Meghalaya celebrated Mother Teresa’s sainthood with a four day Mother Teresa International Film Festival(MTIFF) 2016 . The MTIFF 2016 celebrates the canonisation of Mother Teresa and the festival concludes on September 9 here before moving to Jowai from September 14 to 17.
• Organised at the U Soso Tham Auditorium, the MTIFF 2016 celebrates her canonisation of Mother Teresa and will move to Jowai, the district headquarters of West Jaintia Hills on September 14 for another four-day spell.
• A total of 20 films, documentaries and short films showcasing the life and work of St. Teresa would be screened at the festival and similar festivals would be held in different cities in India and in about 50 countries around the world.
• MeghalayaGovernor V.Shanmuganathan inaugurated the festival which was further adorned by colourful by song and dance performances exhibited by students of city schools, each performance depicting the life and work of St. Teresa through her years.
• “Mother Teresa represents the message of love, peace, enduring strength, hope and service to the world at large. She served the destitute, lepers, abandoned children, old people, the poorest of the poor and the downtrodden because she understood their pain, she was a solace, a helping hand and a source of comfort to them,” Shanmuganathan said in his inaugural address.
• The Festival opened with “Mother Teresa and Me” made by noted photographer and filmmaker Gautam Lewis who was raised by Mother Teresa after his parents abandoned him while he was a young infant in Kolkata.