State film academy urges CM to hold Bengaluru film festival

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Film Academy is proposing to hold the 13th Bangalore International Cinema Festival. The committee headed by Sunil Puranik, President of the Academy, on Tuesday requested Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to give permission for holding the event in the third or fourth week of February 2021. According to the CMO sources, the Chief Minister responded that, "The State will be hosting BIFFes 2021 as per schedule in the last week of February."

In the report submitted by the Academy, they said that, "they are hoping to gain international recognition through the 13the Bangalore International Film Festival. They are held in 5,000 different places in the world. However, only 45 of them have received international recognition and Bangalore could be one among them. Bengaluru event could become the 46th accredited international film festival if the 13th edition is organized as per international standards."

The Academy therefore appealed to the Chief Minister to organise the festival. Film festivals are held in four places in India. The government of India organizes one in Goa and the remaining are hosted by West Bengal, Karnataka and Kerala.

D.R. Jayaraj, Chairman, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, Vidyashankar, President of Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation and senior actor Shruti, Information and Communication Department Commissioner Dr P Harsha, senior journalist and film critic Muralidhar Treasury and Karnataka Film Academy registrar G Himantaraju were among those who met the CM.