Guwahati: Members of the city's cinematic circles mourned the passing of Altaf Mazid, national award-winning filmmaker and critic, in Bangalore on Wednesday. The sixty-year-old Mazid died of a heart attack.
Mazid was also deeply involved with Gauhati Cine Club (GCC). Humayun Choudhury of GCC said Mazid was a pioneer in independent filmmaking in the state. "He was involved with the GCC for a long time and played a key role in the movement of independent filmmaking. His death is a major loss for the state. He used to do his work with pure dedication and his love for cinema was amazing," said Choudhury.
Known for a number of critically-acclaimed documentaries and short films, Mazid won two national awards in 2008. He won the Golden Lotus for best critic (which he shared with RK Bidur Singh) and Silver Lotus for best anthropological film for Boliya Pitaier Sohoki Sootal (A duet with the river god).
His last rites were preformed here on Thursday, said a family member.
Mazid was known for his efforts to reconstruct the first-ever Assamese cinema Joymoti (1935). In 2004, his reconstructed version of the film premièred in several prestigious festivals.
As a member of FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique), Mazid was part of the jury in IFFI (1992), IDFA Amsterdam (1997), YIDFF Japan (2001), MIFF Moscow (2004), Cannes (2006) and Dubai (2012). He was part of the jury in BIFES Bangalore (2014) and IDSFF Kerala (2015) besides being invited to the Fajr Festival of Tehran as guest critic in 1997.
He was also a member of the selection committee of Indian Panorama (non-fiction) of IFFI (1999), and Assam State Awards 2005 (feature).
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