The passing of the great singer Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar has left a void even among people like director Dr Jabbar Patel, who even before he could announce the 20th Pune International Film Festival, (PIFF), jointly by the Pune Film Foundation and the Government of Maharashtra, remembered Lata Didi and was for loss of words.
The film festival is thus dedicated to Lata Mangeshkar and will be held in the city between March 3rd and 10th.
“This year the theme will be based on the birth centenary year of 3 great personalities including Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, the doyen of Indian Classical Music, Bharat Ratna Satyajit Ray, one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and Padma Shri Sahir Ludhianvi, an acclaimed poet and lyricist,” said Dr. Jabbar Patel.
“PIFF 2022 shall be organized in the hybrid format just like the last year. About 26 films can be seen through the online format of the festival, while 120 films will be screened in three theatres PVR and the Pavilion Mall on Senapati Bapat Road, Cinepolis at the Westend Mall, Aundh and the NFAI Auditorium on Law College Road,” added Patel. Thus, movies during the festival will be showcased on 8 screens at 3 different venues. There is an addition of 1 screen as compared to the previous year.
The committee also announced the 14 Films shortlisted for the world competition section at PIFF 2022 include Erasing Frank (Hungary), 107 Mothers (Slovakia, Czech Republic and Ukraine), Maixbel (Spain), The Exam (Germany, Iraq-Kurdistan and Qatar), Playground (Belgium), France (France), The Legionnaire (Italy and France), As Far as I Can Walk (Serbia, France, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Lithuania), Mirrors in the dark (Czech Republic), Submission (Portugal and France), Jai Bhim (India), AMIRA (Egypt, Jordan, UAE and Saudi Arabia), Between two dawns (Turkey Romania France and Spain) and House Arrest (Russia).
The online registration for participating in PIFF 2022 will begin from today (February 15th) through the official website www.piffindia.com .
The spot registrations will commence from February 17th at the venues where the festival will take place this year between 11:00am and 7:30pm.
