Int’l film fest to bring best of cinema to city

Chandigarh: Cinevesture International Film Festival (CIFF), to be held in Chandigarh from March 27-31, will open with the Cannes winner French film ‘The Taste of Things’ (India Premiere) starring Juliette Binoche and close with South Korea’s highest-grossing horror film Exhuma (Pamyo), which premiered at 2024 Berlinale.Internationally acclaimed films like the Holocaust drama, The Zone of Interest; Palme d'Or Winner and Academy nominee Hirokazu Kore-eda's Monster; 2023 Academy Award-winner ‘The Whale’ starring Brendan Fraser; a gripping documentary which won at Berlinale ‘Seven Winters in Tehran’; Singapore's Oscar entry ‘Breaking Ice’ and the Roshan Mathew-starrer ‘Paradise’ will be screened at the fest.It will also showcase award-winning Indian feature films and documentaries such as Toronto International Film Festival winner Marathi film Sthal, Venice Film Festival film Stolen, Rima Das’ Assamese film Tora’s Husband, auteur filmmaker Gurvinder Singh’s Punjabi feature Adh Chanani Raat, Harjit Singh’s documentary on the late Punjabi painter and writer Imroz, Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Malayalam film Malaikottai Vaaliban, Sreemoyee Singh’s documentary, And, Towards Happy Alleys, an ode to Iranian cinema and poetry featuring Jafar Panahi, Varun Grover’s short Kiss and the Riz Ahmed starrer short Dammi.A host of stars, including Richa Chadha, Ali Fazal, Roshan Mathew, Gulshan Devaiah, Varun Grover, Rasika Duggal, Rashmeet Kaur (singer), Hansal Mehta, Shekhar Kapur, Sudhir Mishra, and Tahira Kashyap Khurrana, will be attending the festival. Apart from the 3 theatres in Cinepolis Jagat, CIFF is setting up a 60 foot-wide cinema screen in the central square of Government Museum & Arts Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh.Besides the opening and closing films, the venue will host the classics Jalsaghar (Satyajit’s Ray’s 1958 musical), Guru Dutt’s Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) and The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (2020), a recut of the original Godfather 3 by Francis Ford Coppola to mark the 30th anniversary of the film. An experiential cinema exhibition to celebrate the works of centenarians Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand in the Rose Garden underpass. Screenings of children’s films are open to all children from the ages of 10-17 at 9am from March 27-31 at Cinepolis Jagat.Actor Rana Daggubati, film-maker Ajitpal Singh on advisory board The festival advisory board includes names such as Bahubali star and leading film producer, Rana Daggubati, former head of Cannes Film Market Jerome Paillard, former co-director of Sundance Film Festival Nicole Guillemet, the celebrated Indian film-maker Ajitpal Singh (Fire in the Mountains and TABBAR) among others. The festival is being organised by Cinevesture Pvt Ltd and is supported by the Government Museum & Art Gallery, Chandigarh, department of tourism Chandigarh, and Chandigarh administration.