Post News Network
Puri, Feb 24: The ongoing 12th edition of Bring Your Own Film Festival (BYOFF) on the beach here paid rich tributes to legendary Oriya filmmaker Nirad Mohapatra, who recently passed away at a hospital in Mumbai.
On the eve of the concluding day of the five-day national film festival, Maya Miriga – one of Nirad’s most acclaimed films that would eventually catapult him to international fame – was screened to a large group of film buffs.
Considered by many to be a trailblazer in the field of parallel cinema, Nirad’s work was discussed and dissected at length by discerning film lovers and critics.
A workshop conducted by renowned offbeat filmmaker Susant Mishra saw participants critically analysing Nirad’s movies and his contribution to Oriya cinema.
“Many people are ignorant of one of the biggest pioneers of parallel cinema in the country. Many people think the late director was limited to only one film. However, reality begs to differ. Niradji contributed to many other artistic works and also contributed a good time imparting training to budding filmmakers at FTTI, Pune. He was a gem in the industry,” Mishra said.
Surya Shankar, one of the organising members of BYOFF, said, “Niradji was the master of offbeat cinema. He became an invisible teacher to lakhs of filmmakers in the country in the last three decades. Many budding filmmakers learnt the art of filmmaking by seeing his work on screen. Moreover, he devoted more time to teaching cinema than practising it himself, a most selfless act if I’ve ever seen one. His ‘Cinecstasy’ movement ushered in a lot of awareness among film lovers regarding parallel cinema in Orissa.”
The second last day of the national film festival also saw the screening of 11 movies, each straddling diverse topics. Many movies were screened in Bengali, Hindi, English, Oriya and even Sanskrit.
Around seven registrations have already been done for screening on the last day of the film festival, and more are expected. Moreover, apart from the normal screening, live performances on music and art entertained the audience.
Organisers hope the last day of the event would attract a sizeable crowd.
Several visitors flocked to the film festival to take part in the ongoing workshops and also to take part in the screenings.
Many people from across the country and from different parts of the state took part in the event. Various students from Biju Patnaik Film and Television Institute, Cuttack and other amateur filmmakers from Bhubaneswar thronged the venue to meet reputed filmmakers and take part in the event.