BIFFes 2023: From Wong's world to Bodo Flute

It is ironic in a way that the action film directors most known work is an intense love story.

It is a pity Wong Kar Wai will not be coming to the city along with his films. Clearly, he is taken in with things Indian. In the video, Lessons on Directing: Wong Kar Wai, a loving tribute from a fan who has spliced various Wong interviews and stitched them together into a coherent masterclass on direction (available in YouTube), Wong guides the cameraman to an underground market in Hong Kong, presumably after his film Chunking Express was released – the film introduced the audience to many hidden gems in the Hong Kong that Wong grew up in. The market looks similar to Delhi's Palika Bazaar and, according to Wong, it sells everything from everywhere around the world, but he nevertheless guides the cameraman to the stall selling Indian music as well as the stall that was featured in his film with two Indian characters. But Chunking Express has made it to the 14th Bengaluru International Film Festival. Five films of Wong will be featured under the section 'study of director' in this edition of the festival, which will be held from March 23 to 30. Screening will commence from March 24 at 11 screens at Orion Mall, at Kannada Kalavidara Sangha and Suchitra Film Society. ''It was a natural choice--a director of Wong's calibre should be studied. He experiments a lot in his film. Basically, he is an action film director who experiments with many genres. Also, these days people watch a lot of Asian films, particularly South Korean ones. So, it is imperative that we study these films to see how they do it – cut across cultural barriers to gain global recognition," said Ashok Kashyap, the festival director of BIFFes 2023 and chairman of Karnataka Chalanchitra Academy. It is ironic in a way that the action film director's most known work is an intense love story. A film that Wong himself describes as the "aftertaste of love", In The Mood For Love will also be showcased at the festival, along with Fallen Angels, Happy Together and 2046.

Although Wong experiments a lot with format and content, his films are instantly recognisable – the music, the theme of unrequited love and loss, and distinct cinematography that conveys moods with colours come together in a uniquely Wong way. Just as his characters are unable to move on, lost in love, Wong too seems to revisit his earlier work and carries it forward – 2046 could be a sequel to In The Mood For Love, the characters show how the agony of being in love with the ''right person at the wrong time'' (the theme for In The Mood For Love) can drive a person to destruction. ''Personally, as a filmmaker, I have been watching films like these in the last 43 years. It gives me great pleasure that as festival director I could revisit my student days' fascination for iconic directors," said Kashyap. He said his artistic team has also helped him curate films of 'Father of African Cinema', Senegal's Ousmane Sembene (for the retrospective section), many master classes featuring the industry's best talents, works of Dada Phalke award winner and renowned cinematographer late V K Murthy as well as three legendary figures in Indian cinema – late M V Krishnaswamy, late S K A Chari and Lt Narsimha Raju – as part of their centenary celebrations. In all, the festival will screen 200 films, including seven Korean films (South Korea is the focus country) – Broker, Havana, Hommage, Lucky Chan-Sil, Move the Grave, The Hills of Wind and The Novelist's Film. And yes, the team has also tapped into the growing popularity for Kannada films as the festival will also showcase two of Kannada film industry's biggest hits – KGF 2 and Kantara. Although, it ticks the ''popular'' box, the festival is also a good place for people to know about little known gems like The Black Death (in Muduga language, spoken by Muduga tribes in the Attappady valley in Kerala), The Cowrie Game (in Kodava language spoken in and around Coorg) and Flute (in Bodo language, spoken in parts of Assam).

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