A week-long online film festival dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi is being organized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as part of the finale of the celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation. The Films Division of the ministry is organizing ‘Gandhi Filmotsav’ and the online film festival will be streamed on its website www.filmsdivision.org and YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/FilmsDivision from September 26 to October 2, an official statement said.

Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, 2018, marked the beginning of the two-year celebration of the sesquicentennial of Mahatma Gandhi which is slated to conclude on October 2. The Films Division, which is a repository of rare live footage and documentaries on the Father of the Nation, began the 150 years of celebrating Mahatma by producing and screening a number short films on Gandhian ideals across cinemas apart from organising festivals on his life and philosophy, throughout 2018-2020, in various places in the country, the statement said. The week-long Filmotsav will begin with an animation film, ‘Vaishnav Jan To…’, a pictorial reflection of the bhajan immortalised by Mahatma Gandhi, followed by milestone documentaries — Dawn of Gandhian Era, 85 Nayak Ni Pol Porbander, Then Came Gandhi, The Great Salt March, The Hundred Minutes, Gandhiji: Through the eyes of a Cartoonist and Yug Devata, a sand animation film portraying Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of Swachh Bharat. The highlight of the festival is screening of ‘Baapu Ne Kaha Tha’ and ‘Abhi Kal Hi Ki Baat Hai’ — two sought-after films on Gandhi, produced by Children’s Film Society of India.