The first India International Mime Festival was successfully organized from 24 March to 30 March at Aikatan Cultural Complex, Bidhan Nagar (Salt Lake), Kolkata. This Festival was organized by the Indian Mime Theatre, Kolkata in collaboration with Ministry of Culture, Government of India and Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre. A part of it was also organized in New Delhi. About 170 Mime artistes from India and abroad showcased their talent during this 7 days Festival. Mime Nemo (Germany), Mimo Kakool (Mexico) , Selen Lun( Turkey),Sister Hiromi and Kuniko from Japan , Cylon Physical Theatre (Sri Lanka) besides The Mummers, Pantomime Movement, The Mime Troupe, Theatre Sandipana and Dhaka University Mime Action( all of from Bangladesh) participated along with Groups from India. From West Bengal artistes of Indian Mime Theatre, Kolkata and students of National Mime Institute, Kolkata, along with Imon Mime Centre (director-Dhiraj Hawladar), Soma Mime Theatre, Kolkata(Director –Soma Das), Jalpaigudi Sristi Mime Theatre, Jalpaigudi,( Director- Sabyasachi Dutta)
Amiya,Memorial Creative Arts, Asansol (Director- Kalptaru Guha), Thakur Nagar Mime Academy of Culture, Thakur Nagar (Director-Chandrakant Sirali) showcased their talent.Assam was represented by Third Theatre,( Director- Bijit Kumar Das), Mime and Skit Theatre, Assam( Director-Kuldeep Patagiri) and Minangka Deka and group. “The Mimers”, Kerala (Director- S. Sreekumar), Akriti Rang Sansthan, Bihar(Director- Sunil Phekania) Kanglei Mime Theatre Repertory, Imphal, Manipur (Director Dr. Y. Sadanand Singh) , had group performances while Chittaranjan Satpathy form Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, Asif Sher Ali Khan of Do Qadam, Jaipur, (Rajsathan), Siraj Ahmed Bhati and Priyanka Chandani of Rainbow Society, Jaipur (Rajasthan) had solo performances. I was fortunate enough to represent Martand Foundation,Udaipur, Rajasthan and perform solo Mime “ Kripan” based on poem from Geetanjali, Padmashri Niranjan Goswami, Director of Indian Mime Theatre Kolkata and the personality behind India International Mime Festival welcomed and honored all the artists from India and Abroad. This festival had had Morning Workshops, Face to Face Interaction Sessions, Seminars relating to Mime Art in addition evening stage performances. The Festival started with a Shobha Yatra (Carnival) showcasing 300 artistes, Mimes, Puppeteers, Dragon dancers,Ranapa dancers, Drummer, Acrobats,Musicians, Behrupiyas, Magicians and individual performers.
The festival was inaugurated with lighting of Lamp by all the Directors of groups and individual artistes attending this Festival.
All the performances were of high quality and ensured bright future of this Art. Many young Mime performers and students were benefited by the rich experiences of the stalwarts and seniors.
70 years old artist from Germany Nemo is the First Official Ambassador of World Mime Organization told that recently the WMO created World Mime Day on 22nd March. Padmashri Niranjan Goswami told that this first ever IIMF will go a long way to create concern and honor about this art globally.
-- vilas janve reports from Kolkata and Delhi