Movie enthusiasts can rejoice as the Dasara Film Festival has brought to them the best of foreign cinemas that they missed watching after Mysuru was dropped as venue for Bengaluru International Film Festival (Biffes) 2018 this year.
Mysuru was screening films as part of Biffes for two years. But, the organisers restricted screening of films to Bengaluru this year. This had upset connoisseurs of films who had also petitioned the then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to retain Mysuru as the venue for Biffes-2018. However, it did not materialise.
“Out of the 24 world cinemas identified for screening from October 12 till 17 as part of Dasara, 18 were reckoned to be the best. Inox Movies in Mall of Mysore will screen the movies,” said Festival Artistic Director Manu.
He told The Hindu that the Dasara Film Festival is not featuring contemporary world cinema since it required a big budget. But, the world cinema what is being featured now was no less, he said.
The show timings at three screens are 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m., and 7 p.m. This year, children below 15 years can also watch Kannada films. But the world cinema is strictly for those above 18.
The Turin Horse, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, The Great Dictator, Corn Island, Jeanne Dielman, In a Year with 13 Moons, The President are some of the films selected for screening in world cinema.
He said 16 films in panorama category and 26 films in contemporary Kannada films category were also listed for screening.
Village Rockstars, Istakamya, Pihu, Railway Children, Take Off, Pimpal, Ventilator, Idak, Kadvi Hawa were among the films listed in panorama category. Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shale, Dayavittu Gamanisi, Hebbetu Ramakka, Savitribai Phule, Kannoonayana, Anjaniputra, Hasiru Ribbon were among the contemporary Kannada films listed for screening.
Mr. Manu said the Dasara Film Festival has the potential to be up-scaled into a full-fledged film festival, holding it after the festivities so that the fervour continues even after the celebrations are over.
So far, 250 people have registered for the film festival. A total of 600 seats are available and the organisers are hoping for around 800 registrations.
The organisers have fixed the festival registration fee at ₹300 per person. Daily pass for ₹100 is also available. For details, call Mr. Manu on 94480-92049.