JOIN USCurtain comes down on movie magic
Curtains came down on the week-long cinema carnival when namma Bengaluru turned City of Joy and jubilation for committed cinephiles.
Mesmerised by the magic of movies, City’s cine buffs swarmed the seven screening centres in droves drawn and dazzled by the variegated works of master auteurs and soak in the melange of stories they told.
If ‘Kauwboy’ by Boudewijn Koole, a touching tale of a beautiful relationship between a motherless boy and his jackdaw, provided a befitting opening for the festival, it was only fitting that Brazilian director Selton Mello’s ‘The Clown,’ yet again the soulful story of a father and a son, clowns at a circus, brought the curtains down on the World of Cinema.
The annual cultural calendar call of Bangalore — Biffes — Bengaluru International Film Festival could not be a more appropriate platform to bid 2012 bye and ring in the new year.
What made the festival more special, despite all its infrastructure glitches, was there was a film for every one — the young and the old — with Michael Haneke’s Plame d’Or winner ‘Amour’ — walking away with the honours of three screenings and encores for more, the practitioners and the professionals, the faithfuls of masters and the nostalgic of the olden goldies, why, for every cinema conscious citizen of namma Bengaluru.
Even more eye-opening about this year’s Biffes was that women auteurs were at the centre stage with as many as 21 of celebrated cinematic works on show, a record in itself.
The show stealers, with a message for every Bangalorean was the Iranian beauty by the maestro Dariush Mehrjui — The Orange Suit, while the pick of the creme la creme of cinemas was the Lebanese woman director Nadine Labaki’s Where do we go now?
Among those that were the talk of the town were the Iranian film Agha Yousef by Ali Rafie, Chilean woman director Francisca Silva’s Ivan’s Woman, the heart-warming Philippine special — Breakaway by Ian Lorenos about a boy and his father.
In fact, parental relationships seem to be the favourite among the movie-makers from across the globe. If Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta dealt with a motherless boy turning into a hardened and brutal loan retriever, Talgat, the Kazakhstan film by woman director Zhanna Issabayeba spotlighting on a boy’s struggles to fend for his family.
Another was the Argentine beauty Clandestine Childhood by Benjamin Avila. Not to forget woman director Lucia Carreras’ Mexican film Nos Vemos Papa, an intimate portrait of a woman who is unable to reconcile to the loss of her father. Indeed Biffes 2012, with its melange of movies, medley of themes and narratives, styles and genres, turned Bangalore into a virtual movie mecca as the year drew to a close and December chill giving way to the New Year’s sunshine and new hopes.
And the award goes to...
The Indian Films Competition jury conferred Suchitra Samman – Best Film Award to Assamese film ‘Baandhon,’ directed by Jahnu Barua. The award consists of a plaque and a cash prize of Rs 4 lakh (Rs 2 lakh for the producer and Rs 2 lakh for the director).
The Kannada Film Competition jury conferred the Best Kannada Film Award to ‘Kurmavatara,’ directed by Girish Kasaravalli. The award consists of a plaque and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh (Rs 1 lakh for the producer and Rs 1 lakh for the director).
The NETPAC jury for Asian Cinema conferred the NETPAC Award to the Palestine film
‘Habibi,’ directed by Susan Youssef. The award consists of a NETPAC certificate and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh.