The first-ever ‘Dil Maange More’ short film festival conducted by the Indian Army’s Northern Command received an overwhelming response from the youth of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh at Udhampur.

The month-long first of its kind mega short film festival curated by Captain Rahul Bali is an initiative of the Northern Command of the Indian Army in association with Innovations India for empowering the youth of J&K and Ladakh in line with the vision of the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi reiterating the importance of activities for nation building.

Award-winning filmmakers Rahul Mittra, Imtiaz Ali, Umesh Shukla, and Rahat Kazmi along with acclaimed actors Sara Khan and Tariq Khan conducted interactive workshops and masterclasses that were attended by more than 15,000 youth across J&K and Ladakh both online and offline mode.

A curtain raiser press conference was organized in Udhampur to officially announce this brilliant initiative of the Indian Army to showcase the talent of the youth of J&K and Ladakh to the world.

Major General SS Patil, GOC, 71 Sub Area, Udhampur, along with the curator of the festival Captain Rahul Bali, renowned filmmakers Imtiaz Ali, Rahul Mittra, Umesh Shukla, and Rahat Kazmi gave an insight about the festival. The Press Conference also saw the presence of renowned Indian Actors Sara Khan and Tariq  Khan among others.

“Dil Maange More Short Film Festival (DMMSFF 2022)” is dedicated to the independent, talented, and discerning filmmakers from J&K and Ladakh, who crave to showcase their deftness and craft of filmmaking to the world via short films.

The participants would be required to make short films of 5 to 15 minutes duration on the given themes and submit their entries online by 10 December and the grand finale of the Festival would be held at Udhampur on 16 December.

Major General Patil said that the Indian Army is steadfast in its endeavor of nation-building and lending all support possible to the youth of J&K and Ladakh for their growth and development and DMM SFF is one such step in that direction.

The highlight of the festival is that apart from cash prizes and merit certificates, the top 3 winners of the short filmmaking competition at the DMM- SFF would be mentored by world-renowned award-winning filmmakers Imtiaz Ali, Rahul Mittra and Umesh Shukla, and the winning films would be showcased at International Indian Film Festivals curated by Captain Rahul Bali across the world catapulting the winners to national and international fame.

Curator of the festival, Captain Rahul Bali said Dil Maange More Festival is aimed to empower the youth of J&K and Ladakh and create success stories for others to emulate.

“We look forward to introducing the talented youth of J&K and Ladakh to the world and seek to develop a lot of synergies for their overall growth. The festival is a brilliant initiative of the Indian Army and is undoubtedly a major step towards nation-building,” he added.