Mangaluru: Nitte University will be hosting its maiden International Film Festival (NIFF) from April 24 to 27 at Bharath Cinemas, Bharath Mall, Mangaluru.

Prof Raviraj Kini, Head of the Department of Nitte Institute of Communication has stated in a press release that the film festival of Nitte University will be inaugurated by prominent Marathi film director Sunil Sukhtankar and renowned Marathi film ‘Kaasav’ directed by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar will be the opening film of NIFF. ‘Kaasav ‘ recently won the Golden Lotus Award, at the 64th National Awards awarded for being the Best Film. In all, a total of 55 films from five different countries and many national award winning films from Indian languages will be screened” he added further.

Highlighting various national award winning directors who will be part of film festival he said that prominent film makers such as P N Ramachandra, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Bijaya Jena, Pradipta Bhattacharya, and actors Manohar, Shrunga, Pratik Gandhi Harisharva, Hemanth will be part of the festival.

“The festival see screening of Reservation, Amaraavati, Railway Children, Zero Made In India, Harivu, Jatta (Kannada); Madipu and Suddha (Tulu); Kammatipaadam, Unto The Dusk, Kaliyachan, Angamaly Diaries (Malayalam); Kaasav, Ventilator and Lathe Joshi (Marathi); Raman Raghav 2.0; Island City, Ugly (Hindi) and Soegija, Sanctuary, 24-Weeks, Red Butterfly and Destiny (international films) which is free of cost” he opined.

The film festival is an initiative by Nitte Institute of Communication aiming at showcasing award winning, and critically acclaimed cinema from across the world to audience in Mangaluru.

Apart from these film screenings, a session on script writing will be held by the National Award winning filmmaker P N Ramachandra and an interactive session with young filmmakers by Rajesh Mapuskar, Golden Lotus Winner for best director at the 64th National Film Awards, on the “Craft of Filmmaking” will be held.