Heritage First Goa (HFG), in association with Heritage Network, Tea Trunk, and Aani Ek, will host ‘Friends of Film: Our Rivers, Our Stories’ on September 27, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Auditorium 1, ESG, Panaji.
The daylong festival brings together short films and documentaries exploring Goa’s rivers, communities, and everyday stories, alongside conversations with the filmmakers behind them on the occasion of International Day of the Rivers being celebrated on the same day.
In light of the current state of the river known variously as the Mhadei, Mahadei, Mahadayi, or Mandovi, including concerns over pollution, diversion, increased salinity, marine life depletion, siltation, and pressure from transportation, the festival’s first segment, ‘Our Rivers’, presents a selection of films by Goa-based filmmakers centred on the river.
The second segment, ‘Our Stories’, features handpicked films of fiction rooted in real-life situations, including the award-winning ‘Ancessao’, which will be followed by a conversation with the filmmaker and the film’s main protagonists.
“Our rivers have always been the quiet storytellers of Goa — carrying with them the memory of trade, migration, and everyday life,” said director, HFG, Heta Pandit. “ ‘Friends of Film’ gives these stories a screen and a voice, reminding us that heritage is not just what we preserve in stone, but what we continue to tell through
the people and landscapes around us.” Register at www.heritagefirstgoa.com.
