City film festival to focus on contemporary Indian Cinema

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Bhubaneswar: Film Society of Bhubaneswar, in association with Kerala Chalachitra Academy; Goethe Institute, Kolkata; Bangalore International Film Festival; and the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation, Chennai, will host multiple award winning regional movies at the 10th Indian Film Festival of Bhubaneswar (IFFB) at Odissi Research Centre from January 24 to 30.
The focus of this year’s festival is on contemporary Indian cinema. It will have different sections – a retrospective, a selection of Master Indian Film Makers, a jury led student competition section, and focus on contemporary German Cinema.
The films featuring in the festival have been recipients of critical acclaim and honour at both national and international level for their artistic merit and socio-cultural relevance. They engage with and depict in meaningful, thought provoking manner significant contemporary concerns such as social reality, questions of caste and gender inequality, ecology and environment, political and economic change, said FSB secretary Subrat Beura.
He said, “Every year, we have remarkable films made in various Indian languages. They are generally called regional cinema but we think that together they actually give Indian Cinema its own identity. The cinema that we generally get to see in the theatres is only a small part of the bigger picture.
“A film society functions on the premise that cinema is as significant an art form as the much older traditions of literature, theatre, performing and fine arts. But whereas the agenda of making available the best of literature, theatre, performing and fine arts among the various regions of India is served by Central and regional institutions like Sahitya Akademi, Sangeet Natak Akademi or Lalit Kala Akademi, no such formal facilitation happens in the case of cinema.
“In the festival, apart from films, there will be literary sessions on ‘Understanding Gaze and Representation of Female Desire in Cinema’ and ‘Fascinating Fascism: Cinema and Propaganda.’”
The festival will also have a jury led competition section for student films, the winners will be felicitated during the closing ceremony. A section on Indian Masters will have a focus on the works of Ritwik Ghatak, Girish Kasaravalli and Saaji Karun. There will be a retrospective on the noted German film maker Fatih Akin.
The last day of the festival, January 30, Gandhiji’s assassination day, will see a reflection on his life and times with a special screening, a film engaging with Gandhian Values, followed by a conversation with the director. The festival aims to bring to its audience contemporary Indian cinema from across the country, from marginal areas, languages, significant voices in the cinematic medium, Said Bijaya Biswal, Executive Board member of Film Society of Bhubaneswar (FSB).
Among more than 60 films to be screened at the festival are Angamaly Diaries (Malayalam), Ee Ma Yau (Malayalam), Abraham (Bengali), Ami O Manohar (Bengali), Ajji (Marathi), Three and a Half – Teen Aur Aadha (Marathi), 96 (Tamil), Bulbul can sing (Assamese), Haanduk (Assamee). Besides, more than 10 movies created by students from across the country will be presented under the competition category
Noted Malayalam filmmaker Shaji Karun and Assamese filmmaker Bobby Sarma Baruah will grace the opening ceremony along with other dignitaries. The festival will have screenings every day from 10 am till 10 pm, at Odissi Research Centre Auditorium.