Veteran film-maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan and film critic and author Aruna Vasudev will be honoured at the second edition of the International Film Festival of Colombo to be held from November 7 to 11.
Asoka Handagama, festival director, told The Hindu that the two would receive a life-time achievement award at the valedictory of the festival. They had been chosen for having put Asian cinema on the international map.
Over 100 films from different countries would be screened at five locations in Colombo and they included works of internationally acclaimed film-makers.
Among the films to be screened were Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa , Adoor’s Elippathayam and Baldvin Zophoniasson’s Vonarstrati (Life in a fishbowl). Films from Iran, France, Serbia, China, Brazil, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Germany and Bangladesh would be among those screened.
This year’s event would have two competitions for feature films, one for Asia and another for Sri Lanka. For the first, 10 films would be shortlisted and for the second, six. The films chosen under the two categories would be announced on the final day of the festival. November 9 would be devoted to short films.
An exhibition on the Sri Lankan film industry would be held.
Mr. Handagama said the festival, organised by the Film Directors’ Guild of Sri Lanka, was being sponsored by the Film Corporation, Ceylon Theatres and the Okinawa International Movie Festival of Japan.
