BIFFES 2020 day one: Some films go housefull, few see empty seats

Every year, there are films that run houseful at the Bengaluru International Film Festival (Biffes) and then there are those that run with barely anyone inside. Both happened on Day one of Biffes 2020.

Among the films that attracted the most people were the Israeli film 'The Unorthodox' and the Russian film 'Beanpole'. Some other films ran with many seats empty and others occupied by people who could not get seats for the movie that was their first choice.

The films that generally attract the crowd at Biffes are films that do very well at the top European international film festival. And no festival is loved as much as Cannes.

Last year, the movie, 'The Shoplifters', which had won the Palme d'Or (the top prize at Cannes) had so many delegates standing in the queue that it had come to push and shove in front of the theatre.

The Cannes love continued this year with 'Beanpole', which picked up two prizes at Cannes, drawing one of the biggest crowds of the day.

The question of this polarised response to films came up at the press conference held by festival chairman Sunil Puranik and artistic director N Vidyashankar.

Vidyashankar said that there were complaints last year that the festival organisers were recommending some films, which drew viewers to only those films.

"This year, you should make your own notes and go for the film," he said.

He said that for this reason, the festival website does not mention the awards won by the films at the festival.

He said that 'Parasite', the most acclaimed film of the past year, had won 160 awards globally (including this year's Palme d'Or) but that was not mentioned.

"Some of the award winners are screened 3 times, which means paying more money in royalty with every screening," he said.