Natesh Hegde’s Pedro continues its dream run at film fests across the globe

Young filmmaker Natesh Hegde’s first feature, the Kannada film Pedro, is, perhaps, one of the most feted movies of recent times in the festival circuit. Since its debut at the Busan International Film Festival, it has been at the New York Indian Film Festival, IndieLisboa International Film Festival, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, among many others.

Most recently, the film was in in the International Competition program of Kazan Film Festival, IFFSA Toronto and received a special jury mention at Greek Film Archive 12th Athens Avant-Garde Film Festival. Despite all the love the film has been getting across the globe, back home, the film did not make it to the Bengaluru International Film festival. The exclusion was seen as politically motivated, given the content of the film.

At the time, Rishab had released a statement that despite the team’s best efforts, the film could not be brought to cinephiles to an event like BIFFes. While Rishab did not pointedly mention anyone’s involvement, referring only to some people working to prevent Pedro’s screening, Natesh has gone one step ahead and alleged that KCA President Suneel Puranik was indulging in policing.

Produced by actor-filmmaker Rishab Shetty, Pedro, we hear will get a direct-to-OTT release on Mubi India once it winds up its festival run. Earlier, Natesh had spoken about wanting to release the film in theatres, to break the notion that festival movies do not get audiences. However, given the current deluge of Kannada films releasing in theatres every week, owing to the backlog of the last two years, as well as the big-ticket movies from other languages, getting a decent window in the foreseeable future looks slim, which is why the makers are considering a streaming platform instead, says a source.

Set against the backdrop of the Western Ghats, Pedro revolves around the accidental shooting of an animal by the protagonist, which not only gets him ostracized from the village, but also takes on an ugly communal tone. The film, which has Natesh’s father Gopal Hegde in the lead as Pedro, also stars Raj B Shetty and Ramakrishna Bhat Dundi.