BIFFes announces lineup; delegate registration open

A retrospective of Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski, Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal and German filmmaker Wim Wenders, one of the highlights of the festival

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru International Film Festival on Wednesday announced its lineup, masterclass and workshops for the 16th edition. The festival will be held between March 1 and 8. Artistic director N Vidyashankar, B B Cauvery (Secretary of the government, Dept of Information and Public Relations), Sadhu Kokila (Chairperson of the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy), Hemant M Nimbalkar (Commissioner Dept of Information and Public Relations) and Himantharaju G (Registrar, Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy) were present at the press conference. 

The festival will screen close to 200 films from 60 countries in various categories like Contemporary World Cinema, Critics’ Week, Bio-Pics, Retrospective and Centenary Tributes among others. 

“We were able to keep the entries open for only 15 days and we received over 400 film submissions for the competition sections,” said Vidyashankar. Fourteen films in each of the competition sections — Asian, Indian and Kannada — have been selected by the preview committees. 

The festival is yet to finalise on the jury for the competition but revealed that there will be international members for all the sections including Kannada. “We have appointed an international jury for Kannada competition as well to get a wider reach for Kannada cinema,” he added.

Brazil and Georgia will be the countries in focus this year. 

Sadhu Kokila said that the festival this year plans to screen some films in an open theatre. 

BIFFes this year will introduce short films that are based on the festival’s theme, ‘Universal Peace in Diversity’. “We wanted to have a competition for short films as well but couldn’t accommodate this year, but we will try next year,” Vidyashankar said. 

The Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anora, Un Certain Regard winner Black Dog, Oscar nominated films Emilia Perez, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and I’m Still Here, Venice Film Fest’s Best Debut Film Familiar Touch, Berlin’s Golden Bear nominee Shambala and Cannes opening film The Second Act are among the contemporary films that will be screened at the festival. 

In retrospect

BIFFes will hold retrospectives of the Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski, Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal and German filmmaker Wim Wenders. A Short Film About Killing, The Double Life of Veronique and Three Colours trilogy are among the films by Kieślowski that will be screened. Benegal’s Ankur, Bhumika, Manthan (restored) and Nishant among others, and Wim Wenders’s Alice in the Cities, Paris, Texas, and The American Friend are among the other films that will be shown.

The highlight of this edition is the screening of seven Indian classics in their restored forms — Garm Hava (M S Sathyu, 1973), Ghatashraddha (Girish Kasaravalli, 1977), Kummatty (Aravindan Govindan, 1979), Pallavi (P Lankesh, 1976), Thampu (Aravindan Govindan, 1978), Maya Miriga (Nirad Mahopatra, 1984) and Ishanou (Aribam Syam Sharma, 1990).  

The 16th edition will also celebrate the centenary birth anniversaries of Guru Dutt (Kaagaz Ke Phool), Ritwik Ghatak (Subarnalekha), Raj Kapoor (Awara) and K S Ashwath (Nagarahaavu). 

The festival will pay homage to lauded film personalities who left us last year — Kumar Shahni (Maya Darpan), M T Vasudevan Nair (Nirmalyam), Dwarakeesh (Mayor Muttanna), Guruprasad (Eddelu Manjunatha), Sadananda Suvarna (Ghatashraddha) and Rajeev Taranath (Pallavi). 

A panel with academician and film critic Pankaj Saxena and other speakers will discuss the films of Guru Dutt, Shyam Benegal and Ritwik Ghatak. A session titled ‘Reviving Classic Cinema — Restorations and Remasters in a Digital Age’ will be presented by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur of Film Heritage Foundation. 

Masterclasses and workshops

BIFFes this year has scheduled a full-day seminar on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in film production. The seminar is divided into five sessions which include topics like AI on imagery, AI toolbox and AI on copyright and creativity. 

V K Murthy Annual Memorial Lecture on Cinematography will be presented by cinematographer Ravi Varman. Well-known music director M M Keeravani will present a special lecture on music and cinema. 

A panel will discuss regional cinema and the distribution challenges it faces. Thai film producer Raymond Phathan Virangoon will deliver a lecture on the inner workings of a film lab and film production. Film critics from FIPRESCI will discuss contemporary cinema. 

Films will be screened at PVR, Orion Mall, Rajajinagar. The delegate registration is open and passes are priced at Rs 800. Film society members, film professionals, students and senior citizens will get a 50% discount. Visit biffes.org to register