Post News Network
Puri, Feb 23: The 12th edition of the Bring Your Own Festival (BYOFF) being held at Pink house on the beach here entered its third day Monday.
Adding colour to the film festival was a wide assortment of stalls selling dress material. A line-up of various events organised on the sidelines of the five-day film fest proved to be quite entertaining for visitors.
A handloom stall selling Sambalpuri ikat dress material was one of the prime attractions among the various stalls that were put up. Film lovers visiting the festival were seen flocking to the stall to check out the handloom items made by tribal artistes.
“The government had through an Act barred power looms from manufacturing 11 types of handloom dress material in order to benefit poor handloom makers. But the power looms are making a mockery of the Act and are making the handloom items on their premises, thus severely compromising the livelihood opportunities of poor handloom makers. I have come here to sell handlooms made by poor artisans and also to raise awareness on the rampant flouting of norms by certain sections,” said Ranjan Bisoi, who was selling hand-painted bags, scarves and other handloom materials at the festival.
Organisers of the event said many other attractions were added to the festival. “Many stage performances have also been scheduled for the evening to entertain visitors. We have planned to organise some entertainment shows every evening. Reputed personalities are likely to perform in these shows which will range from standup comedy, dance performance, and folk songs. Another stall on different types of tea is also slated to be installed to offer refreshment to visitors. There is no entry fee and all films that will be screened here can be viewed for free. We encourage people to visit the festival,” said Surya Prakash, BYOFF organising member.
Monday witnessed the screening of five films in English, Hindi, Oriya and Bengali. Subham Kumar Nayak, an engineering student from KIIT whose film ‘Majburi-Ek Dastan’ was screened, said he found great confidence after his film was screened.
“I feel very happy that my movie has been screened. I visited BYOFF last year too but was unable to screen my movie due to a shortage of slots. This time I was lucky to get a slot. The encouragement that you get when your movie is screened before a mature, critical audience is unparalleled and you get a lot of feedback too which helps a lot,” Nayak said.
Five movies are slated to be screened Tuesday. These include Sandeho (Bengali) made by Sayan Mullick. Another two of Mullick’s films – Mind It and Beats Forever (both Bengali) will also be screened the same day. Raghuvendra MB’s Churu Kumara (Kannada, with English subtitles) will be screened besides Nitin Pamnani’s Vidrohi (Hindi).
However, organisers said the number might go up as registrations will be open Tuesday too. Vidrohi had earlier won the Best Film Award in 2012 at the Mumbai Film Festival.
