One of the pioneers of new wave films in Kannada, Girish Kasaravalli, was a member of the Organising Committee and Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPACK) jury at BIFFes. A documentary on him, Life in Metaphors-A Portrait of Girish Kasaravalli, directed by O.P. Srivastava, was screened at the festival.
Excerpts from an interview:
Are you satisfied with the selection of films?
Having attended several film festivals in 2015, I have watched most of the good and important films produced in various parts of the world. The quality of films selected here for Indian and Kannada competition sections are equally good. But I am disappointed with the films selected for the Asian Competition Section. I want to clarify that selectors would be helpless if the quality of films produced in a particular year is not good.
Are you satisfied with the role played by the Executive Artistic Director?
N. Vidyashankar did the best he could within just two months. He succeeded in bringing the best film bouquet and created an intellectual content by holding seminars, interactions and master classes. But unfortunately, Mr. Vidyashankar, who was supposed to handle intellectual content, had to take up administrative responsibilities too. This time, he was made Executive Artistic Director. Handling both the responsibilities will have a bearing on the festival.
Will creating a Directorate of Bengaluru International Film Festival help?
It will sort out one part of the problem. The need of the hour is to fix a calendar of events to hold the festival to get needed international recognition. Directorate has to start functioning immediately after completion of one edition. If BIFFes schedules its date for December, it has to start functioning at least from March.
