Bangalore: The second Bangalore International Film Festival kick-started in Bangalore on Thursday and with a variety of documentary and feature films from across the globe being screened, film buffs in the city are looking forward to the celluloid treat.

"It’s very exciting to have a huge array of films at our disposal and you've always had the festival in Goa or Delhi or other places, we're looking forward to having it in Bangalore,” said Madhu Natraj, a choreographer.

"Some really nice films are being screened I’m planning to watch Anand Patwardhan and Satyajit Ray's films,” said Banglorean Anil Bharwal.

The who’s who of the Kannada film industry graced the inauguration of the film festival, which is on till January 10.

"Lifeline of cinema is that there's a dish to suit everybody's taste. One man’s poison is another man's taste. Oe thing that will happen to the Kannada industry is that we'll be inspired to make truly international films,” said actor Ramesh Arvind.

With 57 films from around the globe, this is your chance to catch all those international films you've been wanting to test your sensibilities.

Japanese films by Kensui Misaguchi being screened for the first time in India, and Oscar-winning German movie, The Lives Of Others and the Iranian film Turtles Can Fly are a must watch.

The festival is on at Visions cinemas in three separate screens under broad categories of documentary, feature and digital films.

After the International Film Festival of India got a permanent venue in Goa, almost every other Indian city including Delhi, Kolkata and Trivandrum have an independent film festival to speak of. And for filmmakers - the more the merrier.

"All the festivals are a good thing. At least there’s a certain readiness to watch films made elsewhere. Some of them go to see films which are not censored. That's not a right reason. It should come from a real interest in the art of film making,” said director Adoor Gopalkrishnan.

With Bangaloreans planning to make this an annual event, hope someone is listening!