MUSHTAQ BALA
Goa showed how a film festival can become part of a destination’s identity. Kashmir now has an opportunity to create something distinctly its own.
For decades, Kashmir has been one of Indian cinema’s most recognisable landscapes. Its mountains, lakes, gardens, meadows and old-world architecture have provided the backdrop for countless stories.
Yet there is an irony.
Kashmir has been seen by the world through cinema, but cinema has never fully become a part of Kashmir’s own tourism identity.
The inaugural International Film Festival of Jammu & Kashmir (IFFJK), scheduled from September 7 to 10, offers an opportunity to change that.
And perhaps the bigger question is not how successful the festival will be in its first four days.
The real question is whether Kashmir can turn an international film festival into a long-term cultural and tourism institution.
The Goa lesson
Goa provides an important example.
The International Film Festival of India, IFFI, has made Goa a regular meeting point for filmmakers, actors, producers, students, critics and cinema lovers from India and abroad. Cinema has become another dimension of Goa’s already powerful tourism identity.
The lesson for Kashmir is not to copy Goa.
It is to understand the possibilities.
Goa has its beaches, nightlife and distinctive culture. Kashmir has something entirely different: a cinematic landscape of extraordinary scale, a rich cultural heritage and a history deeply intertwined with storytelling.
If Goa can make an international film festival part of its destination identity, Kashmir can explore its own model—one where cinema, tourism and culture reinforce one another.
From tourists to film tourists
This could open an entirely new avenue.
Today, people come to Kashmir largely for its natural beauty, adventure, hospitality and heritage.
Tomorrow, some could come because of cinema.
A filmmaker could arrive to explore a location.
A student could come for a masterclass.
A film enthusiast could plan a holiday around IFFJK.
A production company could return after discovering the Valley as a filming destination.
An international visitor could combine the festival with Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Srinagar and other destinations.
This is the essence of film tourism—when cinema itself becomes a reason to travel.
And Kashmir is unusually well placed to benefit from it.
The festival must not remain inside auditoriums
This, however, will require imagination.
If IFFJK remains confined to screening films inside conventional venues, its tourism potential will remain limited.
Why not eventually have filmmakers and delegates experience the places that make Kashmir visually unique?
Why not combine screenings with heritage walks, location tours, photography programmes, cultural performances, craft exhibitions and interactions with local artists?
Why not create opportunities for visitors to discover the Kashmir that exists beyond the postcard?
The festival should make a visitor feel that coming to Kashmir for cinema is itself an experience.
That is where IFFJK can become different.
A festival is also an investment in young people
There is another, perhaps more important, dimension.
Kashmir has a young generation increasingly interested in filmmaking, photography, animation, digital media and storytelling.
An international festival can bring the world to them.
A young filmmaker sitting in a masterclass with an internationally recognised director may gain something that no textbook can provide.
A student can meet a cinematographer.
A writer can meet a producer.
A local technician can establish an international professional connection.
These encounters can create careers.
Therefore, IFFJK should not measure its success only through international participation. Its greatest legacy could be the local talent it helps discover, train and connect with the world.
The danger of becoming another annual event
But there is a warning.
Jammu and Kashmir has seen many conferences, festivals and initiatives launched with enthusiasm and then gradually lose momentum.
IFFJK cannot afford that fate.
An international festival acquires stature through continuity.
The first edition creates curiosity.
The second creates expectation.
The third begins to establish credibility.
Eventually, filmmakers begin to regard the festival as an important date on the international calendar.
That takes years of consistent programming, professional management, credible juries, strong international partnerships and an uncompromising commitment to artistic quality.
IFFJK must become an institution, not merely an event.
Kashmir’s greatest advantage
Its greatest advantage is already here.
It does not have to manufacture a destination.
Kashmir itself is the destination.
What it needs is to connect that destination with a world-class cultural calendar.
Imagine a future in which September means more than the end of summer tourism.
It means filmmakers arriving from across the world.
It means students attending workshops.
It means international productions scouting locations.
It means hotels, restaurants, transport operators, guides, artisans and local businesses benefiting from an extended cultural season.
It means Kashmir being discussed internationally not only for its beauty, but for its creativity.
That would be a very different kind of tourism promotion.
From being a backdrop to becoming a storyteller
For generations, Kashmir has often been the backdrop to somebody else’s story.
IFFJK provides an opportunity to make Kashmir part of the story itself.
The Valley can showcase its own filmmakers, writers, musicians, artists and storytellers alongside international cinema.
It can tell the world that Kashmir is not simply a beautiful place in which films can be shot.
It is a place with stories worth telling.
That distinction matters.
The road ahead
IFFJK should therefore be judged not merely by the number of films screened or delegates hosted in its inaugural edition.
The more meaningful questions will come later.
Will international filmmakers return?
Will films be shot here?
Will local students find opportunities?
Will international collaborations emerge?
Will the festival attract visitors who would otherwise not have travelled to Kashmir?
Will September eventually become a recognised period for cultural tourism in J&K?
And, most importantly, will the festival continue to grow irrespective of changing administrations and political priorities?
If the answer to these questions eventually becomes yes, IFFJK could become much more than another item on the cultural calendar.
It could become one of Kashmir’s most powerful soft-power platforms.
The opportunity is bigger than the festival
Goa has demonstrated that cinema and tourism can complement each other.
Kashmir now has an opportunity to write its own version of that story.
It has the landscape.
It has the heritage.
It has the cinematic memory.
It has young talent.
What it needs now is vision, continuity and professional execution.
The world already knows how beautiful Kashmir is.
The challenge before IFFJK is to make the world discover how creative Kashmir can be.
And if that happens, the festival may achieve something far more important than attracting audiences for four days.
It could help put Kashmir—not merely on the map of film locations, but on the global map of cinematic destinations.
Mushtaq Bala is Editor-in-Chief of Kashmir Pen, an award-winning filmmaker, cultural commentator, and advocate for peace through narrative media.
