A short film on snowboarding by a Kashmiri filmmaker has been making waves on the global stage, earning awards and praises from audiences and critics.
Rizza Alee, a snowboarder and a filmmaker during winters shot a film titled Hamain Ast (It Is This), which revolves around 54-year-old Kashmiri Firdous Ahmad Chaila who introduced snowboarding to the region.
The documentary film which has been tracking the Chaila’s journey of popularising this sport in Kashmir, is earning applause worldwide. Currently, the film has been selected for screening at Himalayan Film Festival (THFF), which commenced today.
“I am highly elated to witness a good response regarding the film. We shot this film back in winter, which tells about the inspirational journey of Firdous Ahmad Chaila. We are planning to screen it in many more festivals,” he said.
The film was Executive Produced by GoPro India, and shot entirely on GoPro cameras. “IT IS THIS” is co-produced by award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker, Shidan Majidi and Rizza Alee; with an original soundtrack by Kashmiri singer/songwriter, Ali Saffudin.
Prior to it, the film was recently premiered in a hotel in Srinagar, where a hall was packed with film enthusiasts.
“The rousing audience ovation with overwhelming screams and applause continued with a Q&A featuring a distinguished panel that included Yatish Suvarna (Director of Marketing and Communications for GoPro India), Khalid Wani (Senior Director India, SE Asia at Western Digital), Firdous Chaila, Ali Saffudin,” Alee said.
Earlier this year, the film also won a prestigious award at Astoria Film Festival in New York.
“It is an honour for me to bag this prestigious award in New York. We worked hard to execute this project during winter in Kashmir. This film features snowboarders and narrates their expectations from the sport,” he said.
Last year, Alee co-produced and co-directed a documentary for Al Jazeera Media Network. His next documentary will be another co-production with an American media company exploring the growing state of mental health illness among Gen Z and Millennials of Kashmir. Alee, who is a snowboarder and mountaineer, has scaled many peaks including Stok Kangri. In 2019, he attempted to scale Mount Everest.
