This year, we have an eccentric package of 160 films that will be screened all across the city, said H N Narahari Rao, the artistic director for 5th BIFFES 2012 and the founder secretary of Suchitra Film Society at a press conference held yesterday.
The festival will be officially inaugurated on December 20 at JnanaJyothi Auditorium by chief guest Jagadhish Shettar, Chief Minister of Karnataka and guest of honour Masahiro Kobayashi, Japanese filmmaker whose latest film Japan’s Tragedy will participate in the Asian section of the festival.
According to Narahari, great care has been taken this year to strategise the structure and format of the film festival which will be organised by Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy for the state government and supported by Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce.
Aside from screening films that will celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema and a photo exhibition; the festival will also display various equipment including lights and camera that were used in the past 78 years in Kannada cinema.
In addition to this, there will also be seminars and classes conducted for students on different aspects of cinema.
“The films will be screened under twelve different sections. A lot of importance has been given to quality this time. There has been a drastic change with respect to technology this year. With digital making waves, we are aiming at making use of high-tech features extensively in the next two years,” said Narahari.
The festival will open with Kauwboy, a Netherland film directed by Bouwdewjin and will end with The Clown (2011), a Brazilian film by Selton Mello.
About 160 films from over 50 countries will be screened at INOX, Garuda, Fame Lido, Priyadarshini, Badami House and Sulochana at Information Department. The major highlight of the festival this year will be the participation of films by filmmakers like Antonioni, Akira Kurosawa, Henri Clouzot.
Films by contemporary celebrities like Aki Kaurismaki, Michael Henneke, Abbas Kirastomi, Lars Von Trier, Kim Ki Duk, Volker Sclondorff and others from all over the world will also be screened.
“Classics like The Idiot, Scandal and other films which have never been screened before will be made available to the public for the first time,” said Narahari.
The special attraction of the festival is the Indian section, with 11 contemporary films in eight Indian languages making an entry.
In addition to this, Max Mueller Bhavan will also organise a Master Class on The Bigger Picture — Structuring Reality in Feature Film Editing which will be conducted by Andrew Bird, a renowned film editor from Germany who has also worked with filmmakers like Fatih Akin and others.
Accentuating on the importance of cultural integrity, Tara, festival director said,”One of the main highlights of the festival is that there will be shows at Freedom Park absolutely free of cost everyday. These events will also have the actor or director of the respective films making an appearance. Apart from Prabhu Deva and Chiranjeevi; Sahukar Janaki, Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, B Sarojadevi and other eminent artistes from the Kannada industry will also attend the festival. Since, we have been getting a lot of inquiries from people, we are also planning to install counters at KSRTC bus stand. The registration for delegates can be done at Badami House, Suchitra Film Society, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce and Information Department.”