MUMBAI: NDTV Lumiere director Sunil Doshi has been invited by the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) to be a jury in this year’s film festival. He will be looking at films in the Narrative Feature Competition, sharing the honours with international names.  

The festival kickstarted on 8 October and will continue for the next 10 days. Prior to his departure, Doshi said, "I feel privileged and on-top-of-the-world to be on the International Jury with Abbas Kiarostami, Joen Chen amongst other luminaries at the Middle East International Film Festival, Abu Dhabi under the Artistic Direction of Peter Scarlet."

In recent times, Indian filmmakers are making their way into several international jury sections. Not just that, many Indian films are being screened at budding film festivals like those in Iran and Russia along with big festivals like the Stuttgart, Pusan and Venice Film Festivals.

Two film old director Samar Khan, had his Shaurya feature in Russia and Iran film festivals, while also making its way at the Stuttgart Film Festival. Kabir Khan has given up his plans for his next film for some time now as he is busy traveling with his latest film, New York. Kabir is currently at the Pusan Film Festival for the screening of New York. He also alongwith Dostana director, Tarun Mansukhani were in New York last month for their respective films. Keeping them company was John Abraham, who was the lead actor in both the films.

With the multiplex culture booming in India, the need for filmmakers to forcefully include entertainment for the masses is history. And perhaps that’s why there is an increase of such films in the international film festival circuit.