Mangaluru’s third edition of the Nitte International Film Festival, hosted by the Nitte University, will be held for four days from April 8 to 11 this year.
The festival has curated a total of 75 films in different languages including Hindi, Tulu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Portuguese and French this year and will see about 40 filmmakers from across the country in attendance.
Speaking to TNM, Professor Raviraj Kini, festival coordinator, says, “Very few films find a release in Mangaluru. The festival was a students' initiative to bring good cinema here, to encourage more people to watch good films. We have done two very successful editions so far.”
The line-up this year includes award-winning films like Ee Ma Yau (Malayalam), Kaala (Tamil), Paddayi (Tulu), October (Hindi), Tumbbad (Hindi), Redu (Marathi), Dithee (Marathi), Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shale-Kasargod (Kannada), Abyakto (Bengali). While the festival’s first screening will be that of acclaimed Kannada director P Sheshadri’s Mookajjiya Kanasugalu, its closing film will be the latest Malayalam film Kumbalangi Nights. The festival will also have interactive sessions with filmmakers after the screening of their film.
Professor Raviraj tells us that during the previous two editions, they’ve had more than 10,000 people coming in. “You can clearly see there’s a good interest among people to watch good films. We wanted a platform that encourages art and films even if for a few days. The first year when we played Angamaly Diaries, it was our closing film for that edition, there were about 1500 people queuing up outside the venue at 6.00 pm for a 10.00 pm show. Unfortunately, we had to turn a lot of them away due to lack of space,” he chuckles.
The festival will also have panel discussions with prominent film critics and directors. April 8 will see two interesting sessions with film critics Baradwaj Rangan and Manu Chakravarthy.
There’s a panel discussion planned for April 9 with Baradwaj Rangan, Sowmya Rajendran and Roshan Nair moderated by filmmaker Aijaz Khan. On the final day, April 11, Manu Chakravarthy will be in conversation with Marathi filmmaker Sumitra Bhave soon after the screening of his latest film, Dithee.
Film personalities such as Rishab Shetty, Vaidehi, Veena Bakshi, Abhaya Simha, Anjali Patil, Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan, Sanchari Vijay, Aijaz Khan and Priya Krishnaswamy have also been invited for the festival.
All films and sessions are free and open for all with admissions on a first come, first serve basis. Screenings have been organised at Bharath Cinemas in Bharath Mall, Mangaluru. For more details on schedule, check out their Facebook page here.