Bengaluru film fest may miss December date

The Government is yet to appoint its Artistic Director and set up the secretariat.

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The delay in appointing the Artistic Director and setting up the secretariat is likely to impact the schedule of the eighth edition of Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes), which is usually held in December. The event may be pushed back to January 2016.

Last year, the Artistic Director was appointed in August followed by opening of the secretariat, which meant adequate time to plan the festival. “The government was busy with the BBMP polls. It is yet to approve the draft of the festival, which was sent some days ago,” said S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu, chairperson Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, the nodal agency to organise BIFFes.

The delay in announcing the dates has resulted in Kerala and Tamil Nadu advancing their schedules to December while Pune will hold its festival in January.

It is difficult to organise the festival during Christmas due to technical and logistical reasons. Film labs would be closed in Europe and finding internationally renowned film personalities to attend the event is another challenge, say insiders. Last year’s festival concluded just before Christmas.

The next calendar year for film festivals commences with an event in Berlin in February.

“Holding BIFFes in January will force cine buffs to watch films released in the previous year and deny them an opportunity to watch contemporary films,” said an international film expert. “This will affect the credibility of BIFFes. The international film community will not take it seriously.”

H.N. Narahari Rao, who served as Artistic Director earlier, said there is a need to have a permanent directorate of film festival.

Cannes visit

Hopes were raised about the quality of the 8th BIFFes when a big delegation of officials comprising Nagambika Devi, the then Secretary, Department of Information; N. Vishu Kumar, Director of Information Department; S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu, chairperson of Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, besides Information Minister Roshan Baig attended the recent Cannes Film Festival in France to “understand the importance of international film events”.

But Mr. Baig did not take interest in expediting the process of setting up the BIFFes secretariat while Ms. Devi was transferred soon after her return, said an expert on international films who is closely following BIFFes.