The Hindu Business Line : 5th Asian Film Festival to kick off tomorrow

Continuing the festive spirit, residents of Pune are all set to flock the multiplex for the 5th Asian Film Festival, scheduled to kick-off on November 1 till November 8. The location is City Pride Multiplex at Kothrud. The Asian Film Festival is jointly organised by Aashay Film Club and Indira School of Communication in association with Asian Film Foundation, Mumbai. The festival will be inaugurated by Mr Madhur Bhandarkar and will screen 70 films from 18 Asian countries. The Iranian film Poet of the Wast e, which is a story of the romantic and social adventures of a street cleaner, will set the tone for the festival and will be shown at all the four screens. .

The veteran film maker Mr Yash Chopra will be the recipient of the Zenith Asia Award, instituted a couple of years ago.

The concluding day will feature Valu, a Marathi film which is making its debut in the international festival. The film has been directed by Mr Umesh Kulkarni

The new film of Film and Television Institute of India, Jab din chale na rat chale, directed by Mr Tripuran Sharan would also be premiered during the festival.

The festival would feature films from Japan, China, Israel, Iran, Taiwan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Korea, Bhutan, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan.

The Chinese section would screen eight films made during the last seven years.

And the ‘Tribute to Master’ segment would show films of Japanese Master Mr Akira Kurosava. The Best of Asia will have a combination of films which have been discussed during the past five years and include Turtle Can Fly, The Cup, Beautiful Box, Where is my friend’s home, Osama and Despardo Square.

Indian films

The Indian panorama would feature a mix of regional films, which include Kannada, Bengali, Malayalam, Assamese among others.