Filmsaaz

Filmsaaz is an international short film festival begun in 2008 by the University Film Club, Aligarh Muslim University.^[1] Until the fifth edition of the festival in 2012, it was a national-level competition, but beginning with the sixth edition in 2013, the festival was opened to international entries.^[2][3] Since its inception, the university's Kennedy Auditorium has been used as the festival's screening venue.^[2] In 2013, after having conducted film workshop there, actor Adil Hussain was granted a lifetime membership in the university's film club.^[4]

The ninth Filmsaaz was held from 14–16 March 2016.,^[5] with the 10th Filmsaaz from 21–23 February 2017.^[6]

History

As a short film festival, Filmsaaz was conceived and begun in 2008 by Adil Hossain, the then Secretary of the University Film Club, Aligarh Muslim University. In 2013, under the secretary-ship of Arif Jwadder the 6th edition of the festival become international in scope. When first established, the festival was organized as a national short film festival with national and local categories but with its sixth installation, local categories were removed.^[7]

Tom Alter was the chief guest at 1st Filmsaaz or Filmsaaz 08 which was held from 28–30 March 2008.^[8][9]

Muzaffar Ali was the chief guest at 2nd Filmsaaz or Filmsaaz 09.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Imtiaz Ali (director) was the chief guest at the 3rd Filmsaaz or Filmsaaz 10 which was held from 5–7 March 2010.^[14][15]

Sudhir Mishra was the chief guest at the 4th Filmsaaz or Filmsaaz 11 which was held from 8–9 March 2011.^[16]

Pitobash Tripathy was the chief guest at the 5th Filmsaaz or Filmsaaz 12 which was held from 19–21 March 2012.^[17]

Nawazuddin Siddiqui was the chief guest at the 6th Filmsaaz which was held from 3–5 March 2013 and gave the awards to the winners of the festival. The 6th Filmsaaz became controversial when the organizers allegedly put off screening a documentary based on the Kashmir conflict.^[18] The local categories were eliminated after 2012, when the event became international in scope. Now, only International and National categories are available.^[19]

Tigmanshu Dhulia was the chief guest at the 7th Filmsaaz which was held from 9–12 March 2014.^[1][20] Film Crtic Anuj Kumar(The Hindu), Anna M.M. Vetticad, Parvez Imam was the jury member of the festival.^[21][22][23]

Ritesh Batra was the chief guest at the 8th Filmsaaz which was held from 10–12 March 2015.^[24] Piyush Mishra, Nimmi graced the occasion as guest of honor.^[25] Zeishan Quadri was the chief jury at the festival.^[25]

Nishikant Kamat was the chief guest at the 9th Filmsaaz which was held from 14–16 March 2016.

References

Notes