Around 160 films will be screened in the 12th edition of Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF), scheduled to begin on December 18.
E. Thangaraj, festival director and general secretary of Indo-Cine Appreciation Foundation (ICAF), said 130 films from 43 countries would be screened over eight days, alongside films under categories such as Indian panorama, Tamil film and retrospective on French cinema.
Among the 11 entries received so far in the Tamil film competition are critically-acclaimed and popular Tamil films such as Jigarthanda , Madhayanai Koottam , Madras and Sadhuranga Vettai .
“We have managed to bring some very good films, including Turkish film Winter Sleep , which won the Palm d’Or, and Australian drama Charlie’s Country , whose lead aboriginal actor David Gulpilil won the Best Actor award in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes this year. We are also featuring films from Ethiopia and Vietnam,” said Mr. Thangaraj.
The film festival will also feature seven films from Iran, a country where filmmakers have to grapple with strict state censorship. “We are trying to bring in films that are not being screened in the Goa and Mumbai film festivals,” said Mr. Thangaraj.
Stating that the organisers weren’t looking to crowd-source the funds required, as was suggested by some during last year’s festival, Mr. Thangaraj said they hoped the government would sanction more funds than last year, to organise this festival.
“The organisers of the Mumbai film festival, where the funds were crowd-sourced, could not account for the total budget. We hope the State government will consider our request for more funds,” he said.
The organisers said Bollywood actor Shabana Azmi had agreed to attend the opening ceremony.
The films will be shown on six screens — at Woodlands complex, Inox theatres, Casino and the Russian Culture Centre — across Chennai.
