BYOFF: Several films screened in Puri

This year, the opening film at the Bring Your Own Film Festival (BYOFF) that was held in Puri from February 21 to 25, was Anaa.

It was directed by Asal Gharib, a female Iranian film maker. The film broke the traditional norms of documentary film making where the camera frequently exchanged hands from the makers to the children, the protagonists of the film.

Shot in an earthquake-hit area, the film captured the innocence of children while it also had subtle references of the struggle of freedom of women.

Another, interesting project at the BYOFF this year was the showcasing of the project Cinema Shiro. This is a Japanese film which was presented by an Austrian artist Albert Allgaier who shows this film wherever he travels to. The BYOFF provided him the perfect platform where he could show this film and interact with the audience in an informal atmosphere.

Among the Indian filmmakers, films by Sisir Kr Sahu (Farchaa), Ruby Sant (Move on), Jagadish Metla (Illusion Bound), Raghu Raghav (Jana Aranya), Anindya Bikas Datta (Code Name) and others enthralled the audience. A Kashmiri film, ‘In the shade of Fallen Chinar’, which is about the young Kashmiri students who have taken to music and other art forms as a means of their protest, brought about the essence of Kashmir in an altogether new avatar.