46TH IFFI --- PART II

Print this pageSend by EmailSave as PDF

Selection  of Films below Mark

  •  For selecting films  which are not up to the International Fest standard, one reason may be that IFFI fest is held at the fag end of the year , Most award winning films in Festivals all over the World get seen/ sold in other International Fests .  Even in  India  al regional Fests  get over wherein Cine buffs have an opportunity to watch .

  • This year ,the Directorate of Film Festival is headed by the Director, who is not  a well known name, except in the filed of Cinematography. 

  • Even the Catalogue , which otherwise lists the participation or awards won, if any, by a listed film is missing. This was a vital omission  because of which delegates or media critics  missed out on such films even if  were worth seeing.

Award   Winner    Films and Persons

In the closing function , where the Chief Guest was  Music  Maestro  A R Rahman , competition film awards to makers and competing film personalities were announced unanimously by the Jury,details of which are as under :

1. Best Film  of the Fest with Golden Peacock top award with Rs 40 lakhs Cash prize) went to Spanish film “Embrace  of the Serpent “directed by Cero Guerra and Produced by Cristina Gallego.

2. ICFT - Unesco -Fellini Medal was awarded to the Indian ( Bengali)  film maker  Kaushik Ganguly  for his film “CINEMAWALA”, for  reflecting the ideals promoted by UNESCO.

3. Best Director Award went to Peter Greenway of Netherland for his film “Eisenstein in G uanajauto”, a Silver Peacock and cash of Rs.15 lakhs

4. Best Actor Awards :

(Female): Gunes Sensoy, Dogba Doguslu,Tugba Sunguroglu and ElitIscan,all four lead characters of the Turkish film “Mustang” were collectively awarded  a Silver Peacock and cash prize of Rs.10 lakhs.

(Male): Ilayda Akdogan from the same film “Mustang” was given a Silver Peacock andCash prize of Rs.10 Lakhs.

5. Special Jury Award  went to the film : “Sealed Carugo” director: Julia Vargas .A silver Peacock plus Cash Rs. 10 lakhs awarded.

6. Special Mention : Serbian Film : Enclave” Director : Goran  Radovanovic 

 

A few good films in the Fest I saw

MUCH LOVED (Morocco/France)

Four girls in a town of Muslim Morocco work as prostitutes. Since this profession is illegal, the are excluded from society. Supporting and helping one another, they struggle everyday to make living for themselves and their families. Often they experience the physical and mental violence ,but still maintain their dignity and vivaciousness.They grab every moment of life which can be cherished.However, being objects of desire,some times they were also loved very much .

This sensitively scripted and directed radically realistic film by Nabil Ayouch ,was banned in Morocco and the director and crew had received death threats for “ Encouraging and inciting debauchery and pornography” Acting by all four girls was natural and superb.

DON’T TELL ME THE BOY WAS MAD (France/Germany)

This film was a part of Festival Kaleidoscope. In Paris of 1081, Aram a young man of Armenian origin,blows up the Turkish Ambassodor’s  car but in the process, another young man Gilles gets seriously injured because he was passing by on his bicycle. Aram flees to Beirut and joins the Armenian liberaton army. His mother visits Gilles in the hospital to ask for his forgiveness for her son.But Gilles wants to meet his executioner face to face. With revenge in mind he heads to Marseille to confront Aram’s family . How the revenge turns into love for Aram;s family is the rest of the story. Film is handled skillfully by the writer- director Robert Guediguian.

ALPHAVILLE (France)

This 1965 Black and White film of the Master story teller and new wave film pioneer Jean Luc Godard was shown as a Tribute to him. It has the brilliant performance of the actress Anna Karina.

Government agent Lemmy Caution is sent on a secret mission to Alphaville, a dystopian metropolis in a distinct corner of the galaxy.Caution on the trail of rogue agent Henryi Dickson and a scientist Von Braun, who is a creator of Alphaville 60, a computer that uses mind control to rule over residents. Caution is aided in his quest to destroy the despotic Computer ruler Von Braun by his own daughter Natacha ( superbly played by Anna Karina)

Needless to say that this film had a typical Godardian swing taking the viewers to a distopian Sci-Fi landscape starting the trend of Sci-Fi films across the globe.

MUSTANG ( Turkey )

In a village ,Lale and her four sisters com from school and innocently play with boys.The supposed debauchery of their games causes a scandal and unintended consequences. Family home slowly runs into a prison, classes on housework and cooking replace school an marriages begin to be arranged. As the regime at home becomes increasingly oppresive, the five sisters, driven by the desire for personal freedom, fight back against the constraints imposed on them . That makes a laudable and bold beginning for women liberation and explores the outrage caused by flowering female sexuality in a conservative society.

