Bhubaneswar: The 9th Indian Film Festival of Bhubaneswar (IFFB) organized by Film Society of Bhubaneswar (FSB) kicked off at IDCOL Auditorium on Wednesday. The seven day fesseven-dayan with the screening of ‘Revelations’, a Tamil drama directed by Vijay Jayapal. The movie revolves on marriage and themes like complications, sexuality and guilt associated with it.
Soon after the screening of the 118 minute film, a second movie called ‘The Violin Player,’ was screened, that showcases the struggle of a failed violinist and startling truths about music, art, life and survival. The first day showcased ‘Chidambaram’, a Malayalam movie directed by G.Aravindan and ‘Gaali Beeja’(Wind Seed), a Kannada movie directed by Babu Eshwar Prashad.
Acclaimed film-maker from Karnataka, Girish Kasaravalli known for Ghatashraddha (1977) was the Chief Guest at the festival. Kasaravalli, recipient of the Padma Shree (2011), has also been awarded with 14 National Film Awards. The father-daughter duo, Girish and Ananya Kassaravalli had an interactive session which was moderated by Amartya Bhattacharya, an independent film-maker and FSB organizing committee member.
“In India lot of prestigious International film festivals are organised. But we have restricted this festival to Indian cinema only. We have chosen movies and short films those made a mark in last few years,” said Swastik Choudhury, one of the organisers.
The festival will showcase acclaimed films like Masaan, Marathi movie Court, Kannada movie Tithi, Assamese movie Village Rockstar to name a few. Few Odia films like Sabyasachi Mohapatra’s ‘Pahadara Luha’, Amartya Bhattacharjee’s ‘Capital-I’ and Odia film maker Lipika Darai Singh’s award winning film ‘The Waterfall’ and ‘Some Stories Around Witches’ will also be shown during the festival.