Bengali film Drishtikone will kick off the 13th edition of Habitat Film Festival tomorrow.

The festival will showcase the best of 2016-17 films ranging from Hindi to various different regional languages such as this year’s National Award-winning Village Rockstars, Kaatru Veliyidai, Mayurakshi and critically-acclaimed films such as S Durga, Ajji, Nude, Omerta, Idak and Juze.

Advertisement

Staying true to its tradition, the HFF will also be witness to different genres such as thrillers and contemporary cinema with National Award-winner high voltage Malayalam film Take-Off, Hindi features October and investigative Tamil thrillers like Vikram Veda and Aran among others.

Experimental cinema such as Ralang Road (Nepali), Hello Arsi (Odiya), Goat (Marathi), Reservation (Kannada) and Carbon (Malayalam) is also part of the line-up.

The festival will host a Retrospective Segment on visionary Malayalam director KG George and two Tribute Segments on veteran actors Shashi Kapoor and Sridevi.

Some of Kapoor’s films – The Householder, In Custody and New Delhi Times, for which the actor won his National

Award for Best Actor in 1986, will be screened.

One of Sridevi’s early films will be showcased highlighting the actor’s finesse and pan Indian legacy.

Masterclasses and sessions will be organised in association with HarperCollins on May 20 by personalities from the film fraternity such as Vishal Bharadwaj, Rekha Bhardwaj and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.

Panel discussions involving film scholars, film journalists and critics, daily podcasts and newsletters, will also take place.

Post-screening Q & A sessions with directors are also something to watch out for. Aparna Sen, Devashish Makhija, Miransha Naik, Jiju Antony, and Sanal Kumar Sasidharan are among the filmmakers who are attending the festival.

A notable highlight is veteran writer Gulzar’s session on May 20 in which he will be in conversation with Mehra.

Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Malayalam film Ee. Ma. Yau will close the festival on May 27.

The festival will be inaugurated by film scholar Aruna Vasudev at 6.30pm at the Stein Auditorium tomorrow.