MUMBAI: The fourth edition of the Bangalore International Film Festival will feature 130 foreign films from 40 countries.

The festival will be held from 15-22 December.

"This year‘s festival, with four categories of awards in the competitive section, will feature 175 feature films of which 130 will be foreign films from 40 countries, 30 from Indian cinema and 15 from Kannada," said Festival Director and Chairman, Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy T S Nagabharana.

The following are the awards in the four categories: Golden Berunda for the Best Film (Rs 1 million) and Silver Berunda for Best Director (Rs 500,000) in world cinema; NETPAC Jury award (Rs 200,000) for the Best Film in Asian Cinema; Critics‘ award titled Suchitra Sanman for the Best Film (Rs 200,000) in Chitrabharati (Indian Cinema) and film societies‘ pick for the Best Film (Rs 200,000) in Kannada cinema.

The festival will focus on Polish cinema, Egyptian cinema, Asian cinema, Chitrabharati (contemporary Indian) and Kannada cinema (contemporary Kannada).

The retrospective section will comprise films of Michael Cacoyannis and Theo Angelopoulos of Greece; Hsiao-hsien Hou of Taiwan; Dariush Mehrjui of Iran, G Aravanidan from Malayalam cinema and Puttanna Kanagal from Kannada.

The 175 films to be screened will be chosen from 350 entries.

The festival is organised by Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, set up two years ago to promote cinema culture and education in the state. The government has sanctioned Rs 30 million for this purpose.--