New Delhi, Oct 15 (IANS) In its 11th year, Osian’s-Cinefan Film Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema, sees many changes — it has become shorter, for the first time focus is on Indian films, instead of June it is being held in October and lastly there are no tickets, though movie aficionados will have to pay and register.
“This time there is no price on tickets. It’s free. It’s on first come first serve basis… all you need to do is register yourself and we’ll be giving a catalogue to all those people,” said Neville Tuli, founder of Osian’s here.

“After collecting the catalogue, you can watch unlimited movies with a no value ticket. Originally the catalogue costs us Rs.680 but it’ll be provided to people for just Rs.300,” he added.

Starting Oct 24, the festival has been cut short due to unavailability of the venue.

Osian’s has been permanently shifted from July to October this year onwards. The main focus of the 11th edition is Indian films and filmmakers.

The gala is down to around 100 films vis-a-vis 220 last year, for “an in-depth analysis into each film… We don’t want to just screen films,” said Mani Kaul, director general of the film fest.

“The director of the film, an actor and a technician from the same will be present and have a special interaction with the audiences and the press somewhere outside the audi where we can engage them and articulate a whole new movement through debates,” added Kaul.

Among the 100 films being screened, 56 are feature films including 13 in the In Competition section, the rest are short films.

Also introducing this time is the New Stream Cinema Section that will showcase films like “Kaminey”, “Aamir” and “Dev D” that have redefined mainstream movies in the country.

“We have also kept the first show around 10.30 a.m. and the last around 9 p.m. this time, on an average so that it all winds up in normal hours,” said Indu Shrikent, joint director of the event.

The awards at the 11th edition include an Osian’s Jury award, NETPAC, FIPRESCI, short films and an audience award.

Some of the 22 jury members are non-filmmakers.

To be held at the Siri Fort Complex and Alliance Francaise, the fest will open with Romanian film “Hooked”.

Celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu, Farhan Akhtar and Saif Ali Khan are expected at the event.

 Subscribe to Entertainment News in a reader