Puri first tier-2 city of India to host Japanese Film Festival

The single-screen Sri Krishna Cinema, close to Jagannath Temple will screen six Japanese films with free entry for the audience.

Mamta On Oct 31, 2019

A poster shot from the Japanese movie "The Complex".

Puri (Odisha): Puri, the coastal town of Odisha – more so known for its golden coastal line and 12^th century Lord Jagannath Temple, is going to play host to 3-day Japanese Film Festival on November 15-17.

The Japanese movies with English rolling & dubbing include It’s a Beautiful Life, Dad’s Lunch Box, The Complex, Time of Eve, Pop in Q and Survival Family. The audience would be able to enjoy these movies free of cost.

However, being organised jointly by the Consulate General of Japan in Kolkata, Japan Foundation, India-Japan Friendship Center and Chandra Sekhar Academy, this Japanese Film Festival is different from the 6-month long Japanese Film Festival (JFF) 2019-20 that was rolled out with 25 Japanese films on September 27 this year in New Delhi for seven metro cities of India.

The JFF 2019-20 was organized by Japan Foundation and PVR Cinemas, and all the movies are being screened in select PVR multiplexes in seven cities across the country but Puri.

But the movies in the proposed Japanese Film Festival coming up in Puri on November 15-17 would be screened at the single-screen Sri Krishna Cinema, Grand Road close to Jagannath Temple, said Kunna Dash, the founder of India-Japan Friendship Center and Chandra Sekhar Academy.

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“With this, Puri would become the first tier-2 city of India to host the Japanese Film Festival. It is the maiden Japan Film Festival in Puri as a goodwill gesture between the people of Odisha and that of Japan. Normally, such film festivals happen in megacities but this time at our request the Japanese government brought it to Puri, the cultural capital of Odisha,” added Dash.

When asked why the Japanese Film Festival was being organized in Puri, and not in any other towns of Odisha like Bhubaneshwar, Dash said that the people of Puri were already accustomed with the Japanese art and culture as Puri has been a destination of a large number of tourists from across the world especially Japan.