The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : HIFF: documentaries save the day

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Saturday, Jan 05, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

HIFF: documentaries save the day

Special Correspondent

Half-a-dozen directors brief the media on the week-long ‘movie mela’

— PHOTO: K. RAMESH BABU

SHARING VIEWS: Documentary filmmaker Vikram Shankar at the media interaction of the 2nd edition of Hyderabad International Film Festival in the city on Friday. Also seen are Uma Sudhir, T. Surendra and Jayathirtha.

HYDERABAD: Day One of the second edition of the Hyderabad International Film Festival (HIFF) was undoubtedly a poor beginning. But while it was plagued with seemingly-minor organisation faults here and there, it was the screening of 11 documentaries that generated interest among lovers of this medium and saved the day for the organisers.

It was indeed a disappointment to the organisers who had slogged for weeks before the event to see only a trickle of delegates coming to watch the films. However, a semblance of order was restored with the inauguration of the media centre and a half-a-dozen directors briefing the media on the salient features of the week-long ‘movie mela’.

A television journalist, Uma Sudhir’s 22-minute documentary ‘Andhra’s Liquor Widows’, was screened. At the daily interaction with filmmakers, she shared with the media about the response to her film that dealt with young women with children who found themselves suddenly widowed because their husbands fell a prey to ‘gudumba’, a country-made liquor. It deals with life before prohibition was imposed in AP and after too. ‘Quality Please’, an English documentary made by P. Chakravarthy Raja Rao of AP, was a commentary on the education system and how increasing expectation levels from parents was affecting the academic pursuits of their wards. ‘Hasivi’ (hunger in Kannada), made by Jayathirtha, a 26-minute film has only a two-member cast, a man and woman who meet on a train and become friends. T. Surendra, who made a two-minute long Marathi film on ethics, ‘Neethi’ was a comment on corruption.

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