About 140 films from 45 to 50 countries would be screened at this year’s Bangalore International Film Festival (BIFFES),which got off to an 
exuberant start on Thursday, with hundreds of cine buffs thronging the venue for inaugural event Kamal Hassan was the cynosure of all.
The movies for the fifth edition would be picked by an expert committee.
Compared to the previous edition when 175 films were screened, the coming event would be on a lesser scale owing to reduced budgetary provision consequent to the severe drought in certain parts of the state, Chairperson of the Karnataka Chalachitra Academy, Tara Anuradha, told reporters here today.
BIFFES is being organised by the Academy for Karnataka government and is supported by the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce.
The competition section will only feature ‘desi’ films this year, as it is the centenary year of Indian Cinema unlike last year when international films were also part of it.
Seminars and master classes for students on different aspects of cinema and a forum for studying the growth of Indian Cinema to mark its centenary are also planned as part of the fifth edition.
Besides Hassan, Kannada`s popular film stars who are cabinet ministers in the ruling Congress government – Ambareesh and Umashree, Ramya, a Congress Lok Sabha lawmaker, and Kannada cine actor Radhika Pandit were present at the colourful ceremony.
The Indian fare includes Hindi film “Dozakah: In Search of Heaven”, directed by Zaigham Imam and Marathi film “Astu” by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar.
Bengali film “Apur Panchali” by Kaushik Ganguli, is another award-winning film to be screened along with a Kashmiri film “Partav: The Influence”, which is the first from the northern state to be screened at an international fest.
In the world section, the cine buffs will get to watch Iranian film “Hush! Girls Don`t Scream” by Pouran Derakhshandeh, Palestinian film “Giruffada” by Rani Massalha, Chilean film “The Passion of Michelangelo” by Esteban Larrian, Japanese film “Like Father, Like Son” by Hirokazu Koreeda and Saudi Arabian film “Wadjda” by Haifaa Al-Mansour among other films.