BHUBANESWAR: The first day of Indian Film Festival of Bhubaneswar at Odissi Research Centre here Thursday will open with Bhaskar Hazarika’s dark romantic drama Aamis.
The Assamese drama has received rave reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival, New York, Chicago Film Festival and Calgary Film Festival. The 107-minute drama explores the unusual bonding between Nirmali, a married Paeditriacian, with a young PhD student, over their quirky taste in food. As the bond intensifies, norms of morality and societal constructs are challenged in the face of unabashed love.
The post lunch session will be opened with the state award winning movie of Odia filmmaker Late Manmohan Mohapatra, Bhija Matira Swarga. This year, the festival is dedicated to the ‘Father of New Wave Odia Cinema’. Set against the backdrop of a remote village in Odisha, the film gradually unravels the hopes, despair, attitudes and motivations of the character, linking their behaviour to the social totality of which they are apart.
Saajin Babu’s bold drama Biriyani, which is a brilliant take on the “other side”, will be next. The story narrates the often forgotten fate of the families of those who have been radicalised to join the militia. Khaadeja, the protagonist, explores certain untouched facets of her life, when her brother abandons them to join the militia. From striving to be financially independent to being sexually satiated, the film gives voices to several Khaadejas reeling under the burden of our hypocritical society.
The 11th IFFB pays homage to the works of auteur Late Mrinal Sen. The festival shall showcase some of his finest works. Under the crimson sky, the audience will be treated with one of Sen’s classics, Bhuvan Shome. It is a story of a proud bureaucrat played by Utpal Dutt who is confronted with his loneliness when he indulges in trivial activities and idle chats with the village folks.
The festival will also showcase the cinematic prowess of students from across the country whose films have been selected in its Student Film Category.
