Srinagar: A fresh attempt is being made to lure the filmmakers to the Kashmir Valley, which used to be a hub of filmmaking before terrorism broke out here.
As part of the attempt, a National Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir will be held here next month, to make it the first of its kind in the Union Territory.
The event, scheduled to be held from June 15 to 20, will be organised jointly by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and the Directorate of Information and Public Relations, J&K.
A Memorandum of Understanding, in this direction, has been signed between the two entities.
“The purpose of the festival is to highlight and promote the creative ecosystem of the UT, besides branding J&K as the most preferred destination for filmmakers from the country and abroad,” said a spokesman of the Jammu and Kashmir government.
Kashmir used to be a major hub of filmmaking till terrorism reared its ugly head in the valley in 1989.
Prior to 1989, thousands of movies, mostly Bollywood ones, were shot in Kashmir, which was considered the ‘Paradise on Earth’.
But not only did the terrorists scare away the filmmakers, they also enforced closure of cinema halls in the Kashmir valley in 1989.
In the late 1990s, there was an attempt to reopen some of the cinema halls but the terrorists struck by carrying out a major bomb blast at one of those, thus dissuading the effort.
