Hello everyone,
I am Karan Kukreja, founder of GIFLIF Fest or The Great Indian Film & Literature Festival (World’s First Film & Literature Festival) which was launched at DLF Cyberhub, Gurgaon in 2015. The intent was to bring 2 unique art forms on one platform and then explore the possibilities.
Subsequently, looking at the void of contemporary festivals in tier-2 cities of India, I launched GIFLIF Fest in 2 new cities Bhopal & Raipur. In a span of 4 years (2015-2019, post-2019 Covid brought the fest to a halt) 8 editions of the festival have been conducted in 3 cities of India.
Apart from having celebrated artists at the festival such as Gulzar, Late Rahat Indori, Ruskin Bond, Taapsee Pannu, Piyush Mishra, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Rajat Kapoor, Devdutt Pattanaik, Vinay Pathak to name a few, I started looking at newer artists who were really good and creating their arts independently. In the process, I was able to bring newer music bands, poets, and mind readers to GIFLIF Fest.
One of the key elements of GIFLIF Fest is the introduction of new-age poets via numerous pre-fest events such as Poetry on Cruise, Poetry on Wheels (World Record), and Poetry on Roof-top. Over the years, the poetry contest has seen national-level participation by over 1000 poets participating for each edition.
Since 2017, GIFLIF Fest has been focussing a lot on the introduction of “Indie Bands” (Indie Bands means Independent Bands that make their own music, and aren’t associated with a record label) to a newer audiences. In the process GIFLIF Fest launched “Ballimaaraan – A Piyush Mishra Project” in 2016, subsequently, bands such as Indian Ocean, Kabir Café, Alif, Parvaaz, Samar Mehdi, Blind Sherpa, Nitesh Rajesh Collective, Narang Ensemble, Kanishk Seth Trio, and more were introduced in these cities. Some of these Live Concerts have been viewed by over 50 lakh viewers on YouTube.
In 2017, I launched GIFLIF Fest YouTube Channel that today has gathered 2.83 lakh subscribers, with 42 Mn views. A bi-annual festival, 09 editions of GIFLIF fest have been conducted.
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Post the 1st Covid wave, GIFLIF conducted World’s First DriveIn Music Festival (A World Record recognized by Harvard World Record). A 2 days fest, with 6 bands and space for 100 cars and 40 bikes. A series of GIFLIF DriveIn Music Fests are planned over the next 1 year in Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Raipur.
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