The fifth edition of the three-day gala “Chitra Bharati Film Festival 2024” will be held from February 23 to 25, 2024 in Panchkula.
New Delhi
The excitement of documentary and short filmmakers paid off on Thursday when the Bharatiya Chitra Sadhna (BCS) announced that the biennial three-day gala Chitra Bharati Film Festival (CBFF) would be held in Panchkula (Haryana) from February 23 to 25 next year. On this occasion, the poster of CBFF-2024 was also released at the Constitutional Club.
Appreciating its efforts, veteran cine director and actor Satish Kaushik, who is closely associated with BCS, said, “I have attended several film festivals across the world but BCS’s event of CBFF is completely different from them.” He further said that cinema is not just a money-making business but it is an opportunity to showcase the rich heritage, glorious history and social value of our country.
“Now the audience is fed up with watching films influenced by western cinema. This perception needs to be changed by following Bharatiya values. Regional cinema is indeed quite impressive,” Kaushik said, adding that he is glad to know that the fifth edition of CBFF is going to be held in his home state of Haryana.
On releasing the poster of CBFF-2024, Parliamentarian and famous Bhojpuri singer Manoj Tiwari said that the CBFF is a platform to launch new talent and people will know the message of Bharatness during the three-day festival from February 23 to February 25, 2024 at Panchkula.
He said that the film industry exploits the budding talents whereas CBFF provides them a platform to flourish and the winners get cash prizes of Rs 10 lakh.
He appealed to the budding filmmakers to participate in this festival which is going to become a platform for big filmmakers in the coming times. “The festival will instill a belief that Bharatiya values are appreciated when shown through cinema,” he said.
Many children are doing wonders in filmmaking as a hobby. Keeping this in mind a new category of Children’s Film has been added to the film festival. The four categories for CBFF-2024 will be Documentary, Short Film, Children’s Film and Campus Film.
The themes of the fifth edition of CBFF are Women Empowerment, Employment Generation, Harmony, Environment, Future Bharat, Tribal Society, Rural Development. The themes of the Children’s Film are The Mighty Kids, Innovation in Child Education and Moral Studies. Cash prizes of Rs 10 lakh will be distributed among the winners.
BCS chairman Shri BK Kuthiala said that Bharat is the country in the world where the maximum number of films are made and watched.
“In the initial years of film making in our country, the people of Bharat were shown but gradually the Bharatness disappeared from the cinema so that a narrative could be established. Hence, the BCS was formed in 2014, with an aim to create Bharatness in cinema in the country,” he said, adding that after organizing four CBFF in Indore, New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bhopal the fifth edition is going to be held in Panchkula.
Shri Kuthiyal also said that in 2022 BCS organized 15 filmmaking workshops across the country and 24 selected budding filmmakers from these workshops got an opportunity to attend a 15 days long workshop in Mumbai.
Welcoming the budding filmmakers and artistes, BCS Secretary Shri Atul Gangwar said that this is a platform for new talents and they should make full use of it. Participants can send entries from September 1 to November 30, 2023. More details about CBFF-2024 can be found at www.chitrabharat.org
The 4th edition of CBFF was held in the city of lakes Bhopal in 2022 and cine star Akshay Kumar, director Vivek Agnihotri, Abhinav Kashyap and Marathi drama director, actor Yogesh Soman graced the event. A total of 712 films of 15 different languages from 21 states participated in CBFF-2022 and out of them 120 films were screened at the festival. Awards were given to 24 best films in four different categories.