Leh, September 17: The five-day Ladakh Screenwriters Fair 2022 ended on Friday with great fanfare at the Shangrila Hotel, Leh. Renowned filmmakers and film personalities from Bollywood trained 20 local filmmakers during the 5-day event. The first ever Ladakh Screenwriters Fair 2022 was organized by the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) of Ladakh in collaboration with Film Companion.
CEC, LAHDC, Tashi Gyalson attended the farewell ceremony as the main guest. In his opening remarks, he said: “Delighted to hear the positive responses from participants, including seasoned local filmmakers at the scriptwriting workshop. I congratulate the entire team at the Department of Public Information and from the Film Companion for successfully organizing the screenwriters fair in Leh. I am happy that things are changing for good after the formation of the union territory, as we are witnessing a number of good initiatives and platforms for Ladakhis Hill Council, Leh and UT administration are doing good efforts to nurture young talents in creative industry.We have started drama workshop in collaboration with NSD which would further help our young people to identify their talents in the creative fields. I look forward to seeing some good films produced by our filmmakers in Ladakh soon.
Commissioner/Secretary, Higher Education and Skills Development, Padma Angmo expressed her pleasure in observing the enthusiasm of the participants throughout the fair and commended them for the sincerity of their efforts. She thanked the Film Companion for providing knowledgeable resource persons who successfully maneuvered the Ladakh Screenwriters Fair for five days with the participants. Comm/Secy, Padma Angmo opined that although Ladakh’s film community is currently small, talented filmmakers will soon grow into a vibrant and thriving industry. She further stated that a long course may be organized in the future for those who wish to take a longer course.
Ladakh Film and Television Federation President Rigzin Gurmet in his vote of thanks expressed gratitude to the administration of UT Ladakh and Film Companion for organizing this fair. He said the trainees were blessed to be able to absorb the experts’ lifetime experiences with their heartfelt guidance in just a few sessions. He applauded Comm/Secy, Padma Angmo for his tireless efforts to provide great opportunities for the people of Ladakh. He added that such an innovative fair with prominent Bollywood film personalities to train local filmmakers and creative fraternity of Ladakh was beneficial beyond expectation.
Tashi Dawa (director) talked about the importance of this fair for him and urged him to incorporate this new knowledge and make even better films in the future. He said that although late, it is a new beginning for all the trainees at the fair.
The five-day Ladakh Screenwriters Fair was graced by esteemed filmmakers and film personalities from the Bollywood fraternity who shared their invaluable wisdom on major topics viz. Shakun Batra: Fundamentals of cinema, how to define the rhythms of your film; Satyanshu Singh: fundamentals of writing feature films, character development for your story, writing episodic series; Shakun Batra and Ayesha DeVitre: The Secrets of Character Building; Abhay Pannu: introduction to the world of series cinema, the do’s and don’ts of breaking into the industry; Raj Nidimoru: Understanding the viability of a serial subject; Nikhil Advani: The Rise of OTT, OTT Topics From a Showrunner’s Perspective; Avinash Arun: How to tailor your style to match OTT; Shaunak Sen: The new era of the Indian documentary landscape, the structure of a documentary: Deepti DCunha: Navigating film festivals; Leena Yadav: Emergence of docuseries and episodic structure; Tanvi Gandhi: portfolio creation and PPM presentations; Guneet Manga: Agitation for the Summit; Arjun Mogre: How to Pitch: Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya: Protagonists of Documentary Cinema; Harshil Karia: What to Film to Better Market and Neeraj Ghaywan: An Introduction to Practical Filmmaking.
The sessions were moderated by Anupama Chopra (author, journalist, film critic) and Prathyush Parasuraman (film critic).
Co-Director, Information, Imteaz Kacho and AD Information, Leh, Dr. Namgial presented the vote of thanks and congratulated the guests with Khatag (ceremonial sashes). At the end of the fair, participants received certificates and were congratulated by CEC Tashi Gyalson with Comm/Secy, Padma Angmo.