Srinagar, Sept. 10 -- The International Film Festival in Jammu and Kashmir has attracted several filmmakers, particularly from across the country to Kashmir, many of them for the first time - who say that Kashmir is a canvas waiting to be explored, as the festival has put the region on the global film map.

The filmmakers and actors say that the film festival will have a profound effect on filmmaking in Kashmir and the development of regional cinema, while it will put the Himalayan valley again into the imagination of film-makers from across the country and even abroad.

"Kashmir is so colourful and culturally so enriched. Kashmir should be explored," said Jaydip Mukherjee, a documentary filmmaker from Kolkata, whose film Painted memories...