News Desk, News Nation 360 : Recently, the Indo Dubai International Film Festival (IDIFF) held its much awaited Annual Gala Event 2025 in Kolkata, with great success. With more than 200 distinguished guests in attendance, the two-day spectacular received an incredible reaction. The festival honoured the craft of filmmaking by bringing together independent filmmakers, business experts, and moviegoers from all around the world. In his address to the audience, Festival Curator Sumit Acharya proudly shared that this year, IDIFF received over 600 outstanding film submissions from more than 50 countries. The United States led the submissions with 144 entries, followed by India, Korea, Japan, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, Russia, France, and Canada. Each submission showcased unique and powerful narratives, highlighting the diverse voices of global filmmakers. At the recent film festival, a total of 18 outstanding films chosen by the jury were awarded and screened in special shows in the presence of their respective filmmakers, and these films explored serious and thought-provoking issues such as depression, suicide, and male rape, while the event was honored by special delegates from Dubai Rajj M Rao and Solène Anglaret and from Bangladesh Tamanna Sultana, who were present to collect their notable
awards alongside Indian independent filmmakers from various parts of the country, and while a special highlight was ace actress Sreelekha Mitra whose short film 'Ebong Chhad' won the People's Choice Award, the Award Ceremonies began with a poignant tribute to artists lost in recent times, followed by an enlightened talk show on master filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh by noted panelists Sudeshna Roy, Arghyakamal Mitra, and Abhijit Guha, hosted by Ruthline Saha, which gave the audience a profound insight into his life and work, and the event progressed to the Grand Award Distribution Ceremony where filmmakers were felicitated for their creative merit, while Dubai-based filmmaker Rajj M Rao was conferred the coveted Special Jury Award. One such special musical program at the event was presented by celebrated singer Annwesha Dutta Gupta who shared the stage with director Soumyajit Ganguly to promote her new film, 'HumSaaz – The Musical', and Annwesha's powerful performance of tracks from the movie mesmerized the audience, giving rise to an unforgettable moment, and with the resounding success of the Annual Gala Event 2025, the Indo Dubai International Film Festival is committed to further nurturing independent filmmaking and offering a world platform for creators, hoping to host more such meaningful events in the future to promote artistic merit and cinematic artistry.
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