The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : IFFK ends today on a high note

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 14, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

IFFK ends today on a high note

T. Ramavarman

Reclaiming lost courage of the new cinema is a tough challenge, say delegates

Festival director K.R. Mohanan says steps will be taken to market Malayalam cinema.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 12th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) draws to a close on Friday, amid an air of exuberance among film enthusiasts who thronged the city to enjoy the week-long treat on celluloid.

That the festival attracted an amazing audience, particularly the younger generation, will certainly pep up all those serious about cinema. The various packages and the arrangements put in place to make the films accessible to as many people as possible were remarkable, in spite of the constraints.

But raising a note of caution, a large number of delegates said the festival would make a lasting impact only if there was follow-up action at multiple levels. Two issues that require urgent attention are initiating production of good films and evolving effective mechanisms to reach them to the discerning within the country and outside, they said.

They emphasised that the greatest challenge of good cinema was on the creative front. What is important is to “reclaim the lost courage of the new cinema of the 1970s and the early 1980s, not in a nostalgic sense, but in a qualitatively different level and in tune with the changes that have taken place in society and in the medium”, they said.

As filmmaker Miguel Littin said recently: “If you continue to do what you have been doing in the 1960s, or ’70s or ’80s or ’90s in this decade also, there is the danger that you will end up living in the past.”

It is important for creative people to take cognisance of the changes that have taken place in social realities. “But that also does not mean that you jump on to the bandwagon of change agents who seek to exploit, oppress and marginalise people. The films should strive to contribute to the struggles for creating a more egalitarian, tolerant, democratic, secular society which is bereft of biases based on caste or gender , and which upholds the value of love. It is a tough challenge to stir up the minds of the younger generation with these ideas. There is no standard formula; each filmmaker will have to evolve his/her route for this,” said director K.P. Kumaran.

Director Lenin Rajendran said such an objective could be realised only through a collective effort of all sections. When even progressive politics was swayed by commercial and conservative elements, the dissenting voices got muffled in all fields, including art.

Multi-level censorship

He said the situation prevailing in India, particularly in Kerala, was more debilitating for the dissenting artistes as multi-level censorship – from the State, parties, religious groups and media, besides the market – existed here.

The delegates also appealed to the filmmakers, especially from the younger generation, to tap the potential of digital technology. The exposure to good films at the festival should guide them into such ventures.

Filmmakers from Kerala emphasised the need for an effective mechanism to market their works to international cinema sales agents and festival programmers attending the festival.

Festival director K.R. Mohanan said earnest efforts would be made in this direction in future festivals.

There were also demands that the Culture Department give more subsidy to good Malayalam films, at least to those selected for festivals or that had won awards.

There was a fervent plea to persuade Prasar Bharti authorities to restore the slot that Doordarshan was giving to good regional films.

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