Kolkata, Aug 26 (IANS): A visual biography "Mother Teresa", shot over a period of five years in 10 countries capturing various moods of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, opened the four-day international film festival on the nun here Thursday as part of her birth centenary celebrations.
The festival -- christened Mother Teresa International Film Festival 2010 (MTIFF 2010) -- will screen 15 films in both English and foreign languages.
"We have organised this film festival to pay our homage to Mother Teresa. The festival will spread the message of love and peace that Mother has preached all through his life. After the film festival ends here, it will be screened in many foreign countries and across 100 cities and towns across India," said Sunil Lucas, festival director.
The film festival was declared open by Sister Prema, the superior general of the Missionaries of Charity.
Archbishop of Kolkata Lucas Sarkar and Bishop of Baruipur Salvadore Lobo were also present on the dais. They lighted the ceremonial lamp.
The kids of Mother House dressed in white gowns handed over bouquets and mementos to the dignitaries on the dais.
The 1986 film "Mother Teresa" was the result of the directors Ann and Jeanette Petrie's five years of perseverance, during which they followed the Mother around some of the world's most troubled spots, from the war in Beirut, through Gautamela under siege, to the riot devastated streets of Calcutta, documenting her many moods on various occasions.
The other films scheduled to be screened in the festival will include those about Mother's work among the poorest of the poor, among the neglected and the final days of Mother Teresa in Kolkata.
Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu to Albanian parents in Skopje, which is now in Macedonia, Aug 26, 1910, Mother Teresa left her parental home at 18, and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India.
She arrived in Kolkata in 1929. Years later, she took Indian citizenship and left the convent with the church's nod to serve the poor and the ailing.
She set up Missionaries of Charity in 1950 at 14, Creek Lane, but shifted to the Mother House in 1953 as her order expanded.
Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and given India's highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work. The Missionaries of Charity now comprises over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries.
It runs homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis. It also conducts children and family counselling programmes and runs orphanages and schools.