drug abuse etc.[2]
Aim of the festival
The objective of organizing this Film festival is to groom the potential of the young documentary film makers across the country and particularly from the Kashmir valley. Moreover, the festival will provide a launch pad for Kashmiri discourse whereby the upcoming student film makers will meet and interact with the established film makers and students throughout the country.
2011
A participant receiving award during the prize distribution ceremony at Verite Film Festival held on 20 April 2011 at IUST.
In this year 22 films directed by young artists were screened dealing with various ‘hard-hitting and pressing issues’.[2] Most of the films screened in the festival were about Kashmir Conflict [3] and its various facets of presentation, livelihood issues, loss of tradition and heritage, drug abuse etc.
A short animated movie ‘Hopscotch’ by cartoonist Malik Sajad revealed the story of divided Kashmir. Another documentary 'Patience on trial' by Naureen Farooq revolved around the wishes, hopes and needs of orphans.[4]
The film In limbo, Kashmiris Half-widow's a film by Lebul Nissa, Human Rights lawyer was about Half-widows of Kashmir ("half-widow", a term given to women whose husbands have completely disappeared and are still missing during the ongoing conflict in Kashmir.).[5]
The event was first of its kinds and was praised by many dignitaries present at the festival. Noted poet Poet Zareef Ahmed Zareef expressed joy and said there is a dire need of noble teachers who will lead budding talent into the right direction. "The way they presented the various aspects of Kashmir is admirable. God has gifted Kashmir with the best talent. The day will definitely come when we will produce the better film makers to show the true story of our Land".[4]
Awards
Twenty-two films were screened out of which Life on Wheels by Adil Shah won the award for the best film. Pankh by Nishant was adjudged the second prize winner and the third prize was given to three films - Lost by Ather Mohiuddin, Hopskotch by Malik Sajjad and Eidiyaan by Muhammad Irfan Dar and Aman Kaleem.[6]
Films Screened
Film
Director
Duration
Details
Behind the Darkness
Akif Mufti
30 min
It is an attempt to unearth the history of Middle Ages when there was a tremendous intellectual activity in Islamic world.
The Ninth Act (special screening)
Ali Emraann Kureshi
25 min.
Experiment
Pandiths
Mehak Fayaz
16 min.
The documentary is about Kashmiri pundits who had not left Kashmir when other from their community where leaving, after militancy started in 1989. The documentary tries to look into the various aspects of their life in Kashmir, which unlike the migrant is mostly unreported.
Sailing Through generations
Benish Ali Bhat
15 min.
The film dicments the life of shikarawalas and the life lived in the lake city.
Dal Lake
Turfat ul ain
6 min
It is all about the mesmerizing beauty of Dal lake.
Stairs of Faith
Jamshed Rasul and Team.
7 min.
Stairs of faith is a documentary depicting the unflinching faith that people in Kashmir have in the Shrine of Sheikh Hamza Makhdoom popularly known in Kashmir as Makhdoom Sahab(R.A).
Charare Sharief
-
7 min.
It’s a travelogue
Dreams of Despair
Nayeem Raja
5 min.
-
I love you maa
Harris Zargar
6 min.
This movie is about crèche going children.
Life on Wheels (Best Film)
Adil shah
9 min.
The film is about the life of a bus conductor. Often seen is a vestigial organ of the society, the files an endeavour to look into the life of this sect of the society
Lost- The unending Search (Shared 3rd prize with two others)
Athar Mohi-ud-din
24 min.
The Documentary putting forward the misery of the families of those people who got disappeared in the tempest of the Indo-Pak conflict over Kashmir.
Drug De-addiction
Nayeem Khan
9 min.
This documentary is about the drug de-addiction. It mainly focuses on the rehabilitation of drug addicts.
Hopscotch (Shared 3rd prize with two others)
Malik Sajad
2 min.
This is a short animated movie.
Half widows
Leb ul Nisa
2 min.
