Curtains Fall Over Third Bengalooru International Film Festival
from Melisha Noronha
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (GA)
Bangalore, Jan 24: The Curtains finally fell marking the end of the 3rd Bengalooru International Film Festival (BIFFES) 2009 held between January 15 – 22, 2009 at four venues across the city of Bangalore.
The Festival organized by Suchitra Film Society in collaboration with the government of Karnataka and the Kannada film industry was inaugurated by chief minister, Dr B S Yeddyurappa and featured 140 films drawn from 35 countries. A brand new American film "Seven Pounds" which is due for commercial release in India only on January 30, 2009 was premiered as the opening film of the festival.
The festival this time had 35 movies in the world cinema category, 27 movies in the retro section, 22 movies with focus on the country, 10 movies in the Chitrabharathi category, 8 tribute movies, 11 movies from word to images and 27 documentaries. While most of the screening was held at Vision Cinemas, the other venues were K H Patil Auditorium, Badami House and Suchitra Auditorium.
Some of the well-known movies screened during the festival were Gulabi Talkies (Kannada), Gubbachigalu (Kannada), Atayalangal (Malayalam), Mahasatta (Marathi), L'Orchestra di Piazza (Italian), The Speed of Light (Italian), My brother’s Summer (Italian), The Early Bird Catches the Worm (Italian), Three Monkeys (Turkish), I Served the King of England (Czech), Gone with the Woman (Norwegian), Second Half (Norwegian) among many others.
The Kannada film industry has witnessed 75 seasons in its 75 years of existence and the same was showcased through a photo exhibition at BIFFES 2009. Compiled by the department of information, government of Karnataka the exhibition was inaugurated amid fanfare by the celebrated cinematographer V K Murthy.
“Chitra Kathe” a book on world cinema was released during the festival and consists of articles giving a perspective on world cinema by A N Prasanna.
The Suchitra Film Society also took a step further to mark the diamond jubilee of the Film Society Movement in the country at the Vision Cinemas venue of 3rd Benglooru International Film Festival. Five veteran film society activists, namely, K S Govindaraj of The Madras Film Society, Chennai, Sadan Chakraborty of Cine Cental, Calcutta, Sudhir Nandgankar of Prabhat Chitra Mandal, Mumbai, Philip of Hyderabad Film Club, Hyderabad and H N Narahari Rao of Suchitra Film Society, Bangalore were honoured on the occasion.
Celebrities like Prakash Rai, Ramesh Aravind, Puneet Rajkumr, B. Sarojadevi, Parvahamma Rajkumar, Nagabharana, Sharmila Mandre participated during the festival.
In the words of Paolo Minuto, secretary, International Federation of Film Societies, Italy “Film festivals are a charter to global audience. Cinema being related to knowledge of worlds & culture is a medium to retain regional languages. Cinema can also be one of the few steps to a peaceful world”.
The 3rd Bengalooru International Film Festival (BIFFES) 2009 drew film lovers from across the country to witness the best of the world of cinema. The event also saw various celebrities of the Kannada Film Industry lend their support to the event. As the saying goes, All is Well That Ends well, BIFFES 2009 was a run-away success which left the audience definitely asking for more.
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