There was a time when films used to be a part of a huge fair. But now, films themselves are celebrated like a fair. But who is complaining? Movies buffs seem to have only one goal this coming week – head to Orion Mall, Rajaninagar for the 10th edition of BIFFES.
The fest, which begins on February 22 and goes on till March 3, will screen 200 films from 60 countries. That’s not all, the festival will also include seminars, workshops and master classes for film aspirants – all of which will be held at the venue.
What’s special this year? For one, KCA (Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy) has declared a holiday for the Kannada film industry on February 22 and an active participation from the Kannada film fraternity. And second, there will be films galore that spoil you for choice. The screenings will be held at the 11 screens – PVR Cinemas – Orion Mall.
What to look forward to
There will be films from Germany, Thailand, Canada, Afghanistan, China, South Korea and the Latin American region to name a few. Get set to watch films like A Letter to the President(Afghanistan), The Bold the corrupt and the Beautiful (Taiwan) or Peddayi (Tulu) in the Asian Cinema category.
In the world cinema category you can watch Scary Mother (Georgia), Call me thief (South Africa), Dying (Spain), Beauty and the Dogs (Tunisia) and April’s Daughter (Mexico) to list a few.
The films chosen in the Indian film category are – Clint (Malayalam), Hebbuttu Ramakka (Kannada), Pimphal (Marathi) and Evening Shadows – Surmaee Shaam (Hindi).
The Kannada cinema list includes films like Nagabharana’s Allama, P Sheshadris Beti, Nikhil Manjoo’s short film Reservation, Adarsh Eshwarappa’s Shuddhi.
Films like Bharjari, Chamak, Mufti,Rajkumara are chosen in the Kannada cinema – popular entertainment category.
Tributes
We may be celebrating cinema, but the festival is not forgetting the great film makes that the industry saw the demise of in the past few months. The festival has also included homages to legendary films makers filmmakers like Parvathamma Rajkumar, RN Sudarshan, Kashinath, K Chandrashekar, Krishna Kumari and Shashi Kapoor.
Seminars and workshops
There will be a screen writing workshop by Clair Dobbin, which will be coordinated by P Sheshadri. The other session that one can look forward to is an interactive session with Bollywood filmmaker Rakeysh OmPrakash Mehra.
The topic he will talk about will be “Challenges to Filmmakers in present times’.
There will also be a study of films by Satyajit Ray , a special discussion on emerging technologies in films and master classes on documentary film making, scripting and curating.
Foreign delegates
You can meet foreign delegates like Marc Baschet (film producer and cinematographer from France), Claire Dobbin (Australian script advisor/editor) and Kirill Razlogov (film critic and professor of cultural studies from Russia).
The festival will also see a competition in the category of Asian, Indian, Kannada and Kannada popular entertainment.