Rare World War 11 films to be screened at Mumbai Intl Festival

New Delhi, Jan 18 (UNI) Rarest film records of the Indian troops in action in various parts of the globe during the Second World War can be seen during the prestigious Mumbai International Film Festival(MIFF) for Documentary, Short and Animation Films beginning February three.

The films will also show the battle of Britain, Russia and other major happenings of the period.

Also for the first time feature films on Jammu and Kashmir made by the local film makers will be screened.

So far the films on this region shown in the festival have been made by the Films Division, which is organising the MIFF.

''Now various aspects of the state will be presented as seen through the eyes of the people of the state, said Mr Kuldeep Sinha, head of the Films Division, which is organising the festival.

Addressing a press conference here, he said that another major attraction of the festival was the films made by the directors of the Films Division on the entire spectrum of the development of India since 1948 when the department was created.

Besides, there will be a section of Oscar winning documentaries, and biographical films on great filmakers like Ingmar Bergman, Satyajit Ray, Andrei Tarkovsky and Bimal Roy.

A special package of films from South Africa, documenting the socio-cultural and political development since the end of apartheid, films from SAARC countries will also be part of the festival.

In the Classics section will be screened films made by great masters like Bert Haanstra, Robert J Flaherty, Francoi Truffaut, Istvan Szabo, Krystof Zanussi and Ritwik Ghatak. This package has been organised with the National Film Archives of India.

Mr Sinha said that 44 films had been selected for the competition section and nine films for the special screening(Non-competition section).

In the Indian section, 54 films have been placed in the competition section and and 13 in the special screening section.

The MIFF, which was held for the first time in 1990 is currently rated as the world's third largest documentary film festival, offering the biggest prize money in the genre.

The 2008 edition of the festival is expected to be attended by more than 5000 delegates.

The Films Division, a unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting organises the festival with the active support of the Government of Maharashtra.

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