Kannada actor Yash and multilingual actor Jayaprada will be the chief guests at the inauguration of the 12th edition of Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) on Wednesday.
Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa will preside over the event and inaugurate the festival. Film producer Boney Kapoor and singer Sonu Nigam will also be among the guests at the event, which will be held at Sri Kanteerava Indoor Stadium.
Both the opening and closing films of this edition revolve around film-making. The festival will open with the Iranian film Cinema Donkey (Cinema Khar), written and directed by Shahed Ahmadlou, which is about the making of a film with a donkey. Golden Voices, an Israeli film directed by Evgeny Ruman that tells the tale of two Russian film dubbing artistes who migrate to Israel after the fall of the Soviet Union, will be the closing film.
The festival will screen 225 films from 60 countries, mainly at Orion Mall, Rajajinagar, from February 27 to March 4. Select films will also be screened at Navrang theatre at Rajajinagar, Suchitra Film Society at Banashankari, and Karnataka Chalanachitra Kalavidara Sangha, Chamarajpet. Films from Germany, the Philippines, and Australia, and those that portray traditional Indian music will be the focus of the festival. A retrospective of multilingual actor Anant Nag and Russian auteur Andrei Tarkovsky will also be held.
Governor Vajubhai R. Vala will give away awards to winners in the Kannada, Kannada Popular Entertainment, Indian, and Asian competition sections, at the Vidhana Soudha on March 4.
