The 8th edition of the Goa Marathi Film Festival, an initiative of Vinsan World, was held from 17th to 19th July, 2015 at Kala Academy, Inox and Maquinez Palace, Panjim. The opening ceremony was held at the hands of the CM of Goa, Manohar Parrikar and Girish Kulkarni and Umesh Kulkarni’s ‘Highway‘ was the opening film. In continuation of their support to the festival, Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers was the title sponsor of this year’s edition of the festival..”
This year, the festival saw the premier of three highly anticipated films, Highway, Panhala and Nilkanth Master. National Award Winning Director Umesh Kulkarni’s new directorial venture, ‘Highway’ is a film to watch out for. The film narrates a story that unravels on the Pune-Mumbai highway and looks at situations in a different perspective, showcasing life in the two metros. ‘Nilkanth Master’ is a love story set during the pre-Independence era in Maharashtra, directed by acclaimed film maker Gajendra Ahire. ‘Panhala’, directed by Nagesh Bhosle , highlights the lives of two young couples, each with troubled pasts, who literally crash into one another when their cars meet with a bizarre accident at Panhala, a hill-station in Western Maharashtra.
The festival schedule consists of a selection of critically acclaimed movies of the season comprising of several National Award Winning films such as ‘Court’, ‘Killa’, ‘Khwada’ and ‘Elizabeth Ekadashi’, and other entertaining and inspiring movies such as Dr. Prakash Baba Amte, Timepass 2, Dusari Goshta, Happy Journey, Sugar, Salt ani Prem, Sandook, Jayjaykar, Siddhant, Nagrik, Welcome Zindagi and A Paying Ghost.
The special ‘Kritadnyata Puraskar’ was awarded to two senior veteran actors, Shri. Ramesh Deo and Smt. Seema Deo as a tribute for their service in the industry. The festival hosted a workshop on ‘Distributing and Marketing Marathi Movies’ by Girish Wankhede, Proprietor of ‘Entity One’, who are the Knowledge Partners of this festival.. A special initiative titled ‘Goa Film Festival Screenwriters Point’, was inaugurated this year at the festival.
