BHUBANESWAR: The 9th edition of Indian Film Festival Bhubaneswar (IFFB) commenced here on Wednesday with the screening of Vijay Jayapal’s 2016 Tamil movie ‘Revelations’, Bauddhayan Mukherji’s ‘The Violin Player’, Ananya Kasaravalli’s ‘Harikatha Prasanga’.
A panel discussion on the evolution of parallel cinema and its current situation was also held.
Filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli and his daughter Ananya joined Gopi Krishna, the moderator of International Film Festival Kerala and visual artist Babu Iswar Prasad for the conversation, moderated by independent filmmaker, Amartya Bhattacharya.
Inadequate opportunities to exhibit alternative cinema bothered the speakers. “Earlier, it was a big deal if a movie crossed the 100 or 200 days mark at the theatres. Today the scene has changed. What matters is how many theatres are running the film. Most of the time commercial ones occupy the theatres leaving little for alternative cinema,” Girish said. More than 36 films will be screened during the week-long festival, which concludes on February 20.