BENGALURU: Apart from screening over 200 short films, this year’s Bengaluru International Short Film Festival (BISFF) will include workshops, master classes and panel discussion that cinema buffs can look out for. The screenings of Karnataka, Indian and international short films and the other sessions will be held at three venues simultaneously – Suchitra Film Society, Banashankari, Cobalt in Church Street and Goethe Institute, Indiranagar.
Anand Varadaraj, artistic director of BISFF, says, “We will have a panel discussion on web series. This has become a form of new age short filmmaking. It is also of similar length like a short film and is very adaptable.”
The panellists and speakers are being finalised for the session on VFX, that is visual/ special effects. “We will also have a master class conducted by experts on either cinematography or music. They will use equipment and train the attendees,” he adds. Films of various foreign languages from 50 countries will be screened in Bengaluru at this fest. There will be three prizes for each category of short films too.
There are 15 to 18 films submitted under each category and the jury for each includes local, national and international members, the artistic director tells CE. Carter Pilcher, founder of Britain’s Shorts International, Jukka-Pekka Laakso, director of Tampere film festival (Finland) and TS Nagabharana, Kannada director, will judge the international submissions. Indian short films will be judged by Vijaya, journalist, Srinivasa Santhanam, chief programmer for Mumbai Film Festival and Diego Faraone, an Uruguayan film critic.
Karnataka-based submissions will be judged by Abhaya Simha, a Kannada film director and screenwriter who won the 65th National Award for the Best Feature Film in Tulu titled Paddayi. He will be accompanied by Ananya Kasaravalli, who has won awards for her short film Wasiyat Nama and Suman Nagarkar who acted in Hoomale.
Short Film Festival
BISFF will take place from August 16 to August 19. Tickets are available at the venue and on the website, biff.in.