The Shanghai Cooperation Organization festival will commence today with the world premiere the Tamil film “Appatha”. The film is directed by Padma awardee and National Award winning filmmaker Priyadarshan while Jio Studios and Wide Angle Creations are coproducers.
The film features National Award-winning actor Urvashi in the lead role and will be benchmarked as her 700th film and 51 years in the Indian film industry. Director Priyadarshan has reunited with veteran actress Urvashi after 28 years, post the film Midhunam in 1993.
On Appatha opening the festival, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said, “We are immensely proud to host the SCO film festival to mark the Chairmanship of India at SCO for 2022-23. India’s goal of organising the festival is to showcase the diversity of films and various styles of film making from from the SCO region”.
“We also aim to build cinematic partnerships, have exchange of programmes, nurture young filmmaking talent and act as a bridge between the cultures of this unique region. We are delighted to commence the festival with the world premiere of Shri Priyadarshan’s film Appatha. It is a touching story of love and our bond with our pets” he added.
The SCO Film Festival Film Screenings and sessions will take place at two locations in Mumbai, 4 auditoriums at the Film Division Complex at Pedder Road and one NFDC Theater at Nehru Planetarium Building at Worli. A total of 57 Films will be showcased at the SCO Film Festival from SCO countries. In the Competition Section, 14 feature films are competing and will be screened and the Non-Competition section will showcase 43 Films. The films are dubbed or subtitled in English for the benefit of the jury and local audience.
