Mangaluru: The inaugural of the second edition of Nitte International Film Festival (NIFF) organized by Nitte Institute of Communication was held at Bharath Cinemas in Bharath Mall on Monday morning, April 16th. Cine-lovers from in and around Mangaluru attended this function.

Filmmaker and theatre person, Mr Sadananda Suvarna was the chief guest for the function and the Vice-Chancellor of Nitte, Dr Satheesh Kumar Bhandary presided over the function.

In his address, the Vice Chancellor of Nitte, Dr. Bhandary welcomed all including the chief guest Mr. Suvarna, the producers, directors, artists, head of the department of mass communication, students and faculty of mass communication, Nitte and the film lovers of Managluru.

Talking about his privilege be a part of the second edition of NIFF, Dr. Bhandary said, “Film is an integral part of the life of the Indians. We take a lot of good things and bad things from films and the film industry have got a lot of responsibility in creating societal values. Unfortunately, in the recent few years, this industry has become very lucrative, causing more consideration to be given towards recovery of the investment. Art films have taken a back seat. We hardly see art films being hosted in the big cities.”

He appreciated the movie Hari which he happened to see last year. The theme of Hari movie is about the plight of the patients in the government hospital. As a doctor himself, he found that movie to be wonderfully touching and said” This is how a movie can touch the society and the well being of the society depends on good movies. The goal of movies should be to change the value, behaviour and mindset of the people in the country.”

He also congratulated Mr Raviraj Kini for coming up with this idea of hosting an international film festival. He thanked and appreciated Mr Sadananda Suvarna’s contribution in bringing up the standard and taste of films in Mangaluru. Dr. Bhandary said that he was sure that the people of Managaluru will make NIFF a success and wished the best for the film festival.

40 film-makers will take part in this film festival and 60 films across various Indian languages shall be screened. The languages included in the screening are Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati and Odia, along with a few foreign-language movies. Interactive sessions and workshops with leading film personalities will also be conducted over the course of the festival.

The film festival will be held from April 16th to 19th at Big Cinemas in Bharath Mall in the city, the entry to which is free.