Talks about the women folk who are present only in Kashmir.
Pankh (2nd Prize winner)
Nishant Rana
6 min.
Q-What makes a man fly?
Ans.- A dream
Raaga
Chirag Thakkar
6 min.
A spiritual commentary on the essence of life. All of us have those moments, when life seems static and when the tables turn against one. This is astory of one such man in his thirties who re-visits that juncture of his life when a stranger helped him move on. Raaga!
Zadah
Sushant. H. W.
13 min.
Docu-fiction, Zadah -A socio-political love story. An attempt to understand and explain the prolonged and complex issue of the state of Kashmir personified as a woman oppressed between two patriarchal hypocrite society(s). The role of the media. And a question.
Heritage Lost
Rohi Jehan
8 min.
Just 100 years ago sericulture was largest revenue generating department of Kashmir. But now this industry is battling for survival. Our documentary under title ‘Heritage Lost’ has been made to highlight many issues related to this industry which includes the most important issue, that is, the valley once had one of the largest silk factories in the world. But now more than 50% of its land has been sold to different departments by the government to clear liabilities of employees. The process of selling this great industrial heritage is going on and nobody seems to be bothered about protecting it.
Lungi vs Jeans (Special screening)
Nasir Ali Khan aka RJ Nasir
-
This is a comic movie which compares jeans and lungi culture.
Patience on trial
Naureen Farooq
-
This movie is about Orphans.
Eidyaan (Shared 3rd prize with two others)
M. Irfan Dar
18 min.
Eidyaan is about a lost brother whose return is awaited in a household for over nine years. FICTION
↑ Kashmir Conflict refers to the dispute between Pakistan and India that has bedeviled relations between the two countries since August 1947. It is also a known fact that the perceptions of India and Pakistan about what constitutes the dispute are totally different. Pakistan regards it as an unfinished agenda of the Partition of the sub-continent in 1947 and as an issue of granting the right of self-determination to the Kashmir’s, a principle also upheld by the UN Security Council resolutions. India, on the other hand, regards it as its territorial issue. It asserts that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and that Pakistan is occupying Indian Territory. The impasse has resulted with India occupying two thirds of the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and Pakistan administering one-third, with an UN-recognized ceasefire line separating them. India and Pakistan has fought several wars over Kashmir. Besides there is an indigenous struggle for Right to self-determination going on in Indian Administered Kashmir since 1947. In 1989 an armed struggle against Indian rule started which was crushed by Indian Forces. Thousands of Kashmiri people have died during this conflict. Last few years have seen massive protests in Kashmir against the Indian rule in Kashmir. Dozens of protesters were killed by Indian forces during these protests.
↑ Since 1989, when armed conflict started in Kashmir, more than 8,000 people have disappeared after their arrest by the law enforcing agencies. Majority of them are non-combatant Kashmirs. The disappeared of Kashmir
Azad Jammu and Kashmir, abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entity and constituting the western portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. The territory shares a border to the north with Gilgit-Baltistan, together with which it is referred to by the United Nations and other international organizations as "Pakistani-administered Kashmir". Azad Kashmir also shares borders with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south and west, respectively. On its eastern side, Azad Kashmir is separated from the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir by the Line of Control (LoC), which serves as the de facto border between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir. Geographically, the administrative territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir covers a total area of 13,297 km2 (5,134 sq mi) and has a total population of 4,045,366 as per the 2017 national census.
The insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, also known as the Kashmir insurgency, is an ongoing separatist militant insurgency against the Indian administration in Jammu and Kashmir, a territory constituting the southwestern portion of the larger geographical region of Kashmir, which has been the subject of a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947.
