All Eyes On The Film Festival

Those looking forward to the 29th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) would be well advised to pray that the inauguration scheduled for this evening at the Capitals Siri Fort Auditorium passes off without a hitch. Because till five days ago, the full list of films to be shown at the 10-day event was not ready, a delay worsened by the air traffic controllers strike. The five-member jury for the competition section was selected very late. The final selection of the films for this particular section was completed only on the 4th of this month with the four-member preview committee ploughing through 70 films since December 17 last year. And no invitation cards were printed till January 5.

 

The reasons? Malti Sahai, director, Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), said that Stracon India, the agency hired to handle the festivals marketing for the first time, was to take care of the invitation cards. They have to put the sponsors logo on them, she said. (Coca-Cola is the main sponsor of the show.) Stracon, however, denied they were in charge of printing the cards. UntilThursday last, no proper agreement had been signed between the DDF and Stracon, even though the latter had sunk in about Rs 60 lakh on good faith. The contract had reportedly been approved by the information and broadcasting ministry and was moved to the law ministry for vetting of language. But the concerned official apparently put it away and went on a holiday.

Money, the main propellor of any successful fest (yes, even arty ones), has been a critical issue this time as well. Belt-tightening has forced DDF to cut the budget drastically, from nearly Rs 4 crore to Rs 1.43 crore. This is less than what was allocated for the Thiruvanthapuram festival last year. The state government has, however, agreed to pitch in about Rs 1 crore. And a grant of Rs 27 lakh has come in from the Ford Foundation to fund the Open Forum, hosted by the Federation of Film Festivals and the Indian Panorama, which will screen 13 films.

Despite the usual organisational flaws, DDF has managed to pull in a fair bag of films with enough variety: a bunch of award-winning films from the Cannes, Toronto and Venice film fests, a few rare ones like Spanish director Carlos Sauras Flamenco (1955), some old Indian prints which have gone underground such as Chetan Anands Neechanagar (1946), the promising contender for the competitive section, Govind Nihalanis Hazaar Chaurasi ki Ma, apart from the inevitable forgettables. If everything goes well, a total of 160 films are expected for the showing.

Aruna Vasudev, editor of Cinemaya, says, Among the misses this year will be Abbas Kiarostamis The Taste of Cherry, apart from some other good Japanese films. If a film is doing well, it is always difficult to get a print and you have to book at least six months in advance. Others that will be absent this year are Unagi (The Eel) by Shohei Imamura (co-winner with The Taste of Cherry at Cannes) and Zhang Yimous Keep Cool, which was banned from entering the Cannes festival last May. Sources say a clutch of good French films have arrived in Delhi but have not been officially listed as yet.

The opening presentation will feature Carlos Sauras Pajarico (The Bird), in cute coordination with the IFFI logo, the peacock. The films have been divided into six sections Cinema of the World, Foreign Retrospectives and Tributes, Indian Panorama, Indian Retrospective, Mainstream Indian Cinema and a Competition section for Asian directors, to be held for the first time. The jury for the last section will be headed by famed Hungarian director Istvaan Gaal.

The introduction of the last section is a step up from last years festival, which celebrated Asian films, and from the 1996 Mumbai festival, which saw competition among Asian women directors. M S Sathyu, director of Garam Hawa, and member of the preview committee for the selection of the Asian entries, says, The idea of introducing the Asian element to the showing is to give it a definitive Asian character. During the selection, we looked at the subject matter, narration as well as technical, photo and sound quality. But we have to keep in mind that in many third world countries, infrastructural facilities are poor. For instance, the shortlisted Uzbek film The Great Amir Temur by Isamat Ergashev was processed in Chennai as that country does not have good enough laboratories. The Best Film in this category will get a cash prize of Rs 5,00,000 and a golden peacock, and the Most Promising Asian director, Rs 2,50,000 and a silver peacock. The winner of the Special Jury award will get a silver peacock and Rs

2,50,000

The Indian retrospective will pay tribute to Basu Bhattacharya (Teesri Kasam), Anands Neecha Nagar, which was the first Indian film to win an award at Cannes in 1946, and Haqeeqat. As part of Indias 50 year celebrations, nine films with nationalistic themes will be screened, including Phani Majumdars Andolan and I V Sasis 1921.

The main pickings from world cinema will be An Ambiguous Report About the End of The World, by Slovak director Juraj Jakubisko. Once labelled as the enfant terrible of the Czech New Wave for his free-swinging style and his anti-war statements, this movie is said to be another gem after his Deserters and Wanderers (1968) and Birds, Orphans and Fools (1969). The film tells the story of a prosperous mountain village whose peace is shattered when a pack of wolves attacks its women and children. As time goes by and wounds heal, the village limps back to a new prosperity through smuggling drugs.

Canadian director Atom Egoyans Grand Prix winner last year, The Sweet Hereafter, is a story about the loss of children killed in a bus accident and a mans loss of his drug-addicted daughter. Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wais Happy Together, which won him the Best Director award at Cannes last year, will also be on view. Filmed in Argentina, the story revolves around two homosexuals who go to Buenos Aires to strike it big. Others include Weekend Stories by Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi, Xie Jins Ya Pian Zhan Zheng (The Opium War), and Jean Luc Godards latest offering, Forever Mozart.

Yet another favourite this season is the Sarajevo collection, capturing the horrors of the war. Welcome to Sarajevo, directed by Michael Winterbottom, is based on the story of Michael Nicholson, a TV journalist with ITN. He discovers an orphanage on the front line while filming reports about the city under siege. As the world community is slow to take action, he overcomes his journalistic detachment and smuggles a child back to England. Other films in this slot are The Perfect Circle, a feature by local filmmaker Ademir Kenovicon, While America Waited, Bosna and Calling the Ghosts.

There will also be a retrospective of 24 films by Polish director Andrzej Wajda and seven films by Saura.

The public shows will be on at Priya and Sheila (Cinema of the World), Odeon (Foreign Retrospective), Regal (Indian Panorama, Asian Competition and Indian Retrospective) and Chanakya (a combination of all). Siri Fort will be reserved for the press and delegates. If you have not managed passes yet, the tickets will be available over-the-counter at the various cinemas and advance tickets for World Cinema will be sold at Archies outlets.

Problems bog the 29th International Film Festival as it opens today in Delhi