“We are currently organizing our jury screenings for the year 2021 and there are clearances for various films for our retrospectives and other plans in progress. We are waiting for the Chief Minister to officially announce the dates. The event will take place the last week of February as always,” Suneel shares.
The actor and filmmaker shared that they have yet to decide on the format for the festival this year. “Many international festivals, including Berlin, have chosen to go the online route. We will answer the call to find out if we will be online or hybrid in nature by looking at the conditions in the state and the guidelines that would be present accordingly,” he adds.
Additionally, Suneel also shares that the festival will be a combination of sorts to include the year that was missed due to the pandemic. “We are looking at screening and competing films from 2020 and 2021. We will also have two sets of awards. We already had our shortlists and selections for the festival last year, so we will be considering having a selection of films in each category for the two years,” he explains.