Credit: Dh File Photo
The 14th edition of the Oscar-accredited Bengaluru International Short Film Festival (BISFF) will be held between August 8 and 18. Films will be screened online throughout the festival, and at various venues from August 15 to 18.
The festival received 3,213 submissions from 94 countries. Of the entries, 266 films have been chosen to be screened across numerous categories.
A new competitive segment this year is ‘Queer Qorner’. Films focussing on the LGBTQIA+ community were earlier screened in ‘Let’s Include’, a category dedicated to inclusive films. The festival decided to have a separate section because the two topics are different and need dedicated platforms for discussion. ‘Let’s Include’ features films about people who are mentally and physically diverse.
The festival will also showcase Indian animated films in a separate competitive category. “There has been a drastic rise in the number of submissions for animated films from India in the last one year. The films are also of superior quality and that’s why we chose to have a separate segment,” artistic director Anand Varadaraj tells Metrolife. According to Varadaraj, animation is the best section at BISFF this year.
Apart from these two categories, the festival’s competitive segment is divided into international, Indian, Karnataka, ‘Women’s Cinema Collective’ and Animation (international) sections.
A makeup workshop by Ramakrishna Kannarpady will also be held at the festival. Varadaraj says that most short filmmakers ignore makeup. “Most of the viewing is happening on small devices these days. There are a lot of close-up shots. Make-up will improve the quality of production,” he adds.
Sri Crazy Mindz will conduct an editing workshop on ‘How to cut your short as a commercial’. “The workshop will teach participants how to cut their film in a way that it can be presented as a short film,” says Varadaraj.
Shashank Sogal (director of ‘Daredevil Mustafa’), Advaitha Gurumurthy (cinematographer), Kempa Raju (editor), Sana Ravi Kumar (cinematographer), Samyukta Hornad (actor), Gowri Nair (actor) and Pallavi Rao (screenwriter) among others will be on the jury.
This year, BISFF will be held in Suchitra Film Society, Banashankari, Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Indiranagar, Indian Institute of World Culture, Basavanagudi and Srihari Khoday Auditorium, Konankunte.
Passes from Rs 399 onwards. Visit bisff.in for details