SAIIER 2013:Attending the International Film Festival of India

Auroville Film Festival Educational Outreach Programme		"Panorama of Contemporary Indian Cinema"
Attending the International Film Festival of India

Objectives

Cinema in its completeness as an art form is a valuable tool to transform human nature and relations. Entity::Aurofilm aims at fostering education, research and personal progress through the medium of cinema. We make sure that the weekly programs and special events we organize in Auroville are enriching and for the benefit of all.

In order to do research and promote meaningful and artistic cinema, we require contacts and an exposure to the world of films. These two aspects are the primary objectives of attending one of the international film festivals of India if possible every year.

The intention is also to eventually share this work at the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium through film projections encouraging the audience to share views in an interactive platform.

The International Film Festival of India

The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is an annual event organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals of India, a Government of India organization (from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting) that promotes the best in terms of Cinema, and organizes a film market for its distribution. It is an eleven-day event that is now permanently set up in the capital of Goa, Panaji (in partnership of the Goa Entertainment Society at Panaji) where the whole film related people gather for the various festival sections proposed by the organisers.

This year it was held from 20 to 30 November, 2012, and the different sections included:

• International Competition
• Cinema of the World
• Festival Kaleidoscope
• Indian Panorama
• Turkish Currents
• Soul of Asia
• Documentaries & Short Films
• 3D Cinema
• Sketches on Screen (Animation)
• Retrospectives (Germany and India)
• Special Tribute (Ashok Amritraj)
• In Focus (with many films by South Korean director Kimki-Duk, who was present at the festival for several days) and Homages to film personalities who left this world recently
• A Cut Above
• Masterstrokes
• Opening and Closing films (respectively Life of Pi by Ang Lee and The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mira Nair).

A Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed on Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi. Some master classes conducted by noted film directors (Shyam Benegal) and technicians from the world enriched the program while forums, discussion panels, press conferences and an exhibition by the National Film Archive of India (NFAI – with a beautiful exhibition of film posters marking the 100 Years of Indian Cinema) were well attended activities of the program. NFAI also had brought a selection of films representing these 100 years of Indian Cinema.

With our accreditation as Delegates, we could go every day early morning to the festival premises, having carefully studied the program and made decisions before hand on a maximum of three films to be booked per day at the counters, with the possibility to attend one or two more – schedule and seat availability permitting. Some of the invited film personalities were attending screenings of their choice and we could greet them or even interact with them. In between all this, was the time for making contacts and somehow managing to get some food and eventually a little rest in the hectic day! With such an exhaustive program, we can only see that to go and attend one of India‘s international film festivals is always rewarding.

Outputs

We attended the festival from the first day till the sixth (November 20th to 26th), leaving Goa on the seventh. As far as our research work on cinema and the programming for the community are concerned – which includes preparation for our upcoming Auroville Panorama of Contemporary Indian Cinema – we always give the priority to watching the Indian Panorama and Indian films‘ sections, although discovering the contemporary world cinema and the work of the ‘masters’ is a must. The two of us could therefore watch 15 films out of the 20 scheduled Indian Panorama films and about 10 other films.

Outcome

Attending this film festival is a good opportunity for Aurofilm to keep track of what happens in the area of film production from India and the world as a reference. On a practical level, through the contacts we are able to make or maintain with the film personalities we meet there, Auroville eventually benefits in being exposed to quality Indian and world cinema in the form of screenings. The films we choose to watch during the festival are for reference for our research work at the Auroville film institute, and they also include potentially suitable films for future screenings here, whenever these films become available.

Contacts with the DFF and other organisations during the festival are therefore important to introduce Auroville and ourselves, and to request the film prints or permission for our own Indian Panorama and other weekly films.

Also, through this experience, Auroville is known as a place where culture and art is a major component and research and promotion of quality cinema is an important aspect.