Coinciding with the diamond jubilee of the formation of Maharashtra, the films to be screened at the 18th edition of the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) will showcase the State’s heritage and cultural values, eminent filmmaker, and PIFF chairman and director, Dr. Jabbar Patel said on Monday.
“As Maharashtra was created on May 1, 1960, and the State will complete its 60th year of existence, we have decided to showcase its heritage in this edition of the PIFF. In a sense, we are kickstarting the State’s diamond jubilee celebration with our film festival as Maharashtra has a strong claim to be called the wellspring of Indian cinema. It is here that several early trailblazers of Indian cinema, including Dadasaheb Phalke, were born,” Dr. Patel said.
The Pune Film Foundation, in association with the State government, will hold the week-long annual film extravaganza from January 9 to 16 next year.
Dr. Patel said the festival will also be a celebration of film education in India, given that the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), too, will mark its diamond jubilee next year. “This is an institute which has contributed so much to the Indian film industry … from top actors to sterling technicians, several major artistes in Indian cinema are alumni of the FTII,” he said.
To honour the institute’s contribution to cinema, the opening and closing sessions of the festival will be held on the FTII premises, with a number of workshops to be conducted in tandem with the film screenings, FTII director Bhupendra Kainthola said.
Speaking on the occasion, Prakash Magdum, director, National Film Archive of India (NFAI), said the country’s premier film preservation vault had played a pivotal role in the education of cinema students and film connoisseurs alike. “As with every year, a number of noted films will be screened at the NFAI as well, especially the retrospective on filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee,” Mr. Magdum said.
This year, the State’s official film festival has received 1900 entries from more than 60 countries.
“Out of this rich corpus of cinema, 191 films will be presented at the festival. As in each edition of PIFF, there will be eager discussions on the films being screened while workshops and exhibitions will be held simultaneously as well,” Dr. Patel said.
A highlight this year is the package of films secured from the U.K. through the British Council, some of which have been nominated for the ‘British Oscars’ — the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards.
“The BAFTA Shorts, 2019, collection represents storytelling that reveals the breadth and diversity of British society, together with world-class artistic and technical flair, and featuring some of the U.K.’s finest acting talents,” said Abhijeet Randive, PIFF selection committee member.
This year, the festival will have retrospective sections on director, editor and writer Hrishikesh Mukherjee as well as legendary Italian auteur Federico Fellini, director of such masterpieces as La Strada (1954), La Dolce Vita (1960) and Amarcord (1973).
In addition, there will be several film sections at the festival, including ‘world competition’, ‘Marathi competition’ and ‘Tribal Research and Training Institute short film competition.’
