152 films from 45 countries to participate in sixth BIFFES

Bangalore: The eight-day sixth Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFES), being held in the city from December 26, will see participation of 152 films from 45 countries. The event is being organised and conducted by Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, on behalf of Government of Karnataka in association with the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce. Organisers said "we have a collection of films that have won awards at major international film festival such as Berlin, Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Moscow, Venice and Toronto." There would be separate competition section for Asian, Indian and Kannada cinema with cash prize. Speaking at the BIFFES logo launch ceremony Chief Minister Siddaramaih said "Karnataka government has given Rs 2 crore for the film festival, we are ready to give more money if required. Veteran film actor Kamal Haasan will be attending the inaugural function of the event where films made by renowned filmmakers such as Andrzej Wajda, Asghar Farhadi, Istvan Szabo, Francois Ozon, Susan Blier, Goran Paskaljevic, Mike Leigh, Claire Denis and Thomas Vinterberg are to be screened. "This years main highlight is the presentation of a bunch of highly-acclaimed Asian films from China, Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan, Phillippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia," they said. Fourteen of the films selected had been entries for the 86th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film (Oscar)