New Delhi: The 53rd International Film Festival of India ended on a controversial note. At the closing ceremony, Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, the jury head, criticized Vivek Agnihotri’s film ‘The Kashmir Files’, calling it ‘obscene propaganda’.
Nadav said, ‘We were all upset and shocked by the 15th film The Kashmir Files. It struck us as propaganda, a pornographic film, inappropriate for the artistically competitive section of such a prestigious film festival. I feel completely comfortable sharing these feelings openly with you here on this platform. Since the sense of being a celebration is also to accept a critical discussion which is essential for art and life.’
Jury President of Goa Film Festival says that the jury felt that The Kashmir Files was a pornographic propaganda film, which was inappropriate for the film festival. pic.twitter.com/FKTF93ZlRYPrashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) November 28, 2022
The Kashmir Files was screened at the festival last week. The Vivek Agnihotri directorial revolves around the killings and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the 1990s.
The film stars Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi in lead roles.