"I feel Varanasi deserves its own film festival", says director Sumit Mishra about the film festival in Varanasi, which will be inaugurated by Sanjay Mishra.
Sanjay Mishra will inaugurate Varanasi's first film festival – Manikarnika International Film Festival, which will happen from October 15 to October 18. Eminent Art Director painter, writer, and poet Sumit Mishra who has directed the award-winning short film 'Khidki' and the feature film 'Agam' starring Tara Alisha Berry, Rahul Bagga is the man behind this idea of Varanasi's own film festival along with Nagari Natak Mandali Trust and Dr Ajit Saigal.
Talking about the vision towards this film festival director Sumit Mishra says, "Till now Kashi and Varanasi have been shown in many films but now films from different places will be seen in Varanasi through this festival. I feel this place deserves its own film festival which people haven't thought till now. Hence, we aim to show films on national and international level which can connect the audiences to different parts of the world is the main vision behind this film festival. We had received 113 film entries from 14 countries out of which our committee selected 21 feature films and 60 short films which will be showcased. Also, the opening film of the festival will be ‘Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain’ directed by Harish Vyas."
Sharing his joy on Sanjay Mishra inaugurating the film festival he says, "Sanjay sir is a strong connect between Banaras and Bollywood. The city has completely embraced and accepted him and also, and he loves to be here. Hence, we wanted to inaugurate our first film festival in Varanasi by Sanjay ji. I feel he is the most apt person for this and no one other than him we could think of."
Stating about what made him so connected with the city he says, "It's one of the ancient cities. And also, I'm very fond of this city because Banaras has played a major role in my making, so it has my heart and soul. I wanted to give back something to my city and this film festival is the medium."