In “A Window On Asian Cinema” category we have the following seven Indian films –
A’hr (Kayattam) – Sanal Kumar Sasidharan
Bittersweet – Ananth Narayan Mahadevan.
Captive – Suman Mukhopadhyay,
The Disciple – Chaitanya Tamhane,
Matto’s Bicycle – M. Gani,
Meel Pathar (Milestone) – Ivan Ayr,
Pinki Elli? (Where Is Pinki) – Prithvi Konanur.
Tamhane’s ‘The Disciple’ recently won the prestigious FIPRESCI award at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. Moreover, in a very recent development the global sales rights for Kannada film ‘Pinki Elli?’ have been acquired by Pink Tree International even before its premiere at BIFF.
In the “New currents” category we have the Indo-American ‘Harami’ featuring Emraan Hashmi in the lead role and directed by Shyam Madiraju. The story follows “an orphan teenage pickpocket working the trains of Mumbai along with his gang, embarks on a life-altering journey when faced by the daughter of one of his victims who’s committed suicide after being robbed.”
The Indian entry in collaboration with Czech Republic for the “Asian short film competition” at the 25th BIFF is Apoorva Satish’s ‘Kanya’. While in the “Documentary showcase” we have ‘A Rifle and a Bag’ by Arya Rothe, Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi from India in association with Romania, Italy and Qatar.
The 25th Busan International Film Festival will only focus on the film screenings with all the other events either remaining cancelled or hosted online. Moreover, if the situation worsens there are chances it can get cancelled altogether, after already getting postponed by two weeks.