Watching movies can break barriers of colour and culture, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said here while inaugurating the European Union Film Festival.

Rathore on Monday inaugurated the gala, where 24 latest European movies are being screened from 23 European countries. The festival, which opened with Slovakian movie "Little Harbour", will traverse through 11 cities in India, read a PIB statement.

Rathore said the charm in watching a film is in seeing the story as well as meeting people, and that is the essence of a film festival. He said that though people across the border vary by skin colour and culture, they are one people, and that watching films breaks these barriers and the story gets communicated to the people of any country.

He said even if the language of the film is not understood, the emotion in a film is understood through the body language.

The fest is organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, partnering with the delegation of the European Union and embassies of EU member states in various city film clubs. It has movies from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.

Also read: Actor Naseeruddin Shah Says, 50 Years From Now Cinema Halls Would Be Found In Museums

It will travel through New Delhi, Chennai, Port Blair, Pune, Puducherry, Kolkata, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam, Thrissur, Hyderabad and Goa till August 31. (IANS)