Bhubaneswar: The 9th Indian Film Festival Bhubaneswar organised by the Film Society of Bhubaneswar entered its third day on Friday. So far, the festival has screened some good regional movies and also has conducted workshops and panel discussions. The commencement of the third day began with the screening of Kannada movie ‘Thithi’ (2016) by Raam Reddy. It is a dramatic comedy about how three consecutive generations react to the death of the oldest in their clan. The movie is set in a remote village in South India, where three storylines intertwine. This movie was screened at Locarno Film Festival, National Film Awards and Marrakech Film Festival (MIFF). The second movie was ‘Village Rockstars’ (2017), an serene Assamese movie by Rima Das – where a young girl of Northeast Indian village wants to start her own rock band, only to be hit hard with the cruel reality of life which is metaphori¬cally revealed through the forces of nature. The movie was also screened at Toronto International Film Festival, MIFF and International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). The third movie was ‘Masaan’ by Neeraj Ghaywan – where two stories – one involving a father-daughter tormented by the orthodox architecture of a small-town, another following the musings of a young couple from different castes, meander along the shores of the Ganges in Benaras, as the river of life touches them in different ways, destined to coalesce at the Sangam Allahabad. Fourth in line was ‘Chauthi Koot’ or The Fourth Direction (2016), a Punjabi movie whose plot synthesises two different stories set in a post-Op¬eration Blue Star Punjab. The first story is about a militant diktat in Punjab that prohibited family-owned dogs from barking, and the other is about two Hindu friends travelling to Amritsar in a nearly empty train. This film won Un Certain Regard Award in Cannes Film Festival, 2015. The final movie of the day was Manu’s Malayali movie ‘Munroe Island’ (2014) or Mundrothuruth. This movie portrays troubled relationship amongst three generations – grandfather, father and son. It was also screened at IFFK.
A panel discussion was conducted on ‘Role of literature in cinema’ moderated by Bijaya Biswal, and the panellists were Manju Bohra, a multiple international and national award winning film director and short story writer. Other panellists were Anu Chaudhury, a leading Indian actress and Satyajit Puhan. The discussion concluded that literature is important to films but it is complex to put those expressions in action. The discussion also touched down on the topic of historical authenticity.
At screen 2 (Zona) two short films were screened. One is Abhishek Parija’s ‘Al-Kabirah’, which is about Imtiaz, a young man burdened with the guilt of a story from his childhood, trying to get rid of the repercussions of his actions. The struggle between his conscience and delusive imagination leads to his confrontation with fate. The other one is ‘Achinha Saba’ by Sankalp Mohanty.
The films lined up for Saturday (Day 4) at screen 1 are ‘Merku Thodarchi Malai’ or Western Ghats (2016) by Lenin Bharati, ‘Kaadu Pookkunna Neram’ or When The Woods Bloom (2016) by Bijukumar Damodaran, ‘Song of the Horned Owl’ (2015) by Manju Borah, the director will be present during the screening and the final movie of the day will be Court (2014) by Chaitanya Tamhane. In the retrospective series a movie by G. Aravindan will be screened, called ‘Kummatty’. Another movie on G. Aravindan by Shaji Karun will also be screened. At Zona (screen 2) a documentary by Shaji N Karun, ‘The Seer Who Walks Alone’ will be shown. A workshop on “Working and making of images” will be conducted by Ramu Aravindan. Followed by repeat screening of ‘Kanchana Seeta’ by G. Aravindan. The day will be conclude with John Abraham’s 1977 release ‘Cheriyachente Kroora Krithyangal’ or The Wicked Deeds of Cheriyachan.
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