Vevek Paul, Founder of The Great Indian Film Festival (TGIFF), talks to Aakanksha Naval-Shetye about bringing together young talent alongside seasoned filmmakers and actors through TGIFF and Rising Stars to be held on 22nd and 23rd November in Dubai
The Great Indian Film Festival and its segment The Rising Stars will be back this month. How was it conceptualized and how has it evolved since then?
The festival is co-founded by me and my wife Rinku Paul, who is an educator for last over 17 years. Like me, she too has a great contribution to make towards the festival. We started The Great Indian Film Festival in Gurgaon through a very modest screening known as Open Frame where we would screen award winning short films. In no time it gained popularity and evolved into The Great Indian Film Festival and we hosted the first chapter in 2020 at PVR, New Delhi. Last year we were invited by FICCI Government of India to bring our festival to the Expo 2020 Dubai where we showcased over 65 films from more than 25 countries.
So what can we expect this time around, what are going to be the highlights this year?
Like every year, the highlight of our festival is that we have a great representation from short filmmakers and documentary filmmakers from around the world. And this time also we have films from over 25 countries taking part in this year’s edition happening at the Reel Cinemas Dubai Mall on 22nd and 23rd of November.
Tell us more about The Rising Stars?
The Festival in its initial year itself had to go through the setback of Covid 19 where the world was locked, and so were the children. And that’s when we decided to get them busy by encouraging them to make films from home on their phones itself. After Covid lifted, it took the form of Rising Stars, where we encourage young and upcoming talent from all over UAE and India, in which children make films, and we showcase them along with experienced filmmakers in a movie theatre.
How can one participate and what are the takeaways?
We are on Film Freeway and now will be inviting films for our 2024 edition. Filmmakers from around the world can participate in it through our website or Film Freeway. This is a great opportunity for upcoming talents and budding filmmakers especially as their works are showcased on such a massive scale.
Running a festival is not easy as it involves a great commitment towards short films and documentaries. But we are grateful and thankful to some of the big industry stalwarts such as Mr Gulshan Grover, Mr Anupam Kher, Mr Shekhar Kapur, Mr Vivek Oberoi, Sonakshi Sinha, Maniesh Paul, and more who have always supported these talented short filmmakers through our festival and we have been able to arrange for a grand showcase for them.
What are the major challenges you’ve had to overcome in presenting a festival of this magnitude and making people aware about it?
Running a festival is not easy as it involves a great commitment towards short films and documentaries. But we are grateful and thankful to some of the big industry stalwarts such as Mr Gulshan Grover, Mr Anupam Kher, Mr Shekhar Kapur, Mr Vivek Oberoi, Sonakshi Sinha, Maniesh Paul, and more who have always supported these talented short filmmakers through our festival and we have been able to arrange for a grand showcase for them.
Tell us more about your interest and passion for cinema as an active founder, but also as a movie buff?
I am an MBA finance and not educated into filmmaking or cinema, I forayed TV shows and films seven years back, and found my love for stories and films and this festival is my creative outlet.
Going ahead what’s the vision?
Our vision with TGIFF is to make every year’s event even bigger and also we want to support production of short films in the years to come.