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

Addressing a press meet here on Wednesday, April 19, Prof Raviraj Kini, head of the department of Nitte Institute of Communication stated that the film festival of Nitte University will be inaugurated by Sunil Sukhtankar, prominent Marathi director who has films like Kaasav (2016), Astu (2013) Devrai (2004), Vaastupurush (2002) and Doghi (1995) to his credit.

"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 for the Best Film, at the 64th National Awards. 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.

Highlighting various national award winning directors who will be part of film festival, Kini 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 will 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), all free of cost," he informed.

The film festival is an initiative by Nitte Institute of Communication aimed at showcasing award winning, and critically acclaimed cinema from across the world to audiences 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 'Craft of Filmmaking' will be held.

Wilma Serrao, assistant professor and Maitreyi, student coordinator were present during the press meet.