Bangalore: International Film Festival Inaugurated
Bangalore, Nov 9, (DHNS): The Kannada film industry, at present, is going through two contrast phases - while some of its films are getting national awards and international recognition, the other popular films are not seeing any commercial success, observed B T Jayaramaraje Urs, Secretary, Kannada and Culture Department.
Speaking at the International Film Festival organised by the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy on Monday, he said "There was a time, when we could bank on late veteran actors like Rajkumar and Vishuvardhan by making hero-oriented films, but now we do not have such artistes. Hence, the industry must focus on making meaningful and good cinema that appeals to everyone."
Internationally acclaimed Malayalam filmmaker who recently won the national award for his film 'Kutty Srank' Shaji N Karun defined Karnataka as the “cultural mind of South India.” "Cinema in India determines the mind of every human being that bonds people across the country," he said.
Joy Yen, the Cultural Counsellor of Taiwan Embassy said she was happy to be a part of the cultural exchange and glad to encourage collaboration with the Indian film industry.
The festival opened with a Taiwanese film 'I Can't Live Without You' which won the Golden Peacock at the International Film Festival of India in Goa in 2009. For the first time ever, digital format has been introduced in the festival which will showcase 85 films from all over the world which will be screened not only in Bangalore, but also in Bidar, Dharwad, Mangalore and Shimoga. The festival is jointly organised by the Suchitra Film Society in collaboration with Federation of Film Societies of India.
Must watch movies at Bangalore film fest
Looking for a change from the jatkas-matkas, mother sentiment, action, romantic and brainless comic flicks flooding the theatres near you? Then head to the international film festival that Bangalore is playing host to between November 8 and 15.
The festival is being organised by the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy in association with the Federation of Film Societies of India.
"Of the 110 foreign films that we received, 82 have been selected. Also 12 Indian films will be screened," says president of the Academy Nagabharana. The festival is extended to Bidar, Mangalore, Dharwad and Shimoga as well.
"Only 12-18 films have been repeated across these centres. In each city, only one or two Kannada films will be screened. We have limited the screening of Kannada films as we want to expose Kannadigas to foreign films as well," explains Nagabharana.
The screenings will be conducted in DVD format. Suchitra Film Society, Banashankri; Yavanika, Nrupatunga Road; Seva Sadan (between November 9 and 12) and Samprati (between November 13 and 15), Malleshwaram, are the Bangalore venues. Shows will be held at 11 am, 2 pm, 4.30 pm, 7 pm and 9 pm.
Films from Germany, Romania, France, Israel, Taiwan, Korea, Argentina, Netherlands, Norway, Mexico, South Africa, Iran, America and Czech will be screened.
Among Indian languages, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali and Kannada films will be shown. Miss Leelavathi (Yavanika, November 9, 11 am) and Subba Shastry (Seva Sadan, November 10, 11 am), Vijayanagarada Veeraputra (Bidar), Belli Moda (Mangalore), Kittur Chennama (Dharwad) and Chandavalliya Thota(Shimoga) are the Kannada films that will be screened. Malayalam award-winning film Kutty Srank (Yavanika, November 9, 7 pm) Tamil films Pasanga (Mangalore) and Kanchivaram (Dharwad) and Bengali film Antaheen (Shimoga) are among the selected films.