JAMMU, Aug 27: Senior National Conference leader Rajesh Gupta on Thursday strongly criticised the reported age restriction of 18 to 39 years for participation in the first-ever International Film Festival Jammu and Kashmir (IFFJK), saying that “cinema has no age and talent cannot have an expiry date.”
Interacting with media persons in Jammu, Gupta said the festival, scheduled to be held in Kashmir from September 7 to 10 and organised by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), should have been a landmark opportunity for filmmakers across Jammu and Kashmir rather than becoming a platform of exclusion.
“What is the logic behind shutting out a filmmaker merely because he or she has crossed 39? Does creativity disappear on the 40th birthday?” Gupta asked, urging Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to personally intervene and withdraw the age ceiling.
Gupta said leading international film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Toronto do not generally impose blanket age restrictions on filmmakers, with eligibility primarily determined by the film’s category, completion date, premiere status, duration and content.
“If the world’s leading film festivals judge films on merit, why is Kashmir putting an artificial age barrier before its filmmakers?” he questioned.
He said the reported low response to the festival and repeated extensions of the application deadline should prompt DIPR to reconsider its eligibility rules rather than simply extending deadlines.
Gupta alleged that the age criterion could particularly hurt experienced filmmakers and aspirants from Jammu, where opportunities in the film sector are already limited. “A film festival should discover talent, not discriminate against it. Not everyone has a political surname, influential godfather or powerful connection. Many talented people build their careers through years of struggle. They deserve a fair chance, not an age wall,” he said.
He appealed to the government to immediately remove the 39-year ceiling and make selection purely merit-based.
“IFFJK can still become a historic platform, but if the government continues with this bizarre restriction, its first chapter could be remembered for excluding talent rather than celebrating cinema,” Gupta warned.