BENGALURU: Christmas has always been a celebration of wholesome festivities. The celebratory events don’t just deal with the more traditional aspects of the holiday, but has taken a huge space in the cultural landscape as well: from Christmas films, plays to music albums. With the big day right around the corner, Bengaluru is gearing up for the celebration in the cinematic space. From public screenings to private viewing, the city has ample opportunities for its cinephiles to enjoy the occasion.
Sunset Cinema Club, which started operating in Bengaluru from 2018, has already scheduled screenings of Christmas-centred films across the city. “We will be screening two films at The Courtyard on the same day (December 25). The films are Home Alone (1990) and The Holiday (2006). Other than that, we will be screening Serendipity (2001) and Love Actually (2003),” shares Nikhil J Menon, city manager (Bengaluru) of Sunset Cinema Club, about the films that will be screened at Hightide Restobar, Bannerghatta Road.
While Sunset Cinema Club will be screening some iconic films from the last three decades, the Bangalore Film Forum (BFF), located in Jayanagar, prefers a touch from the golden age of Hollywood. They are looking forward to the screening of It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), which is loosely based on Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella titled A Christmas Carol. “We usually focus on films that have slipped from the radar of the mainstream. We focus on foreign films and classic films from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, films people are not used to watching anymore. For Christmas this year, we decided to screen It’s a Wonderful Life by Frank Capra on December 24 at 6pm in our space. We decided to do it on Christmas Eve as the events of the film happen during that day,” says Vinayak Bhat, founder of BFF.
Adding to the buzz, Sahithya Sreenath, co-founder of the Binge Club in HSR Layout, notices that the demand for Christmas films have increased in recent days. “The Binge Club doesn’t organise screenings of films, we leave that to the audience. Instead, we focus on orchestrating a heightened cinematic experience for them, so they can watch the movie of their choice like they would in a high-quality theatre. We have the technology to provide that experience, which includes a 135 inch screen with a full HD projector. As the audience usually picks the film, we have noticed that recently, many of the classic Christmas films have been added to the mix,” says Sreenath.
Outside of the silver screen, the holiday season has left its mark on the theatre world as well, especially children’s theatre. “We did a puppet show for Christmas last week that was entirely ideated and executed by children (aged 10 years and above). We had to do it early as none of the children will be there during the winter vacation. They were from the six month long theatre workshop that we do. At the end of the course, they created an original story about Christmas, made their own puppets and performed,” concludes Arjun Kabbina, artistic director of the Bangalore Theatre Company.