Celebrating a milestone in style

Kannada cinema recently completed 80 years and to mark this occasion, ‘Celebration of 80  years of  Kannada Cinema’ will be held at the Suchitra Cinema & Cultural Academy on April 26.

The programme, which will be held from 10 am to 5.30 pm, will include an
exhibition of film stills of Kannada cinema and photo and stamp covers, which were released by the postal department last month to mark the 80th anniversary.

The event will also highlight the milestones of Kannada cinema and the veterans who created them.

There will be different sessions on the past and present state of Kannada cinema and a special keynote address on ‘From the Centre to the Margins: Now and Ahead for Regional Cinema’ by Meenakshi Shedde, film curator and critic. There will also be other sessions on topics like 'Kannada Cinema Now — Concept, Context and Content', ‘What About the Audience?’, ‘The Future — Form, Finance, Marketing and Distribution’ and more, as part of the programme.

This event will be held in collaboration with the Karnataka Film Chamber Of Commerce, Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy and Department of Information and will include personalities from the industry like actress Jayamala, actress Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, producer KCN Kumar and film-maker Sumana Kittur.

Veteran actor S Shivaram, who has been acting for nearly six decades, will be felicitated on April 27 from 3 pm to 9.30 pm. The programme will also include a video presentation on the journey of the actor, an interactive session with Shivaram and a screening of Gurushishyaru.

Speaking of the celebrations, film-maker Prakash Belawadi, one of the moderators of the programme, said that it is important to recognise this landmark. “One should be able to place the Kannada film industry globally as a film speaks only the language of cinema. With the different possibilities of digital revolution, we should be able to imagine cinema as a global idea made locally and reach out to audiences that we never thought we could have,” he said. Prakash added, “This kind of imagination will change the scenario of the Sandalwood industry.”

He vouched that this was not the first effort in this endeavour. “We keep doing such activities and programmes but never know when they will actually click. It is an ongoing process,” he stated.

Giving further details on the purpose of the programme, N Shashidhara, president of the Suchitra Film Society, said, “We are trying to focus on the historical perspective. We are looking back on what all has happened in the industry till now and the trends of today. Because of the technological advances, even the presentation of a film has to be changed.”

He went on to say how Marathi films faced many limitations but are now screened at international film festivals. “We are taking this as an example to make people think.
This programme is a roadmap to the changing scenario of the film industry and what would come in the future,” he said.

Shashidhara also clarified that today, a film-maker cannot be just a film-maker. He or she has to know a lot more.

For more details about the programme, call 26711785.