ITV

Tag: Festival of India

  • Films to form important part of Festival of India in China

    Films to form important part of Festival of India in China

    NEW DELHI: A film festival organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals on behalf of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry will form an important component of the Festival of India in China which will be celebrated from next month to March next year.

     

    Culture Secretary Ravindra Singh on Thursday launched the logo, posters and webpage for the festival, simultaneous with their release in Beijing by Indian Ambassador to China Ashok K. Kantha. 

    Singh said pursuant to the mutual understanding reached during the visit of the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to India in May 2013 and that of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to China in October 2013, the year 2014 was designated as the India-China Year of Friendly Exchanges. As part of the Year of Friendly Exchanges, the Culture Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Embassy of India in Beijing, along with the Consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, are organizing the Festival of India in 12 cities in China. 

    A 75 member Indian delegation led by Singh would be visiting China in the first two circuits beginning 7 May. 

    The Festival of India in China covers a wide-range of events showcasing Indian performing arts, exhibitions of modern Indian art, visual and photographic exhibitions on Buddhist heritage of India and its links with China, food festivals, and film festivals, as well as events involving eminent Indian and Chinese scholars and writers. Business and tourism promotion events will also constitute key components of the Festival.

     

    The Ministry of Culture Institutions – Kalakshetra Foundation, Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, Sangeet Natak Akademy, Kathak Kendra, National Gallery of Modern Art, and Sahitya Akademi – would be participating in the festival. In addition the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Department of Ayush and the Ministry of Tourism would be participating in the Film Festival, Yoga Festival and Food Festival. 

    The Festival of India in China will be celebrated in four circuits, circuit one covering Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Chengdu, Circuit two will cover Beijing, Kunming, Dali and Shenzen; Circuit three will cover Lhasa, Urumqui, and Hangzhou and Circuit four will cover Chongquing, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The classical dance program of Kalakshetra will cover the following: Krishna Leela, Kolkali, Suppada, Excerpts from Meenakshi Vijayam, Kalinga Narthanam and Thillana. The Sangeet Natak Academy would be presenting a new composition by senior choreographer Madhavi Mudgal comprising six dance forms representing the diversity of India’s culture Bharatanatyam of Tamil Nadu (and the rest of southern India); Kathak, preeminently the dance of northern India; Odissi, from Odisha in eastern India; Manipuri from Manipur, the north-eastern State of India; Kathakali of Kerala at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula; 

    The colourful logo designed for the Glimpses of India Festival consists of a Kathakali and a Beijing Opera mask side by side. It has been chosen to depict the Indian and Chinese cultures that are shown to be seamlessly blending into one another, thus mirroring the long tradition of friendship and cooperation between the two countries. The left side of the logo is a Kathakali mask from the classical Indian dance tradition that originated in Kerala. The right part of the mask derives from world famous Beijing Opera – a vivid embodiment of Chinese performing art. While the Kathakali dance involves delicate use of hand and eye gestures to communicate, masks in Beijing Opera symbolize different characters and emotions. This convergence of elements from great art forms of the two countries reflects the centuries-old civilizational contacts between India and China. Encompassed within a circle, a symbol of perfection, and with Indian and Chinese colours and motifs symbolising happiness and celebration, the logo represents the spirit of cooperation and harmony underlying the ‘Glimpses of India Festival’. 

    Two posters for Circuit one and Circuit two have been released indicating the festival’s events. 

    The Culture Ministry has created a dedicated webpage http://indiaculture.nic.in/FOI for the Festival of India in China. The webpage covers event schedule and the updates as also photographs and video links. 

  • Films form important component of Festival of India in Peru

    Films form important component of Festival of India in Peru

    NEW DELHI: Indian films are making a global presence it seems. At the Festival of India in Peru that was recently inaugurated by vice president Hamid Ansari, few new Indian films and old classics including Raja Harishchandra (silent), Taare Zameen Par (Hindi), Ghare Bhaire (Bengali), Ardh Satya (Hindi), Bobby (Hindi), A Wednesday (Hindi) and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (Hindi) are being screened. The Indian Film Festival is being coordinated by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

     

    An India-Peru Literature Festival and an Indian Classical Dance Festival is also being held as part of the fest.

     

    Ansari’s visit is the highest ranking bilateral visit since year 1998 from India to Peru. The Festival would manifest many elements of long, rich and diverse Indian cultural heritage and would be the largest Indian cultural festival ever held in Latin America and the Caribbean. This reflects the special place that Peru enjoys among Indians.

     

    The inaugural function was attended by the Peruvian First Vice President Marisol Espinoza and a number of senior dignitaries from the Indian and Peruvian side.

     

    Indian Culture Secretary Ravindra Singh who is in Peru to mark the occasion said the Festival is expected to bring the Indian and Peruvian people closer to each other and will enhance people to people contact.

     

    Highly reputed Indian writers like Arun Kamal, H S Shivaprakash, K Satchidanandan, Purshottam Agarwal, Shyama Prasad Ganguly, and Ms Karabi Deka Hazarika participated in the symposium on India-Latin America: Literary Exchanges and Influences and Contemporary Literary Trends and their Challenges in a Multilingual Society in addition to a session on poetry reading.

     

    Several noted Peruvian Writers including Jose Leon Herrera, Pablo Carreno Cabrejos, Jose Ignacio Lopez Gaston, Marcel Velaquez Castro, and leading poets Carlos German Belli, Mario Montalbetti, and Marcos Martos would be participating in the Literature Festival. The Literature Festival is being coordinated by the Sahitya Academy.

    The Indian Dance Festival in Peru is titled ‘Nrityarupa’, the mosaic of Indian dance which encapsulates the experience of Indian dance as it has evolved in various parts of the India. It offers a glimpse of the great mosaic of cultures that constitutes the Indian Nation, and demonstrates in a creative, kinetic form their dynamics in relation to each other. Six dance forms representing the diversity of India’s culture have been chosen for this presentation to audiences in Latin America: Bharatanatyam of Tamil Nadu, Kathank which is pre-eminently the dance of northern India; Odissi from Odisha in eastern India; Manipuri from north-eastern State of India; Kathakali of Kerala at Southern tip of the Indian peninsula; and Chhau which covers a wide swathe of territory in eastern States of the Union.

     

    One seamless presentation of these dances has been visualized by leading to a jubiliant finish. The Indian Dance Festival is being coordinated by the Sangeet Natak Academy.

     

    The Festival of India in Peru is being coordinated by the Culture Ministry in association with the Sahitya Academy, the Sangeet Natak Academy and the I&B Ministry.

     

    Meanwhile, India and Peru have signed a Letter of Intent for enhancing cooperation in the fields of dissemination and promotion of cultural heritage of each other´s countries.

     

    The two sides underscored the importance of further deepening bilateral cultural relations through cultural exchanges and cooperation in diverse art forms such as painting, dance, theatre, literature, craft, etc. as well as holding of cultural festivals in each other´s countries from time to time.