Day 1 at BIFFes: Getting a pass hassle-free, but film scheduling bad, say cinephiles

Bengaluru: Scores of cinephiles turned up at Orion Mall on Sunday to collect their delegate passes for the 16th Bengaluru International Film Festival.

The film buffs expressed mixed feelings about BIFFes this year, with several saying that the scheduling could have been better. However, many said that unlike previous years, the issuing of pass has been less hassle-free compared to previous years.

With 200 films from 60 countries to be screened across eight days, till March 8, over 50 films were screened from various countries, including Bulgaria, Turkey, Spain, Australia and India, on Sunday.

Vivekananda Kodandaraman, a judicious cinephile who has been attending BIFFes for the past 12 years, said that while issuing of passes had become comparatively better, scheduling had deeply disappointed him as some of the must watch films were scheduled at the same time in different screens.

“Even the films are starting on time. There used to be delays in the previous years,” he said.

On Sunday, he watched a Spanish film from Uruguay, Don’t You Let Me Go, by Ana Guevar and Leticia Jorge, a Greece film called Kyuka: Before Summers End by Kostis Charamountanis and a Brazilian film Manas by Mariana Brennand.

With Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar’s remark on the lack of participation of the film fraternity during his inaugural day speech on Saturday creating a buzz among the film community, Kishore Kumar G, actor and ambassador of BIFFes, said that the lack of active participation of celebrities had not stopped cinephiles from registering and watching films at BIFFes.

Over 10,000 registrations have been done so far, with 3,500 delegates and about 6,500 from the film industry and media.

Responding to a question on whether BIFFes has made any influence on taking Kannada cinema beyond pan-Indian sensibilities, Kishore said that cinema was a give-and-take process where the filmmaker produces what the viewer most enjoys.

“Hence, for Kannada cinema to actually go beyond pan-India, we need to create viewers that are more aware of cinema viewing,” he said.

Some cinephiles expressed concerns about the BIFFes committee’s delay in releasing the schedule. The screening schedule was released late Saturday evening.

Anaghaka, a cine buff, suggested that more signboards would help first-timers to navigate better to find the screens.

Ivan DSilva, a member of Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, said that BIFFes should learn from film festivals in other states like Kerala. Emphasising the need for higher participation of youth, he said that cinema viewing as a serious activity would not grow without the participation of youth. In disagreement with the choice of commercial films, Vivekananda added that films like Martin should not have been selected.