43 filmmakers from Spain, Chile, Brazil and Iran to the United  Kingdom, Hungary and Nepal, along with Independent Indian film-makers  gathered Álvaro Sancho Mauleón together under one umbrella with Malhaar global virtual video  festival.

“I have been to many festivals but the experience of Malhaar is very unique because of this one-on-one Q&A’s with all shortlisted directors, the masterclasses and the support from entire team is just great” says Álvaro Sancho Mauleón, director of Luciérnagas from Spain.

Cinema is like a road that connects a like-minded set of people; the one who  creates it and one who sees it and all those who like it. Nowhere has  this proven to be more true than the 1st ever edition of the Malhaar  Global Virtual Video Festival, held in September 2020. The most  important distinction of this Film festival is its theme: People’s frame of mind during the Global CoVid-19 lockdown.

Conceptualized by Sonia Swaroop Choksi, a documentary filmmaker herself and co-founder of Match My Talent, the festival has featured 43 films from across the  world, in the first-ever edition itself. This figure is part of a much  bigger collection of 400+ films received from 26 countries. In a  successful opening of the much-anticipated event, 43 filmmakers whose  films have been selected for final screening along with guests came together for the virtual video festival and became part of live  discussion. The group of featured creators consisted of several  aspiring, experienced, amateur and professional directors, all in one  space from different parts of the globe.  When in these harsh times  everything was standstill, Match My Talent took a step forward by  organizing a virtual film festival, Malhaar 2020.

The festival had observers Rajit Kapur, Aditya Kripalani, Neeraj Kabi, Adil Hussain, Gautam Vaze and Ajayan Vincent.

In Gautam Vaze’s own words,  “I was honored to be an observer for this festival. I was looking forward to the brilliant filmmakers and artist’s mind to portray their life, talk about their disturbance in the Lock down or the positive effects.

The encounter with these films definitely helped evolve in a certain way and I am sure even the audience watching the festival online will have a taste of slice of life throughout the world.”

The festival was held virtually from September 18 to November 15.

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