The 11th edition of Bengaluru International Film Festival (Biffes), came to an end on Thursday after screening over 225 films from 60 countries in a week.
The organisers say that the response was ‘overwhelming’ for at least 400 screenings with film buffs standing in serpentine queues to gain entry. According to N Vidyashankar, Artistic Director of Biffes, over one lakh fans watched films, with many averaging up to three films a day.
Film personalities from across the globe, including renowned Polish film-maker Krzysztof Zanussi, Australian script adviser Claire Dobbin, director of Melbourne International Film Festival Mark Wood, German film-maker Michael Maurissens, Polish film-maker Jubga Debska, and film critic Kaj Van Zoelen from Netherlands, participated in the week-long film carnival. The master classes were a big draw.
Although the absence of Kannada commercial film-makers stood out, many art house film-makers were at the venue. These includes Girish Kasaravalli, P. Sheshadri, Umashankaraswamy, Dayal Padmanabhan, N. S. Shankar, Mansore, Eshwar Prasad, Prakash Babu, cinematographer and director Krishna, cinematographer Bhuvan Gowda, Shashikumar.
