NEW DELHI: The Indian film ‘I.D.‘ by Kamal KM is one of the two Asian films competing at the 67th Edinburgh International Film Festival this month.
The Festival being held from 19 to 30 June will also feature Kang Yi-kwan‘s Juvenile Offender from South Korea.
I.D. has competed at festivals in India and Europe. Produced among others by the Oscar award-winning Resul Pookutty, the film has been filmed by Madhu Neelakandan. It stars Geetanjali Thapa, Murari Kumar, Rukshana Tabassum, Shinjini Raval, and Shashi Sharma among others.
The 90-minute film in Hindi and English is about Charu and her friends - all their mid-twenties - who share a rented apartment in a sky-rise in Mumbai. One day a labourer comes to paint a soiled wall at her house. Irritated that her flat-mate did not inform her, she asks the man to hurry up. A few minutes later, she finds him unconscious on the floor. Charu, panicked and desperate to do what‘s right, gets entwined in a series of incidents that take her through the city. Anywhere that might lead her to some identity of the man.
Kang‘s countryman Bong Joon-ho heads the competition jury.
In addition to Offender the festival is showing five more South Korean films in a tribute to the country, including spy thriller The Berlin File political drama National Security and high-school drama Pluto
The festival also includes three indie films from the Philippines, including John Torres‘ Lukas The Strange Lukas Nino, four indie films from China, including Zhang Yuan Beijing Flicker and three features from Japan, including Nakata Hideo‘s The Complex.
The festival opens with Drake Doremus‘ US drama Breath In, starring Australia‘s Guy Pearce, and closes with the world premiere of John McKay‘s Not Another Happy Ending about a young authoress in Glasgow who is suffering from writer‘s block.
One innovation at this year‘s festival is the introduction of "Film Fest Miles", with which audience members compete for flights. Each film is allocated miles according to the distance to its country of origin, giving Asian film fans a distinct advantage.
