Girish Kasaravalli’s ‘Ghatashraddha’ restored for Venice film fest

THE restored version of legendary filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli's Ghatashraddha will be featured in the Venice Classics section at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, taking place from Wednesday (28) to next Saturday (7).

In an interview with PTI, Kasaravalli expressed his anticipation about how contemporary audiences will perceive the film.

"Made in 1977, I have evolved a lot since then. I am curious to see how the audience interprets it now," said the Bengaluru-based filmmaker, who has received 14 National Awards. Kasaravalli also mentioned that he will attend the Venice festival.

"This will be my first time watching the film after its restoration by the Film Heritage Foundation. I don't have great prints of any of my films, and those I do have are worn out. Dust and scratches have affected their quality, so I’m eager to see the restored version," he added.

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder-director of the Film Heritage Foundation, collaborated with Martin Scorsese's The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project to restore Ghatashraddha. The restoration was carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy, a renowned restoration lab.

According to a press statement issued by 81st Venice International Film Festival, in the classic section, Ghatashraddha is among the 18 films that were restored over the past year, which will be premiered at the festival.

"It is possible that the name of Girish Kasaravalli is not very well known in Italy, even if he was one of the founders of the Parallel Cinema movement, inspired by the principles of Italian Neorealism. His debut film, Ghatashraddha, earned him immediate renown and three of the most important awards in Indian cinema that year (1977)," said Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera in a note introducing the films and the directors being featured in the classic section.

According to him, director and screenwriter Renato De Maria will chair the Jury of Film Students which – for the eleventh year – will award the Venice Classics prizes for the respective competitions for Best Restored Film and for the Best Documentary About Cinema.

The jury chaired will be composed of 24 students, each of them recommended by professors of film studies from various Italian universities, DAMS and from Ca' Foscari University in Venice, he added.

Venice Classics is the section that since 2012 has presented at the Venice Film Festival a selection of the best restorations of film classics. (PTI)