The 17th edition Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) will take place from January 10 to 17. The theme of this festival would be ‘In Search of Truth’, to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Based on the theme two critically acclaimed films — ‘The Making of Mahatma’ (1996) (directed by Shyam Benegal) and ‘Gandhi’ (1982) (by Richard Attenborough) would also be screened during the festival.
Indian director and screenwriter Shyam Benegal and Indian actress Rohini Hattangadi, who played Kasturba in ‘Gandhi’ would share their experiences while working on the films.
According to the organizers, the festival would open with a Spanish film ‘Damn Kids’ and feature 150 movies from over 114 countries.
Seven Marathi films ‘Mulshi Pattern’ (by Pravin Tarde), ‘Naal’ (Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti), ‘Khatla Bitla’ (Paresh Mokashi), ‘Bhonga’ (Shivaji Lotan Patil), ‘Chumbak’ (Sandeep Modi), ‘Bodhi’ (Vinit Chandrasekharan) and ‘Dithee’ (Sumitra Bhave) have been shortlisted to compete for the Sant Tukaram Best Marathi Film Award.
Popular works of director Mehboob Khan, viz, ‘Amar’ (1954), ‘Andaz’ (1949) and ‘Mother India’ (1957) Italian master Bernardo Bertolucci, like ‘The Last Emperor’ (1987), ‘Little Buddha’ (1993) and ‘Last Tango’ in Paris (1972) will also be shown during the festival.
On Friday, PIFF Director Jabbar Patel, Secretary Ravi Gupta, and others addressed the press conference. selection committee members Satish Alekar, Abhijeet Randive, Pune Film Foundation Trustee Sabina Sanghavi, National Film Archive of India Director Prakash Magdum were also present at the conference.
PIFF will also pay tribute to the artists who passed away last year, and their movies will be screened. Sridevi’s ‘English Vinglish’, Kalpana Lajmi’s ‘Rudaali’, Japanese Screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto’s ‘To Live’ and Mrinal Sen’s ‘Bhuvan Shome’ will be showcased at the fest.
Jabbar Patel said, “This year, a lot of activities for aspiring writers, producers, directors, costume designers, like workshops, seminars, panel discussions, networking sessions, exhibition stalls etc. will be organized. The main intention of the PIFF Forum is to educate those interested in filmmaking,”
He also added that The annual Vijay Tendulkar Memorial Lecture would be delivered by famous screenwriter Kamlesh Pandey.