The ninth edition of the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes), which kicks off on February 2, provides a platform for the eight-decade old Kannada film industry to showcase its landmark works.
Pawan Kumar’s U-Turn is one of the 14 films competing in the Asian category. Ananya Kasaravalli’s directorial debut, Harikatha Prasanga , has been selected for Indian category.
Suman D. Kittur’s Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu , based on Poornachandra Tejaswi’s work is one of the 23 films being screened in Women Filmmakers category.
U-Turn , which is inspired by the flyover on Double Road, lived up to the promise of Pawan’s debut film, Lucia .
Harikatha Prasanga, has done the festival circuit including the Busan International Film Festival. The 105-minutes film traces the journey of a Yakshagana artist, Harishchandra.
While he is a success playing a woman, Hari wonders if he is playing a woman on stage or a man in real life. Based on a short story by Gopalakrishna Pai, Shrunga Vasudava and Champa Shetty play the lead roles.
Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu tells about a group of rural women from Kiragooru, who take on the men of the village. The film celebrates the indomitable spirit of women.
Four films of veteran actor Harini will be screened at the festival in retrospective section.
Harini acted in over 29 films from 1951 to 1970 including the landmark Jaganmohini and Nandi . Harini, played the heroine, vamp and comedienne.
She claims to be the first actor in Kannada cinema to wear a swimsuit in Jaganmohini . Nandi , directed by N. Lakshminarayan, is the first Kannada film to be shown at an international film festival. Harini played the role of deaf-mute wife of Rajkumar in the film.
Besides Harini, films produced by Dr. K.A. Ashok Pai, L. Hari Khode, will also be screened in homage section
Landmark films of three iconic personalities — G.V. Iyer, Kemparaj Urs and B.S. Ranga will be screened at the festival. It is centenary of all the three film makers.
Actor, director and producer Kemparaj Urs (1917-1982), has made 11 films including Navakoti Narayana , Jeevana Nataka and Shiva Parvathi while B.S. Ranga produced over 45 films in Kannada, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil languages. He is credited with having directed and produced the first Kannada film in colour Amarashilpi Jakanachari in 1967. He started his own studio and film laboratory and distribution agency, besides a film production company.
G.V. Iyer is name to reckon with in Kannada film industry. His roster of films include Bhoodana , Hamsageethe , Adi Shankaracharya (Sanskrit), Madhwacharya (Kannada) and Ramanujacharya (Tamil). He was one of the protagonists of the anti-dubbing movement and part of cooperative film making experiment in Kannada.
There is a new award category for best popular film in Kannada.
This festival intends to create a co-production market to increase production of quality Kannada films with international producers.
There will be a panel discussion on the journey of the Kannada film industry, which will be attended by representatives of every section of Kannada cinema.
