BISFF 2025: A short road to the Oscars-OxBig News Network

The Bengaluru International Short Film Festival 2025 (BISFF) has called for entries from across the world. This is BISFF’s 15th edition and the annual event provides a platform for young, amateur filmmakers to not only showcase their work, but also receive feedback from industry experts. BISFF features segments such as international, Indian, Karnataka, animation and non-competition. Entries close on April 30.

The festival that kickstarted in 2010, is the brainchild of Anand Varadaraj, who wears many hats — Artistic Director BISFF, actor-producer, secretary of Suchitra Film Society, Trustee of the Centre for Film and Drama and mentor to many independent filmmakers and producers.

BISFF, says Anand, started off “more like a platform to showcase short films as we normally would end up showing them to just our family and friends. We were looking at a third eye, who would be objective and tell us how we needed to hone our skills. That was the core idea with which BISSF started and we screened just a handful of short films.”

Talks about his association with the Suchitra Film Society, Anand says, “I went there because of my guru, Prakash Belawadi, when he was invited to be a part of Suchitra. Soon, I became a part of the film society and started watching a lot of world cinema, which was very different when it came to filmmaking — which impacted me in a huge way. Hence, I would say Suchitra has had a huge contribution in my life. BISFF also started in Suchitra and still continues there.”

About growth in the short film medium, Anand says, it has been huge, which was specifically seen during the pandemic. “During the pandemic, BISFF also went virtual. We hardly expected a physical crowd of two- or three thousand at Suchitra and around 10 thousand online. But on the very first day we got over 50,000 clicks. That was when we realised that BISFF has become a brand.”

“It is heartwarming, when filmmakers are asked if their film was screened at our festival and if they won a prize. Thankfully we have maintained our quality. Despite certain pressures, it has been a fascinating journey,” says Anand, over a call from Suchitra.

He believes OTT, “has left us with too much content to absorb, yet has provided platform for films and series from countries such as Spain or vernacular Indian languages. OTT has become a door to the globe from where you can watch any kind of film, which was never possible before. Earlier, only a section of people could watch world cinema or foreign films, but today anyone can access cinema in any language because of OTT.”

The Bengaluru-based filmmaker continues about his love for cinema. “I have always been fascinated with cinema and even went on to do a film appreciation course with Prakash Belawadi in 2007. That is when I realised cinema is much more than what I understand. I still hang out with Prakash and even today I am learning a lot.”

Anand was also in Russia as one of the jury members at the Kinoproba Film Festival 2024. “I was on the panel for a fiction short film and was the only foreigner there. Initially, I was a bit hesitant to travel to Russia because of the war, but decided to make it,” says Anand, who shares that he watched about 18 short films, and adds there was one from Kolkata, too.

“It was an interesting experience as I got to see a lot of films from Russia, China and Kazakhstan, which we do not normally get to see here. Also, the majority of filmmakers who attended the festival were from Russia.”

The memorable experience, according to Anand, was meeting filmmakers and animators. “I never knew Russia was into animation big time. That was a discovery. What touched my heart while I was there was how happy and grateful they were that someone has travelled to their country that was in the midst of such trying times.”

For details about BISFF, visit www.bisff.in