NEW DELHI: France is the focus country and a total of around 80 feature and short films from over 40 countries are to be screened at the 4th India International Women Film Festival which has commenced in Delhi.

The eight-day festival which concludes on 21 December will relate to women empowerment, where women are being showcased not just as objects of visual pleasure but behind the camera.

The Festival was inaugurated by renowned Kuchipudi dancer and social activist Shalu Jindal in the presence of Sevgi Boz who is the Cultural Attache in the Turkish Embassy, Amit Dev of Time Broadband Services Limited, and Sandeep Marwah of the Asian Academy of Film and Television which is an associate partner of the Festival.

Boz said making a film was difficult enough, but it became more difficult when the maker was a woman. She expressed the hope that the number of women filmmakers all over the world would increase.

Jindal said she had been encouraged by the fact that a woman had taken the initiative for a festival of this kind and sustained it for four years.

Marwah said cinema was the real cultural ambassador of any country, and festivals were the showcase for this. But he said this could only be done by people passionate about their work.

Dev felt that women were more creative behind the camera than many male filmmakers.

The Festival opened with the screening of ‘Istanbul My Love’ by Seckin Yang of Turkey.

Tributes will be paid to seven Indian women filmmakers: Arundhati Devi, Manju Dey, Sai Paranjpye, Aparna Sen, Kalpana Lajmi, Vijaya Mehta and Prema Karanth.

The Festival aims at encouraging women directors and is on the theme “Women Behind the Camera”.

The programme this year includes Competition –World Cinema (Feature), Competition (Documentary), Indian Panorama, Retrospective, Kinder Films, Joint Hands, Focus Institute, Male Voice, and Short Films (Out of Competition).