Biffes treat in store for Mysuru's cinema buffs

140 select films to be screened in city from February 3

Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy Chairman S V Rajendra Singh Babu said that as part of the 9th Bengaluru International Film Festival (Biffes), select movies will be showed on four screens in the city from February 3, a day after the film fest was launched.

He told reporters here on Wednesday that the closing ceremony and award distribution would be held on the Mysuru Palace premises on February 9. The festival was being extended to Mysuru for second time in a row.

“Governor Vajubhai R Vala will present the awards to the winners of competitions under various sections. Regular screenings for delegates, four screens at INOX Cinemas and in Mall of Mysuru will screen five shows a day from Feb 3. The screenings will be held on 11 screens at PVR Cinemas and Orion Mall in Rajaji Nagar, Bengaluru. Nearly 180 films from 55 countries will be screened in Bengaluru while the select 140 of them will be showed in Mysuru,” he said.

“The competitions will be held in five sections, including Indian, Kannada, Kannada popular entertainment. As many as 12 films in each section have been shortlisted after reviewing the entries. This year the focus will be on Luxembourg, Egypt and Vietnam.

Under retrospective, Zoltan Fabri, director from Hungary, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Bangla (India) and Harini (Kannada actor) will be in focus. A homage will be paid to J Jayalalithaa, M Balamuralikrishna, Om Puri, Dr Ashok Pai, actor Kashi, Andrzej Wajda (Poland), Abbas Kiarostami (Iran), Paul Cox (Australia) Jacques Rivette and Raoul Cottard (France). Centenary tributes will be paid to producer B S Ranga, filmmakers G V Iyer and Kemparaj Urs and writer M K Indira,” Babu said.

To mark the 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar, a film starring Mammootty and directed by Jabbar Patel will be exhibited. Under ‘Unsung Incredible India’ section, films made in dialects of Tulu, Kodava, Banjara from Karnataka, Khasi, Wancho, Dogri, Chakma and Rajbanshi, among others from Northeast will also be showcased. Special thematic sections include ‘Cult Comedies’ from France and ‘Women Power’, a bouquet of films by 25 women directors from across the world.  The documentary films section, which was started last year is being curated by cinematographer G S Bhaskar and documentary filmmaker Vinod Raja. They will bring together a retrospective of American cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Haskell Wexler who passed away last year.
There will be a special section on biographical films, generally referred to as ‘biopics’, which include documentaries made on filmmakers, writers, artists, musicians, among others. It includes films on artist Van Gogh, filmmaker Fritz Lang, poet Pablo Neruda and Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi. Workshops, seminars and master classes will be held and efforts are being made to provide a platform for delegates in Mysuru to interact via webcasting from Bengaluru.

Registration for delegates commenced from the first week of January at the Information Department Office in Mysuru. The fee is Rs 600 for general public while it is Rs 300 for students, film society members, senior citizens and KFCC members. Online registration is also available. Last year, 800 delegates had registered in Mysuru and this year it may go up to 1,000, Babu said.

Information and Public Relations Director N R Vishukumar, Deputy Commissioner D Randeep, festival creative director Vidyashankara and academy secretary H B Dinesh were also present.