International Film Festival of India + Bombay Documentary & Short Film Festival 1993
Filmmaker Magazine
1993
Servile
INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF INDIA + BOMBAY DOCUMENTARY & SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
by Noah Cowan
Only one country can boast a film industry that rivals and often surpasses Hollywood in terms of number of films produced and star glamour. That country is India, a place also blessed with a strong tradition of independent art film, which continues to flourish even after the death of its leading light, Satyajit Ray. To fuel this interest in things cinematic, the Indian government supports two festivals of international calibre.
After years of indifferent programming and intense media criticism, the International Film Festival of India—usually known by its acronym, IFFI—is now establishing itself as a major event on the festival calendar. This year’s IFFI took place from January 10–20 in Calcutta and was dedicated to Ray, the city’s most famous cinematic son. Calcutta itself is not particularly suited to a festival—traffic jams snarl the downtown; steamy weather and dense pollution limit casual strolling—but the cultural fervour of its inhabitants more than makes up for the unending chaos.
The festival takes place all over the city in massive cinema halls which, according to director Malti Sahai, are at 99% capacity, a figure hard to doubt when you see lines snaking down city blocks and shoving matches at the door. Most of the program is comprised of new-ish international films, programmed out of the Cannes and Toronto festivals, plus a large panorama of new Indian cinema and major retrospectives (this year on Antonioni and Garbo).
Sahai was ecstatic about this year’s event: “Even our harshest critics admitted this was the best film selection in ten years. But that was something of a fluke. Veteran Indian filmmakers all made new films and there were at least four very good first films in the Indian Panorama; the market opening up has made it easier to get films in and [Ted] Turner delivered a Garbo package without charge.” India has recently relaxed its film import/export laws so that entertainment conglomerates can now set up shop profitably; companies like Turner have been wisely generous with cultural events, despite fears of piracy, and already the goodwill is paying off at the legislative level.
But even with this year’s success, the festival remains a state-run organization, subject to massive political intervention. Not only do officials gobble up huge numbers of tickets, but they insist that the festival be itinerant—last year it was held in New Delhi, next year in Bombay. This creates an organizational nightmare which can mean cancelled screenings, poor projection, and empty offices. Sahai is ambivalent: “With at least four centers of Indian film production, the poorer people involved in the industry should get an opportunity to see this work, even if it’s only once every few years. But that means all our energy and funding is diffuse, and dollars invested today in infrastructure have to be matched every year.”
For the first time since the 1970s, FIPRESCI (International Critics’) prizes where awarded: one for best Indian film to Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Servile and for best international film, Farewell My Concubine. Other programming highlights were Ismail Merchant’s Indian premiere of In Custody, a rapturous search for Urdu poetry starring the incomparable Shashi Kapoor, and an Indian first film, Leaves and Thorns, by K.P. Sasi; the film is a powerful indictment of prejudice in the nominally socialist Indian state of Kerala.
Just two weeks later, from February 1–7, lndia hosted another major international film event: the Bombay Documentary and Short Film Festival. The country’s bustling, modern film center hosts this event every two years, a time lag which allows for greater concentration and better organization than IFFI. But it also means tough programming choices.
Festival director Krishna Mohan must rely on a large selection committee to help pare down the huge numbers of entries. Mohan, who has directed several documentaries himself, believes “the festival would be a better showcase if we could mount it on an annual basis. But, because it’s a government-supported festival, it’s their decision.”
One of the strongest features of the festival is its India section, even though Indian filmmakers complain about being placed in a ghetto. Says Mohan: “Indian filmmakers should be happy that interested people can find them. We choose the best Indian documentaries to participate in the competition and the rest are shown in a small cinema in another part of the complex.”
This complex is Nehru Centre, an imposing ’60s-style cylindrical tower, with an adjacent planetarium. That gives the festival three screens—one big Competition facility which runs continuous shorts and documentaries from 9 AM until about 10 PM, and two smaller screens underneath an unused planetarium for sidebars and Indian films. Unfortunately, the Nehru Center area isn’t particularly lively, so meals and fun are a taxi ride away—not such a strain when a trip to the city’s tip is under $3.
These constant forays were the only complaint from Frederic Cassidy, director of Kissing Time, an extremely accomplished and funny revisiting of silent-film comedic conventions. Otherwise, he found it “the most dynamic international festival” he has been in. “After I showed my film, people were unabashed about coming up to ask strong questions. which makes a festival more interesting for a filmmaker.” As for the selection, there is the luxury of so many films and the burden of choice.
Gianfranco Rosi, director of Boatman—a riveting, beautifully photographed trip along the Varanasi ghats with a wisecracking oar master—also acknowledged the enthusiastic, well-informed audiences, but had scorn for the festival’s projectionist: “This may have been the worst projection I have ever seen. The sound was terrible; twice it fell badly out of sync. The reel changes were really bad. All the clapping and cheering at the end only balanced the horror of the projection.”
Still, Rosi liked the festival’s mood: “It’s a village square. You’re always surrounded by and talking to people waiting to go see movies. It’s easy to interact.”
But it is the age-old attraction of India that finally impressed Cassidy: “This place just overwhelms the senses. A large part of the atmosphere of this festival is the fact it’s in this incredible city.”