The much-awaited Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) is here. The 12th edition of the annual affair, where movie buffs of all age groups gather to binge-watch on acclaimed national and international films for an entire week, is set to take place from February 27 to March 4.
A total of 220 films will be screen across four different venues in the city: Orion Mall, Rajajinagar; Dr Raj Bhavan, Chamrajpete; Navarang Theatre, Rajajinagar; and Suchitra Film Society, Banashankari.
Many of the films being screen at the festival will be adjudged under three award categories: Chitrabharati (Indian Cinema) Competition, Kannada Cinema Competition and Asian Cinema Competition.
Incidentally, the Kannada Cinema Competition segment was embroiled in a controversy, as director Roopa Rao’s critically acclaimed film Gantumoote was excluded from the final list of films under this section. Instead, the organisers offered to screen the film in a specially-created consolation section or a non-competition section called 'Women filmmakers of Karnataka'.
Films selected for the Kannada Cinema Competition includes Bell Bottom by Jayathirtha BV, Kavaludaari by Hemanth Murali Rao, and Mundina Nildana by Vinay Bharadwaj. Mundina Nildana was also nominated in the Asian Films competition.
Films included in the Asian Films competition segment are The Innocence by Md Ashraful Alam from Bangladesh, The Golden Throne by Rustem Abdrashev from Kazakhstan and Jesusa by Ronaldo C Carballo from the Philippines.
The films included in the Indian Cinema competition are The Dog and His Man by Siddharth Tripathy from Chhattisgarh, Pingara by Preetham R Shetty from Karnataka, and Anandi Gopal by Sameer Sanjay Vidwans from Maharastra.
Some non-competition films are being screened under the Contemporary World Cinema category. This includes And Then We Danced by Levan Akin from Georgia, An Officer And A Spy by Roman Polanski from France, and Beanpole by Kantemir Balagov from Russia, among others.
There are 11 other film categories: Kannada Cinema of Popular Entertainment, Network for Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema (NETPAC) award winners, FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) award winners, Bio-Pics, Country Focus, Retrospectives (Directors, artistes, technicians), Unsung Incredible India – Films from little known languages, Curated section based on Special Theme - Indian Musical Tradition and Cinema, Revisiting Classics, Centenary Tribute and Jury Recommended Screenings
In addition to the movie screening, the film festival will also have various master classes, seminars and workshops where students and filmmaking practitioners will be able to interact with experts on filmmaking and film art appreciation.
For more detailed information on all the films being screened, visit www.biffes.in.