4 min readSrinagarSep 8, 2026 07:05 AM IST First published on: Sep 8, 2026 at 07:05 AM ISTWhen Chief Minister Omar Abdullah lit the ceremonial lamp to inaugurate Jammu and Kashmir’s first International Film Festival – Rang-e-Cinema (the Colours of Cinema) Monday evening, it was more than an opening of a new cultural event. It marked a significant moment in the revival of cinema in a Valley where theatres fell silent and shut their doors after militancy erupted in the early 1990s.The symbolism was hard to miss. The festival’s opening film, a Lebanese movie called ‘Dead Dog’, was screened at INOX — the Valley’s only functional cinema, opened in Srinagar four years ago.