Film is deftly and logically treated- directed by Deniz Gamze Erguven from a script jointly written by him with French film maker Alice Winocour.the four child characters along with one male child won best acting awards in this festival for their impressive portrayal .

THE SECOND MOTHER ( Brazil)

Val, a Live- in housekeeper takes her work seriously.She erves her wealthy employers day in and day out and also lovingly nannies the teen age son of he family ,whom she had raised since he was a toddler.One day, Val’s ambitious daughter arrives from hometown to take her college entrance exams.Jessica,s youthful presence upsets the unspoken yet strict balance of power in the household. Val decides wheres her rightful allegiancelies. She sacrifices bond with her own own daughter .

Written and directed by Ms. Anna Muylaert , the film effectively communicates the rightful message to the viewers.

THE DANISH GIRL(UK)

This latest film of the well known director and the Academy award Winner Tom Hooper has already won laurels by getting place of honour in Venice and Toronto International film fests.Based on a book of David Ebershoff, it tells a remarkable love story inspired by the lives of Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener (portrayed by another Academy award winning actor Eddie Redmayne )Lili Elbe was known as the first recipient of sex reassignment surgery, which became a ground breaking transgender pioneering surgery. Eddie Redmayne as Gerda was indeed superb to stake claim once again as the powerful actor .

 

Good Films from Indian Panorama

The Silence ( Marathi )

This Marathi film from the eminent film maker , writer Gajendra Ahire is replete with a message day's on today's burning subject of rapes being perpetratd by the realtives and the silence the victim or other relatives keep , thus nt allowng to take recurse to law. Film highlights the challenges faced by the sexual assault, It questions the notion that the victim is at fault. Based on a true story, film revolves around a little girl growing in poverty with her aged father. When he is unable to care for her he sends her to a nearby town to his uncle. Circumstances one day come to a point when the Uncle rapes the child. That makes her 'Silent' under the severe shock. Ultimately the law takes its own course with an awakened conscience of her married aunt, posing as a witness to the grusomce crime ,her husband had committed on the child. The directgor skillfully takes ius in a flashback to unfold entire demonous story of the girl, when as an adult while travelling in a local ,she witnesses simlar sexual assault on another girl. The film leaves a lasting message in our hearts against the very act of an sexual assault.

CINEMAWALA ( Bengali )

This film won the coveted ICFT—UNESCO FRLLINI AWARD at this fest for promoting the common good of the society like caring and sharing. The film also cultivates a realistic hope of creative transformation , and a clash of genertion gap. The film is about a father son relationship agasint the backderop of cinema.If focuses on the sad state of single screen theatres in this country due to proliferation of Multi-plexes, pirated VCD/DVDs , but the fagther still remains a true single screen Cinemawala ; whereas his son is an oportunist who has no qualmsabout selling pirated DVDs.

Director Kaushik Ganguly has excelled in the diretorial treatment of he subject of Convergng and advacning gtehcnology viavis the generation gapin chane of values. Actor Paran Bandhopadhya has given a brilliant portryal of his inner turmoil over the degeneratin of values and vainshing heritage of Cinema .

RAMSINGH CHARLIE ( HINDI)

Ramsingh , a charlie impersonator , performs in a circus as an artist. He is caught in a situation of a bigger circus of life, where he has to juggle between his role as a father and that of a performer in circus without any safety net .He loses a part of himself in a world that has little space for dreams and soon decides to do what he wants.

Written and directd by Niting Kakkar, the film successfully communicated that all of us have to walk the tight rope between what we want to do and what we have to do. Striking a balance is what we all try to do while we keep walking.

ANWAR KA AJEEB KISSA (HINDI)

This is the first Hindi film made by the Internationally acclaimed and winner of numerous National awards by Bengali film maker Budhdhdev Dasgupta. Story is woven around a private detective Anwar , who lives alone with his dog in a rented room and works in a detective agency. His job involves mostly spying, following and unfolding the private lives of individuals. One day Anwar decides to stop following anyone else and starts on a trip by himself. Needless to say the story ,screenplay and direction is flawless . Nawajudding Siddique as Anwar has given a sterling and natural performance sans dramatics

There were othr other two good films “Masan” ( Hindi , also released commercially) and “Rajkahini”( Hindustani/ Bengali ) but I am not repeating them here as I have already written about them in my report of Mumbai Film Festival.

Written by: 

Mohan Siroya

Category: 

Add new comment

Email is kept private and will not be shown publicly. Leaving this field blank may lead to disapproval of comment, if you are not a regular commenter.

Limited_HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <ul> <ol> <li>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
 

Like - Share

 

Subscription

Enter your e-mail address below.
Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by WeebPal.