Film posters from 1913 on display at IFFI

PANAJI, Nov 22: More than 350 precious film posters ranging from 1913 till date will dot the screening venues at the 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which begins in Goa on Monday. Speaking to IANS, Vijay Jadhav of the National Film Archives of India (NFAI), which has made the posters available to the IFFI this year, said that films ranging from Raja Harishchandra (1913), Kalyancha Khajina (1924), and Sati Savitri (1927) are some of the oldest film posters which will be on display.

“We have handpicked the 350 posters and woven these into a package called ‘Venus’. It deals with feminine roles in cinema,” Jadhav said, adding that some of the posters from the collection were priceless works of art. “Of course, we have not brought the original posters to Goa. Had we done that, the fragile originals could have been damaged,” he said. “These are excellent imitations which are on display,” he added. Jadhav, whose NFAI will also screen several classic award winning films from their archives like Meera, Goonj Uthi Shehenai, etc at the IFFI said that film poster-making was an art which had dwindled over the years and display of such posters would help create awareness about it.

“Art school students still come to us (NFAI) to study the posters. Poster-making was a different genre altogether,” he said. (IANS)