Pedro, PAKA (River Of Blood) to be screened at Pingyao International Film Festival

Natesh Hegde’s Pedro and Nithin Lukose’s PAKA (River Of Blood) will be screened at the ongoing Pingyao International Film Festival. The Chinese festival, launched by filmmaker Jia Zhangke in 2017, began yesterday with the screening of Zhang Lu’s Yanagawa.

The Kannada film Pedro had its world premiere at the 26th Busan International Film Festival earlier this month. It will compete in the Crouching Tigers section, for second and first features, with 11 other films including the Bangladeshi film on the movement MeToo, Rehana, directed by Abdullah Mohammad Saad.

Set in rural Karnataka, Pedro stars Hegde’s father Gopal as the main character who finds himself isolated in his community after accidentally killing a cow.

Lukose’s feature, PAKA, backed by Anurag Kashyap, had its world premiere in September at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Malayalam film will be screened in the Gala section, having its Asian premiere.

Writer-director Lukose told Cinestaan.com in an interview that his directorial debut is "a story of real people, from Wayanad, their struggle, real locations. There is a dangerous river in my place, which is a blend of everything. It is a blend of reality and fiction".

Jia, who had founded the festival, left last year and returned back this edition in a lesser capacity. Lin Xudong, a film editor and critic, is now the festival’s artistic director. Co-founder Marco Mueller was the main consultant of the international film selection.

The fifth edition of Pingyao will close on 19 October with Xu Lei’s The Great Director.