SHILLONG:
The two-day Cherry Orchard Film Festival (COFF) 2022 started on November 29 with nine movies screened from across the country and abroad.
Director of English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) Ravindra Kumar Vemula told The Meghalayan that COFF was initiated by students last year who did it in a small way by observing Covid protocols.
He said that COFF could have received some exposure had it been held in the city but also stated that people can also come over to the EFLU campus and see its beauty.
“The government could definitely have some kind of funds earmarked for activities related to students. The only disadvantage that our students have is that we are located far away from the city and that could be a problem, the visibility of the government would not be there.”
Festival director Chandu Voore said that there are 30 movies that they have received and the entries were opened during mid-October. Three movies will be selected as winners.
There are three categories –fiction short films, non-fiction and documentary short films, and global view finder (international open category). COFF will screen nine movies after filtering out the movies by the sub-jury
“All the films are from around the country and the globe, we have two movies from our students – Khasi folk tale Sanjay Srinivas, the other is a documentary on children and education here, the rest are from student communities and independent filmmakers,” he said.
“There are a lot of stories in Shillong and Meghalaya and our whole motto is celebrating Northeastern films and filmmakers,” Voore said.