Crossing all boundaries

Film festival

The cinematic bonanza promises a wonderful experience with movies like ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’ and ‘In the Name of the Devil’ being a part of its line-up. What’s more, for the first time, the festival enjoys government patronage.

The festival will feature a whopping 179 films, which have been selected from over 40 countries. In keeping with the huge scale of the event, these movies will be shown across nine screens in the City. It will be officially inaugurated by Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda, in the presence of acting legends Anant Nag and Om Puri as well as the Iranian film-maker Dariush Mehrjui.

The inaugural event will be held on December 15, 6 pm at the Jnanajyothi Convention Centre, Central College Campus on Palace Road. The programme will be followed by a small cultural event, after which the opening film will be screened at the same venue.

This film, ‘Lucky’, directed by Avie Luthra, a tale about an AIDS-infected orphan from Zulu. The movie explores the delicate balance that exists between the child’s dream to make it big in life, and the harsh reality of what he must face to make this happen. The festival will close with a special tribute to late actor Dev Anand — a screening of his film, ‘Guide’.

A final press conference to discuss the line-up of films for the festival was recently held at the Department of Information, attended by Basavaraju, a patron of the festival; T S Nagabharna,the festival director; H N Narahari Rao, the artistic director of the BIFF; Muddumohan, the executive director of the festival and actress Tara.