BENGALURU : The 10th edition of Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFES) saw thousands of film enthusiasts pouring in. On Sunday, a press conference was held where directors — P Sheshadri, Puttaswamiah, Mohsen Gharaie and Qiao Liang — spoke about their films with artistic director of BIFFES, N Vidyashankar. Vidyashankar claims that the film festival has been highly patronized. “There are hardly 2,500 seats in the theatres and the passes that have been given out this year, has gone up to around 6,000,” he says.
Such film festivals are needed to retain the culture of watching films. It also helps independent films to find their way to the people via these festivals. With an objective to project these alternative voices and points of views, these festivals serve as a platform to disseminate ideas beyond the local or state boundaries. N Vidyashankar says, “All over the world, there is a discussion that’s happening- that film is dead. Great films are made only when there’s a great audience. Films are dying, but that great audience still exists. And there is a lot of interest to recover the community experience of watching films.”
Director of the film Beti, P Seshadri, also stresses on the importance of screening quality films. “In India, we make around 3,000 films a year, in Kannada alone we make 250 films a year. Quantity-wise, we are good, but what about quality?” Beti, which focuses on gender discrimination and triple talaq, was screened for the first time at BIFFES.“Most multiplexes don’t screen such films, and these festivals only reach a selected audience. I don’t get that kind of support from the government or the public. The government is spending money on these festivals, I request them to also put in efforts to release such films in the mainstream too,” the director adds.
Mohsen Gharaie, director of the Iranian film Blockage, says, “Everywhere, people like lighter, commercial movies as compared to serious movies or movies that have social relevance. In my country, there are not many who make socially relevant movies, I try my best to make movies that are serious or those that have social relevance as opposed to making the mainstream movies.”
Qiao Liang, director of Crested Ibis, has similar concerns. “My movie has only been screened in big cities in China. Most of the audience there didn’t like this film, as the audience likes commercial-hollywood-like films. They even like many Indian films such as Secret Superstar, but my film only few people like. If we win at film festivals, the government supports and encourages our work.”