Asian film festival opens in Pune

TNN / Nov 2, 2007, 03:15 IST

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Taking ahead the initiative to bring Asian cinema in focus, the 5th Asian Film Festival was inaugurated by director Madhur Bhandarkar at City Pride in Kothrud on Thursday.

PUNE: Taking ahead the initiative to bring Asian cinema in focus, the 5th Asian Film Festival was inaugurated by director Madhur Bhandarkar at City Pride in Kothrud on Thursday.
The eight-day festival, jointly organised by Aashay Film Club and Indira School of Communication, in association with the Asian Film Foundation, Mumbai, will feature over 70 films from 16 different countries. 'Poet of the Wastes', directed by Iranian filmmaker Mohammed Ahmadi, led the show.
Asian Film Foundation president Kiran V. Shantaram, actor and convenor of the festival Mohan Agashe, actor Ashvini Bhave, Indira School of Communication director Pradeep Dixit and festival directors Virendra Chitrav and Satish Jakatdar were present during the inauguration ceremony.
Celebrated director Yash Chopra, who was scheduled to be present at the festival to receive the Zenita Asia Award, could not attend the function owing to ill-health, but has promised to come to Pune to take the award before the festival ends on November 8.

"It is certainly an honour to inaugurate the festival, and I am here because I have a special attachment to Asian films. Also, my films are appreciated by the public here," said Bhandarkar.
Shantaram said that while such festivals were a means to promote Asian cinema, which is emerging in a big way, the government needs to support such festivals.
"We have been holding the festival in Mumbai for the last six years and in Pune for five years. Though we have been running the show ourselves, it is time the government came forward with a helping hand. Otherwise, such festivals could move out of Maharashtra in the years to come," he added.

Festival convenor Mohan Agashe remarked that Asian films are being noticed internationally and there are many emerging directors because of the boom in the visual media. "Pune is turning a hub for films and film lovers," he said.
The highlights of the festival this year include a focus on Chinese cinema with as many as seven Chinese films to be screened. There will be a special section of Japanese films dedicated to ace Japanese film maker Akira Kurosava and a homage section to filmmaker, the late Ingmar Bergman. The closing film this year will be 'Valu', directed by Umesh Kulkarni.
The films will be screened at City Pride Kothrud (screen 1 and 4) and at the National Film Archive of India auditorium on Law college road.

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