Goa to host 4-day South Asian Film Festival

Panaji, Jun 14 (UNI) More than 45 films from eight south Asian countries will be screened at the four-day South Asian Film Festival (SAF) with the theme of 'dissolving boundaries' beginning here on June 27.

The Festival is being sponsored by the Entertainment Society of Goa and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in association with the South Asian Foundation of New Delhi with active support of the Kala Academy.

The films will be screened at Maquinez Palace and Kala Academy auditorium. The entry for the same is open for all the film lovers of the state who are above 18 years of age, without any registration charges.

SAF has been organising the Festival in New Delhi every year. It has been shifted to Goa this year as a part of the ESG initiative.

Union Minister for Science Kapil Sibal is the Chairman of Steering Committee of the festival that includes many prominent personalities of the region.

It is one of very few festivals that has been designed for a larger socio-cultural and political objective, and this is what sets it apart from the other festivals. SAF, through their interaction with a cross section of people in the region over the years, has come to the conclusion that films are the single most effective medium for improving communication and cooperation within the region.

There is a need to support and showcase the products of this medium to generate appreciation for the socio-cultural norms that exist in each country of the region. Improved understanding at the peoples' level would result in better government-to-government interaction and would also open up and increase opportunities for trade and investment.

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