Three Kannada films win Biffes awards

BANGALORE: Jury members of the sixth edition of Bangalore International Film Festival (Biffes) on Wednesday admitted they had had an enviable task selecting award winners in the Kannada cinema competition section.
Expressing concern over deteriorating quality of Kannada films, Madhu Eravankara, who headed the jury in the section, said: "We could select three good films out of 10 in the competition as they were up to the mark.If we had to select one more, it would have been difficult."
Munsif (directed by Umashankar Swamy) and Tallana (N Sudarshan) were adjudged first and second best films respectively while Edegarike (Sumana Kittur) was chosen for the special jury award.
"Munsif had a good narration, upholding human values. Tallana's simple treatment and the director's universal value of love and compassion have come out very well. Edegarike is about the mafia where the main character remains non-violent. These films can go to any film festival and get an award," he said.
Munsif's producer and director will get a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh each, while Tallana and Edegarike will fetch their producers and directors Rs 50,000 each.
Meena Karnik, Prakash Reddy, Siladitya Sen, HU Vaidyanath and MB Babu were also jury members for the Kannada section.
Epilogue (Hayuta Ve Berl), an Israeli film directed by Amir Manor and produced by Assaf Amir, won the Netpack Award in the Asian cinema competition section. The film is a touching tale of an octogenarian couple struggling with their disconnect with modern life in Israel.
Speaking about the film, Rajesh Gongaju, who headed the jury, said, "It was a difficult choice to make. But Epilogue won the award unanimously for its precise storytelling.''
In the Indian cinema competition (Chitrabharathi) section, the best film award has gone to Ko: Yad (A silent Way), an Assamese film directed by Manju Borah. S K Bhagawan, who headed the jury, said the 10 films which were in the competition were extremely good. It was very difficult to pick one as best. However, the unanimous choice was Ko: Yad which is a family film.
Astu (So Be It), a Marathi film directed by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar, and produced by Mohan Agashe, was awarded special jury award in the same section. The awards will be presented on Thursday.