If you were one of the delegates at the recently concluded Chennai International Film Festival or just a film lover who is looking forward to catch up with world cinema, there is more to look forward to. This month, there will be a screening of eight films, which were selected for the Chennai International Film Festival, but failed to get slots for screening.
The Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation, which organises the annual Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF), will screen the international films that were held back owing to paucity of venues. “This year, we screened 137 foreign films and 12 Tamil films at the festival. There were just four venues for the nine-day festival. Despite back-to-back screenings, we had to retain a bunch of films,” explains E.Thangaraj, Secretary of the Foundation.
The eight films, mostly European, have earned accolades in many international film festivals. Films including ‘October' from Peru, ‘Seventy-Two Days' from Croatia and ‘Motel Nana' from Serbia will be part of the screening. The four-day event, christened ‘Festival of Festival Films' might also feature ‘repeat screenings' of the most-acclaimed films such as ‘Tree' (Australia) following popular demand.
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“As a lot of films were screened simultaneously at different venues during CIFF, many delegates requested us to screen the popular films again. We might slot in such movies during the ‘Festival of Festival Films',” Mr.Thangaraj said. Being organised for the third year in succession, the four-day event has received encouraging responses, especially from the student fraternity.
The ‘Festival of Festival Films' will be held at the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce theatre from January 24. Preceding the event will be a three-day Italian festival, starting January 19, which will feature nine short films and three feature films. Russian and French film festivals are lined up for February.