Feast on 140 movies at BIFF this year

The Bangalore International Film Festival, scheduled from December 20 to 27, will screen 140 films from across the world, on nine screens in the City.

The Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy and the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, which are jointly organising the event for fifth year in a row, have received Rs two crore from the government. Owing to the prevailing drought situation, the amount is Rs 50 lakh lesser than last year.

Addressing the media on Saturday, Academy chairperson and film actor Tara said the event will be a low key affair because the State was facing drought. Fame Lido and Sulochana at the Vartha Soudha, off Infantry Road, will be among the venues for screening movies from December 20-27.

Inordinate delay

Meanwhile, preparations for hosting the film festival are yet to begin. H N Narahari Rao, the executive director of the festival, admitted that there was an inordinate delay in organising the event.

It was only in September that the government had approved the event. The committee, which has begun work only in the last few days, has been making desperate attempts to contact film makers across the globe to send in their films for screening, he said.

Principal Secretary of the Kannada and Culture department, Basavaraj, assured that all the limitations will be addressed. The core committee, comprising five members including himself, will meet every week to ensure that all aspects are taken into consideration to make the festival a success, he said.

The other members are Tara, Narahari, Executive Director of the Information Department Vishu Kumar and registrar of the Chalanachitra Academy Jagannath Prakash. Five other sub-committees have also been constituted.

Centenary celebrations

Basavaraj said the festival will be organised alongside the centenary celebrations of Indian cinema.

The event will be inaugurated on December 21. As many as 15 niche films, including silent and regional films will be screened to mark the occasion. There will also be a poster and a camera exhibition.

Due to a funds crunch, the organisers have done away with competitions for international films. The competition will be restricted only to Indian films, and an amount of Rs two lakh each has been kept aside to award the director and the producer of the best film.

The festival, being supported by Alliance Francaise and Maxmueller Bhavan, will also host seminars and master classes for students on different aspects of cinema.

The main attraction, however, will be the screening of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s films.