Film buffs in the city are upset over the non-selection of several Kannada films at BIFFes that have been doing the rounds of international film festival circuits across the world in the past year, and have been critically acclaimed, especially Natesh Hegde’s directorial debut “Pedro”.
The non-selection of Pedro, which premiered and competed at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival and has won multiple awards for the director at other festivals, has turned controversial. Amidst reports that the film was not selected for “political reasons”, when The Hindu asked Sunil Puranik, President, Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, the organiser of BIFFes as to why the film was not selected he said: “I don’t understand why there is such a controversy over one film. The said film has also not been selected for the Indian Panorama. It handles a religiously sensitive topic”. The film has the protagonist Pedro accidentally shooting a cow, which alienates him from other villagers, as one of its subplots.
Natesh Hegde, the 26-year-old filmmaker of Pedro, said the organisers of the Festival ought not to “police” contents of the films screened at the Festival. “The Festival organisers cannot dictate what issues filmmakers can or cannot handle in their films. This is not just an injustice to the film but also to the audience, who are keen to watch the film,” he said.
Not just Pedro. Through 2021, six Kannada films drew wide acclaim across festivals - Pedro, Koli Taal, Pinki Elli?, Amrutamati, Neeli Hakki and Daari Yavudayya Vaikunthake?. Of them, only two - Pinki Elli? and Daari Yavudayya Vaikunthake - will be screened at BIFFes this year. While sources said Koli Taal makers opted to screen their film at the Mumbai festival instead of BIFFes, filmmakers of other films are in the dark as to why their films have not been selected despite winning several awards at other international forums.
Film buff Balu V. L, a regular at BIFFes, said while none of the six films either had a theatrical release or on an OTT platform, he has been waiting for over a year now to catch these films at the Festival, only to see most of them are not even selected. “We don’t understand what is the criteria for the selection of films at BIFFes. Most of these films have been critically acclaimed in international forums, but are not good enough for the home festival, it seems. On one hand it is discouraging to Kannada film makers and as an audience, I feel cheated for being denied access to good Kannada films,” he said.
