DiplomaticQuarter: Indian Embassy hosts its annual diplomatic film festival

Indian Ambassador Ausaf Sayeed at the inauguration of the film festival. (AN photo)
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  • Indian politician Suresh Prabhu, who is visiting the Kingdom, was the guest of honor at the opening ceremony
  • Prabhu noted the huge popularity of movies in India and expressed his happiness attending the event

The Indian Embassy in Riyadh is hosting “Ambassador’s Choice: Screening of Films,” an annual diplomatic film festival where movies from a number of countries are screened every evening.

The 8th edition of the festival was inaugurated on Dec. 5 at the embassy’s auditorium.

Indian politician Suresh Prabhu, who is visiting the Kingdom, was the guest of honor at the opening ceremony. The opening was attended by a number of ambassadors of various countries, members of the diplomatic corps, Saudi nationals and members of the Indian community.

In his opening remarks, Prabhu noted the huge popularity of movies in India and expressed his happiness attending the event.

Indian Ambassador Ausaf Sayeed gave a short introduction to the film festival and the idea behind it.

The two-week festival began with the screening of three Saudi short films titled “The Swan Song” by Hana Alomair, “A Colorful Life” by Abdurahman Sandokji and “Jaleed” by Abdurahman Sandokji.

The screenings were followed by an interactive session with the directors of the respective films.

This was followed by the screening of widely acclaimed Bollywood movie “Dangal” on Dec. 6, Ukrainian movie “Haytarma” on Dec. 7, Brazilian film “O Roubo Da Taca” on Dec. 8, Bangladeshi film “Hasina” on Dec. 9 and Spanish film “Blancanieves” on Dec. 11.

The festival will also be screening “The Sky of My Childhood” from Kazakhstan on Dec. 12, “Mudras Calling” from Myanmar on Dec. 13, “Samanala Sandhwaniya” from Sri Lanka on Dec. 14, “Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass” from Vietnam on Dec. 16 and

“No Se Acepian Devoluciones” from Mexico on Dec. 17.

The festival will conclude with the screening of “Queen,” a 2014 Indian comedy-drama on Dec. 18.