The The Kashmir Files controversy, which erupted at the recently-concluded International Film Festival of India in Goa, refuses to die down. Soon after Nadav Lapid, jury head of the competition section of the IFFI, clarified that he did not mean to hurt any sentiments of people who suffered when asked to leave Kashmir, when he said that Vivek Agnihotri’s film, based on those happenings, was a vulgar work of propaganda, his fellow jury members at the IFFI have spoken in his support. It may be mentioned here that Indian jury member Sudipto Sen had said, soon after the comments were made by Lapid, that the other jury members were not at one with him (Nadav Lapid). On the other hand, Lapid himself had clarified in several interviews that his views were shared by other members of the jury.
In a statement shared by jury member Jinko Gotoh on social media today (December 3), fellow international jury members expressed support for Lapid’s stance on The Kashmir Files. The statement read, “At the festival’s closing ceremony, Nadav Lapid, the jury’s president, made a statement on behalf of the jury members, stating: ‘We were all of us disturbed and shocked by the 15th film, The Kashmir Files, that felt to us like a vulgar propaganda movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival.’ We stand by his statement.” The statement continued, “And to clarify, we were not taking a political stance on the film’s content. We were making an artistic statement, and it saddens us greatly to see the festival platform being used for politics and subsequent personal attacks on Nadav. That was never the intention of the jury. Sincerely, 53rd IFFI Jurors: Jinko Gotoh, Pascale Chavance, and Javier Angulo Barturen.” Sudipto Sen’s name was not included.
