SRINAGAR, July 25 -- Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today presided over the curtain raiser for the Ist International Film Festival of Jammu & Kashmir (IFFJK) at the Royal Springs Golf Course here, describing the forthcoming festival as a landmark initiative to revive Jammu and Kashmir's historic association with cinema and establish J&K as a preferred destination for filmmaking.

Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister said the festival marks the beginning of a renewed partnership between Jammu and Kashmir and the film industry, recalling a time when Kashmir was an integral part of Indian cinema.

"There was a time when filmmaking in Bollywood and Kashmir was synonymous. No film was considered complete unless it had at least one sequen...