Jagran Film Festival kicks off with 'Road to Istanbul'

Mumbai, Sep 26 () The 7th edition of

Jagran Film Festival

today opened with highly acclaimed Algerian movie "Road To

Istanbul

", setting the stage for a week-long extravaganza which will also showcase Indian films. "Road To Istanbul", a 92-minute long movie, talks about the issue of young Europeans converting to

Islam

and taking up the Jihadi cause. It was screened at a theatre in suburban Andheri.

Bollywood

actor Arjun Kapoor, who was the chief guest at the glittering opening ceremony, said he grew up watching world cinema, which influenced his upbringing, and lauded the festival for giving platform to youngsters. "Our budding filmmakers want to understand cinema, learn from cinema. Hindi or English films are not enough, films across the world can influence us, especially actors, filmmakers and technicians. "This is the purest form of education our budding filmmakers can get. It is not corrupted by commercialisation in anyway," he said at the event. Produced by

John Brehat

in association with 3B Productions, Tassili Films, Arte France and

Scope Pictures

and directed by

Rachid Bouchareb

, the film stars Astrid Whettnall, Pauline Burlet, Patricia Ide and Abel Jafri. "Road To Istanbul" has been screened at various international film festivals this year, including

Berlin

and

Eurasia

, among others. The festival will also feature an array of popular Indian movies of recent past, providing a visual treat to cinema aficionados. The 7th edition of the film festival started from New Delhi on July 1 and went to several cities, including Lucknow and Kanpur, before coming to Mumbai. Some of the important sections of the festival are 'World

Panorama

', 'Indian showcase', 'Jagran Shorts', 'Stars on the Horizon', 'Country Focus', 'Tributes' and 'Homages' among others. The 'Indian Showcase' includes popular films like "Airlift", "Neerja", "Sarbjit", "Talvar", "Natsamrat", "Aligarh", "Sairat" and "Mithila Makhaan". Internationally acclaimed Romanian movie "

Sieranevada

" by

Critsi Puiu

, "The First, The Last" by Bouli Lanners, "Mahana", "The Plants" from

Chile

and "Hear the Silence" by

Ed Ehrenberg

from

Germany

are some of the films that will also be screened at the festival, which will conclude on October 2 with a gala ceremony. JUR RSY PSH
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