The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is a militant separatist organization active in both the Indian-administered and Pakistani-administered territories of Kashmir. It was founded by Amanullah Khan, with Maqbool Bhat also credited as a co-founder. Originally a militant wing of the Azad Kashmir Plebiscite Front, the organization officially changed its name to the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front in Birmingham, England on 29 May 1977; from then until 1994 it was an active Kashmiri militant organization. The JKLF first established branches in several cities and towns of the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe, as well as in the United States and across the Middle East. In 1982, it established a branch in the Pakistani-administered territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and by 1987, it had established a branch in the Indian-administered Kashmir Valley.
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan and also between China and India in northeastern portion of the region. The conflict started after the partition of India in 1947 as both India and Pakistan claimed the entirety of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a dispute over the region that escalated into three wars between India and Pakistan and several other armed skirmishes. India controls approximately 55% of the land area of the region that includes Jammu, the Kashmir Valley, most of Ladakh, the Siachen Glacier, and 70% of its population; Pakistan controls approximately 30% of the land area that includes Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan; and China controls the remaining 15% of the land area that includes the Aksai Chin region, the mostly uninhabited Trans-Karakoram Tract, and part of the Demchok sector.
Mohammad Yusuf Shah, commonly known as Syed Salahuddin, is the head of Hizbul Mujahideen, a separatist organization operating in Kashmir. He also heads the United Jihad Council, a Pakistan-based conglomeration of jihadist militant groups sponsored by the ISI, with the goal of merging Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan.
The Indira–Sheikh Accord signed in 1975 between Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah and then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, decided the terms under which Abdullah would reenter the politics of Kashmir. It allowed Abdullah to become Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir again after 22 years and enabled competitive politics in the State.
The Gawkadal massacre was named after the Gawkadal bridge in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India, where, on 21 January 1990, the Indian paramilitary troops of the Central Reserve Police Force opened fire on a group of Kashmiri protesters in what has been described by some authors as "the worst massacre in Kashmiri history". At least 50 people were killed. According to survivors, the actual death toll may have been as high as 280. The massacre happened two days after the Government of India appointed Jagmohan as the Governor for a second time in a bid to control the mass protests by Kashmiris.
The Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages is a Society registered with Government as a Cultural organization dedicated to the promotion of regional languages, art and culture including theatre in Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Amanullah Khan was the founder of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a Kashmiri militant activist group that advocates independence for the entire Kashmir region. Khan's JKLF initiated the ongoing armed insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir with backing from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, which lasted until Pakistan dropped its support of secular Kashmiri separatists in favour of pro-Pakistan Islamist groups, such as the Hizbul Mujahideen. In 1994, the JKLF in the Kashmir Valley, under the leadership of Yasin Malik, renounced militancy in favour of a political struggle. Amanullah Khan disagreed with the strategy, causing a split in the JKLF.
Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir range from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech. The Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Border Security Personnel (BSF) have been accused of committing severe human rights abuses against Kashmiri civilians. According to Seema Kazi, militant groups have also been held responsible for similar crimes, but the vast majority of abuses have been perpetrated by the armed forces of the Indian government.
Human rights abuses in Kashmir have been perpetrated by various belligerents in the territories controlled by both India and Pakistan since the two countries' conflict over the region began with their first war in 1947–1948, shortly after the partition of British India. The organized breaches of fundamental human rights in Kashmir are tied to the contested territorial status of the region, over which India and Pakistan have fought multiple wars. More specifically, the issue pertains to abuses committed in Indian-administered Kashmir and in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
The Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, or Pandits, is their early-1990 migration, or flight, from the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley in Indian-administered Kashmir following rising violence in an insurgency. Of a total Pandit population of 120,000–140,000 some 90,000–100,000 left the valley or felt compelled to leave, and about 30 were killed. During the period of substantial migration, the insurgency was being led by a group calling for a secular and independent Kashmir, but there were also growing Islamist factions demanding an Islamic state. Although their numbers of dead and injured were low, the Pandits, who believed that Kashmir's culture was tied to India's, experienced fear and panic set off by targeted killings of some high-profile officials among their ranks and public calls for independence among the insurgents. The accompanying rumours and uncertainty together with the absence of guarantees for their safety by India's federal government might have been the latent causes of the exodus. The descriptions of the violence as "genocide" or "ethnic cleansing" in some Hindu nationalist publications or among suspicions voiced by some exiled Pandits are widely considered inaccurate, aggressive, or propaganda by scholars.
