Zakir Hussain, Aparna Sen, Seema Deo to be honoured at 15th PIFF

Zakir Hussain, Aparna Sen, Seema Deo to be honoured at 15th PIFF PUNE: Filmmaker Aparna Sen and veteran actor Seema Deo will be honoured with the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) distinguished award while tabla maestro, composer and percussionist Zakir Hussain will be awarded the prestigious SD Burman International award for creative sound and music at the 15th PIFF to be held

between January 12 and 19. Other eminent personalities will be felicitated during the opening ceremony of the festival on January 12 at City Pride, Kothrud. During the inaugural, a performance of Flamenco dance by Spanish artists has also been planned as a celebration of 60 years of Indo-Spain friendship.

A film from Austria titled 'Thank you for Bombing' directed by Barbara Eder has been selected as the opening film of the festival and will be screened immediately after the inaugural ceremony.

Festival director Jabbar Patel said, "Two leading luminaries in Indian cinema were apt nominations for this year's awards and were hence selected. The tabla maestro was requested to accept the honour last year as well, but he was too busy but promised to come this year."

An interaction with Hussain and Deo has been organised on January 13 at the PIFF pavilion. This year, the PIFF pavilion will be named after legendary Dadasaheb Phalke whereas the stage at the pavilion will be called Om Puri rangmanch as a tribute to the actor who passed away last week.

The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) will screen over 15-odd films restored by the institute which including '36 Chowrangi Lane' for which Sen won the national award. Director of NFAI Prakash Magdum said, "We have curated a special exhibition with 60 displays that mark the journey of India's freedom struggle through films and changing times. Besides, we have produced two videos in virtual reality (VR) that will also be screened at the exhibition." He added that a calendar themed on a 'Dance in Indian cinema' has also been published and will be available at the NFAI exhibits during the festival.

The Vijay Tendulkar memorial lecture will be delivered by Jorge Arriagada from Chile, who is also a part of PIFF's jury. His talk will be centred around how he uses various sounds in his films, aspects of Indian and western music and will elaborate on characteristics of film music.

This year PIFF will be held in 13 screens across eight venues located in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. The venues are City Pride Kothrud, City Pride Satara Road, City Pride R-Deccan, Mangala Multiplex, Inox Bund Garden Road, National Films Archive of India (NFAI) and Carnival Cinemas Chinchwad.

A Bazar full of activities

The PIFF Bazar's second edition promises to be packed with seminars, lectures, workshops, interactions and evenings full of entertainment programmes. The PIFF Bazar is coordinated by Shrirang Godbole who said that a variety of discussions and workshops have been planned to keep aspiring filmmakers and buffs busy during the festival. Godbole said, "Workshops on virtual reality and low budget filmmaking will help aspiring filmmakers."

Directors Chandrakant Kulkarni and Ravi Jadhav will host a session on the trans-creation from plays to cinema. A tribute to the late Om Puri will also be showcased at the Bazar. A session on the dynamics of international film festival, interaction with filmmakers Ashutosh Gowariker and Subhash Ghai has also been planned.

Seven Marathi films in fray

One of the popular sections at the PIFF is the Marathi film competition and seven best films from the 54 entries shortlisted by the selection committee led by film critic Samar Nakhate will be shown. The films are:

Doctor Rakhmabai (Director - Ananth Narayan Mahadevan)

Lathe Joshi (Director - Mangesh Joshi)

Ventilator (Director - Rajesh Mapuskar)