Last year, Whistling Woods International held a two-day event to herald the beginning of a journey marking the start of the centenary celebrations of Indian cinema. As Indian cinema completed 100 years earlier this month, the institution organised its second edition of Cinema 100, which commenced today amidst much fanfare and excitement. The inaugural session of Cinema 100 saw a star-studded line-up of dignitaries from the film fraternity including iconic screenwriter, Salim Khan; Pareena Swarup, Laxmikant Deshmukh, MD- Filmcity; Uday Singh, LA Indian Film Council; Ravindra Jain, Sameer Sen, Dilip Sen, Neeta Lulla, Nishka Lulla, Amole Gupte, Anurag Pandey and many more.
Speaking at the inaugural session, Subhash Ghai, Founder and Chairman, said “At Whistling Woods, we are committed to developing the talent of the next generation in the right direction. For us, the right to education is not as important as the right to the ‘right’ education. We want the next generation of Indian filmmakers to create Indian films first and to take these films to the world. We need to reintroduce Indian characters to the world. This was why we created Cinema 100. You need to celebrate the past to be able to make good films that are both entertaining and send out positive messages.”
Cinema 100- The Next Wave features engaging custom workshops, an exciting line-up of panel discussions and exclusive screenings, designed by over 500 Whistling Woods students and alumni, to lay out a roadmap for the next 100 years of Indian cinema. One of the highlights of this year’s festival is Whistling Woods’ association with the Unity of Faith foundation through a stellar film-making competition with a difference.
On behalf of the Chief Justice of India, Altamas Kabir; Pareena Swarup, the Secretary of the Bar Association of India, addressed a jam-packed audience at the inaugural session. She spoke on the welcome alliance with the Unity of Faith foundation. “I’m very glad to be here today, on behalf of Chief Justice Kabir and with the Whistling Woods and Unity of Faith team. In a country like India, unity of faith is a part of our heritage. As a secular nation, we live by these principles every day. Cinema is a very powerful medium and through Cinema 100 we are looking forward to spreading this message.”
Cinema 100, a two-day extravaganza celebrating the golden future of Indian cinema is being organized at Whistling Woods International, Mumbai on May 11th & 12th, 2013. Entry is free and registrations can be done at the venue between 11am-8pm.
