SAIIER 2014:Attending the International Film Festival of India

Mirra Women's Group		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 film screenings and special events we organize at the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium 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.

Description of project

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) and the state of Goa through the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG, Panaji) that promotes the best in terms of Cinema, foster the meeting of the huge film production family and organize a film market for the film distribution. It is an eleven-day event that is now permanently set up in the capital of Goa, Panaji. This year it was held from 20 to 30 November 2013, and the different sections included:

An International Competition
Cinema of the World with different awards – with the addition this year of a Centenary Award as 2013 marks the one hundred years of Indian Cinema
Festival Kaleidoscope
Masterstrokes
An Indian Panorama and a Focus on North-East Cinema of India
Soul of Asia
Soul in Art (painting exhibition)
3D Cinema
Sketches on Screen (Animation)
Retrospective of Agnieszka Holland, screen-writer and director from Poland
Country in Focus: Japan
Greek Vignettes
Opening and closing films (two films on Don Juan, by directors Jiri Menzel and Mandela respectively)
Tributes and Homages – a Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed on Czech director Jiri Menzel

Documentaries and short films were screened before long feature films or in special programs and in the Indian Panorama section. Some master classes were conducted by noted film personalities and technicians from the world (Susan Sharandon on acting, Paritosh Mehta on documentaries with a universal appeal for instance) 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). These 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. We would also attend some press conferences. Some of the invited film personalities were seen in the festival premises and we could greet them or even interact with them. In between all this, was the time for making other contacts (with producers, technicians, screen-writers, film students and so on, and somehow we would manage to get some food and eventually a little rest in the hotel room or in a park, during the hectic schedule of the days! All in all, with such an exhaustive program, we could really make good use of the place and time to gather contacts and material for our work all along the year.

Back in Auroville, our first task is to finalise our selection of 6 films to present in Auroville for the Indian film festival we will organise in Auroville in mid-February, then to contact the DFF and other producers in order to give them our requests for these films, either in film prints or in DVD. We go on researching on film makers whose films we have seen; we contact the people we have met; and with them, we continue organising our regular film screenings all along the year along with other special events whenever possible. Already one such event is the invitation of a Tamil director, Ram, whose film we saw in IFFI and who is invited to present his film, Thangameengal, at the auditorium in January 2014.

Inputs

The necessary funds for the three members of Aurofilm to attend seven days of the event –out of the ten days – have been fully allocated by SAIIER/GOI grant. This SAIIER grant of Rs. 72.000/- was used for transportation, entry fee to the festival, food & lodging, purchasing of a book and DVDs and miscellaneous.

Outputs

We attended the festival from the first till the seventh day (November 20th to 27th), leaving Goa on the eighth day. As far as our research work on cinema in Aurofilm and the programming for the community are concerned – which includes preparation for our upcoming Auroville Panorama of Contemporary Indian Cinema – we always direct our priorities to watching the Indian Panorama and Indian films’ sections, although discovering the contemporary world cinema and the work of the ‘masters’ – present and from the past – is a must and we also try to watch some of these works. This year we were a team of three and therefore could watch more films than in previous years. We could also discuss more and compare our findings and impressions. All in all, we watched 17 Indian films (out of the 26 scheduled Indian Panorama films). We watched 12 documentaries and short films and about 15 from the International Competition, Cinema of the World, retrospectives and other categories. Of course, it did happen some times that we walked out midway of a film, or even earlier if we felt uneasy with a film… We had productive meetings with the Director of the Festival and his Deputy Director with whom we are directly in contact for the lending of film prints, with film directors, film critics and journalists, film producers and distributors, technicians, office workers from the film institutions, film students and film lovers from all over India and the world present there in Goa for the event. This year we were even authorized to enter and see the state of the art projection rooms where all 35 mm film prints are checked, prepared and projected on platter projectors.

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 through the screenings we organize all along the year. The films we choose to watch during the festival are also 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 will be available. Contacts with the DFF and other organizations and individuals 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 film screenings.

Also, through our presence and outreaching effort, 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.