Cinema is not about format, and it’s not about venue. Cinema is an approach. Cinema is a state of mind on the part of the filmmaker. Steven Soderbergh
Film festivals are more than watching and bingeing on curated cinemas. This is one aspect to the annual congregation where who’s who in the entertainment industry, drawn from various strands and streams of movie business, make it a point to mark their attendance. Some as invitees, some as delegates and some for their very love of films as also some to showcase their own wares.
Beyond viewing and confabulating on films watched, admired and appreciated, among fellow cinephiles, film festivals also have another additional and more important aspect to it. The academic part wherein the subject experts and those whose passion and vocation is films – making., imparting and teaching knowledge on various multifarious aspects of film industry and the art of movie making entails and encapsulates.
It is these academic exercises, which bring the other aspect to the film festivals, that make them that much more interesting, engaging and enterprising to carry back as key takeaways beyond the rudimentary aspect of showcasing and watching contemporary films from across the globe.
Providing a perspective peek and understanding as to where today’s cinema trends lie in terms of film making, the distrupters in term of technologies dictating the ways films are made, consumed and marketed, the thematic concerns lighting up theatrical screens, and the like is what the academic sessions bring to the film festival table.
In fact, film festivals turn vacuous exercise with passive consumption of cinemas in the absence of academic sessions which hand hold the audiences, the aspiring students, the nascent practioners and those zealous to understand films beyond the realm of visual experience.
It is in this regard the nearly dozen academic sessions/seminars/workshops that have been curated merits attention as also makes them a must attend ones to get an up, close, and personal lessons from the experts on various aspects of film making and entertainment industry, the latest trends and the disruption taking place in the sector given the technological strides that are happening by the day.
The seminars/workshops which run through the festival from Monday March 3 to Friday 7, 2025 onwards present an interesting tableau of trendy topics with an equally erudite galaxy of experts and speakers who will walk the participants through on the aspects they will address.
On Monday 3rd at 11 am you have a session on The Rise of AI (Artificial Intelligence) In Filmmaking where in the three subject experts will dwell at length on topics like AI In Imagery: Redefining Visual Storytelling., The Future Of Cinema In The Age of AI Tech., and Leveraging AI In Movie Making.
The same day at 12.30 pm you have a moderated session on AI For Films: From Script To Screen wherein Pickle Media Editor Natarajan Vidyasagar will be in coversation with Whistling Woods International Chief Technology Officer Chaitanya Chinchlikar.
At 2.30 pm you have South India Film Chamber of Commerce President Ravi Kottarakara with IMAC Chairman & CEO Shibasish Sarkar elucidating and educating on what constitues AI Copyright & Creativity providing the nitty-gritties of the fine print.
At 3.30 pm sees a panel discussion on AI Disruption: Challenges, Opportunities & The Way Forward with three subject experts dwelling on the issue at hand.
On March 4th, at 12.30 pm addressing a session on what constitutes the creation and composition of The Magic Of Film Music will be Music Director Devi Sri Prasad along with Music Composer & Producer V Dharmendra.
On Wednesday, March 5th sees renowned and acclaimed Film Director & Screenwriter Gautham Vasudev Menon will hold fort as he spells out and providing insightful first person experience on what constitutes The Art Of Cinema.
The same day at 12.30 pm you have former Business Head of Zee Kannada et al Anup Chandrashekaran talking Rribada Films Chairman & Location Savant Ramji Natarajan who conducts a masterclass about the intricacies and intitutiveness of Location Shooting In Cinema: Finding The Perfect Frame.
The 6th at 11 am one of the most important panel discussion on the pootent theme of Cinematic Representations & Its Influence On Audience given that films as potent medium easily affect the impressionable viewers to mimic situations from films they way much to the detriment of civil society leading to several socio-political issues and repercussions thereafter.
At 2.30 pm a quartet of prominent and proud woman achievers – Sandalwood Queen / Golden Queen Actress Ramya, acclaimed cinematographer Preetha Jayaraman, Film Director & Screen Writer Nandini Reddy along with Film Critic Latha Srinivasan taking the participants through one of the most important subject of public discourse especially in today’s times Women In Cinema: Challenges, Triumphs & The Way Ahead. At 4 pm we have a discussion on Inner Workings Of A Film Lab & Film Production.
The 7th at 2.30 pm sees a panel discussion fixture on The Challenges & Opportunities In Regional Film Distribution given the country producers multifarious cinemas in very many languages and dialects which seek to find an avenue to reach out to the audiences.
The academic sessions will terminate at 4 pm on the same day which will see a seminar on Film Criticism: Challenges, Opportunities, Emerging Platforms & Points of Review. One of the most relevant subject in these days of social media and influencers regime where everyone is a reviewer, critic and freely expresses his/her opinion on all things under the sun, more so, movies they watch – the good, the bad and the ugly. How consumers of cinema or films need to approach their engagement with films and understand its nuances and grammar of narratives before putting their thoughts to pen.
Indeed, the rich repetoire of sessions, masterclass, and seminars, provide the necessary reality check on how to watch and understand films providing key takeaways for participants as they try to understand and assimilate the idea of cinema and carry this forward long after the film festival draws curtains on the 16th Edition of Bengaluru International Film Festival. Happy learning!
by
S VISWANATH is a veteran film critic who officiates as JURY at several National & International Film Festivals. He deputises as CHIEF CINEMA CURATOR/PROGRAMMER & CREATIVE ADVISOR for Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes). He also curates & advises on the selection of shorts & documentaries for Bengaluru International Short Film Festival (BISFF). Mr Viswanath is the author of “RANDOM REFLECTIONS: A Kaleidoscopic Musings on Kannada Cinema”.
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