The Vasantotsav 2025 or Spring Film Festival hosted by the Indian High Commission in collaboration with Caribbean Cinemas Guyana has given the commission a chance to interact with local filmmakers and renew its call for locals to take advantage of learning opportunities in India.
“Something good can come out of our collaboration with local filmmakers. We could have movie makers coming here, talented people who would like to study filmmaking can go to India; that was an idea,” First Secretary at the Commission Mukesh Kaushik said in an interview.
Speaking at his office at the Commission on Church and Peter Rose Streets, Queenstown, he stated, “We have a number of scholarships for different people in different fields; those that can teach you filmmaking, fully paid. In case you are into filmmaking, you have some idea, you have a talent, and you would like to learn more, you are most welcome to join us and we will be very happy to sponsor your visit to India to learn different trends, different techniques, to meet different film personalities in India and to learn from the best.”
In addition, the Government of India has invited Prime Minister Mark Phillips to visit India with a delegation for the upcoming WAVES event taking place in Mumbai this May. In this way, the kind of collaboration in this field being hoped for can grow.
The film festival may become an annual event to promote and infuse interest in especially young people. It has already offered some amount of success to rising Guyanese filmmaker Kevin Garbaran whose 18-minute film “Old Toy Train” was screened during the festival.
Indian High Commissioner to Guyana Amit Telang congratulated the crew, led by Garbaran and Ray Wiltshire for their venture and informed them about various initiatives by the Government of India to encourage young filmmakers.
“This was the first local screening at a movie theatre for ‘Old Toy Train’, so it was also a big moment for the cast and crew. I hope that the Georgetown Film Festival can continue to collaborate with the High Commission of India in the future of filmmaking here in Guyana,” Garbaran told this publication. “High Commissioner Telang was kind enough to share with us information about the upcoming WAVES event as well as information on technical training programmes in the field of filmmaking. For me, it sounds very promising and I would definitely make use of any of those opportunities that come my way.
“I believe that the arts are vital to our cultural identity. Without creatives, we risk losing not just our culture, but the very things that make us Guyanese.”
Garbaran sought to discredit the notion that Guyana does not have the scope, audience or the population to sustain a film industry. “I do not think this is true. Countries with smaller populations than us have thriving film industries. Maybe we ought to be looking at what they’re doing right and learn from them,” he said.
So far, “Old Toy Train” has been screened in Suriname, Canada, Pennsylvania (USA), and Trinidad at UWI St Augustine.
Meanwhile, the Spring Film Festival which opened on March 1, ends today with a screening of the film “83”, which is based on the India national cricket team led by Kapil Dev that won the 1983 World Cup. It stars Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone and is directed by Kabir Khan. This film will be shown at Amazonia Mall from 2:30 pm today.
Throughout the period, the festival screened strategically chosen films to entertain movie lovers free of cost. Attendees were also treated to snacks originating from different parts of India. “Being a diaspora country where 40 percent of the population is of Indian origin… Indian culture is very strong here, very innate, and people are very much aware of Indian movies,” Kaushik said.