Kashmiri cinema is the Kashmiri language-based film industry in the Kashmir Valley of the Indian administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The first Kashmiri feature film, Mainz Raat, was released in 1964.
Stone pelting in Kashmir refers to stone throwing by Kashmiris on the Indian forces and Jammu and Kashmir Police deployed for crowd control in Jammu and Kashmir to support the extremists group or terrorist. In the local language, it is termed as "Kanni Jung", which means fighting with stones and the stone pelters are called as Sangbaaz or Pathraw Player. However, in the recent past the number of stone pelting has dropped significantly.
Half Widow is a 2017 Indian drama film directed by debutant Danish Renzu and written by Renzu and Gaya Bhola. The film tells the story of a woman from Srinagar in Kashmir, who tries to find her husband who is abducted by the Indian army. Jointly produced by Bhola and Renzu, the film stars Neelofar Hamid, Shahnawaz Bhat, Mir Sarwar and Haseena Sofi. Because there are no theaters in Kashmir, the film was screened at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre. The title of the film refers to the namesake term used for Kashmiri women whose husbands have disappeared mostly in custody of security forces in the Kashmir conflict. The film's official trailer was released in May 2017. The characters in the film talk in Urdu, with some Kashmiri. The film received a favourable review on Cineblitz. The film was released theatrically on 6 January 2020 in India.
Peacebuilding in Jammu and Kashmir includes confidence-building measures at a nation-state level between the governments of India and Pakistan, track two diplomacy, as well as initiatives by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), institutes and individuals. The purpose of peacebuilding in Jammu and Kashmir include conflict prevention and reduction of hostilities in the Kashmir Valley. Many countries such as Russia, United States and China have also played a de-escalatory role with regard to tensions in the region.
Media in Jammu and Kashmir (JK) consists of media houses such as Kashmir Times, Greater Kashmir, Rising Kashmir and Daily Excelsior and digital news outlets like Free Press Kashmir, The Chenab Times, The Kashmir Walla and radio stations such as AIR Srinagar, AIR Jammu, Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM, Red FM 93.5 and Radio Sharda. DD Kashir is state television broadcaster. Major private channels are News18 Urdu and Gulistan News. Various books have been written about the region, a large number being related to the Literature of Kashmir, Culture of Kashmir, Lal Ded and Nund Rishi. Koshur, Dogri, Punjabi, Pahari, Gojri, Hindi-Urdu and English are the main languages used.
The 2019 Pulwama attack occurred on 14 February 2019, when a convoy of vehicles carrying Indian security personnel on the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethapora in the Pulwama district of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The attack killed 40 Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel as well as the perpetrator—Adil Ahmad Dar—who was a local Kashmiri youth from the Pulwama district. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed. India blamed neighbouring Pakistan for the attack, while the latter condemned the attack and denied having any connections to it. The attack dealt a severe blow to India–Pakistan relations, consequently resulting in the 2019 India–Pakistan military standoff. Subsequently, Indian investigations identified 19 accused. By August 2021, the main accused along with six others had been killed, and seven had been arrested.
On 5 August 2019, the Parliament of India voted in favour of a resolution tabled by Home Minister Amit Shah to revoke the temporary special status, or autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir—a region administered by India as a state which consists of the larger part of Kashmir which has been the subject of dispute among India, Pakistan, and China since 1947.
The Kashmir Files is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri. The film presents a fictional storyline centred around the 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Indian-administered Kashmir. It depicts the exodus and the events leading up to it as a genocide, a notion that is widely considered inaccurate by scholars. The film claims that such facts were suppressed by a conspiracy of silence.
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