Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Big treat awaits movie buffs
|
The 1st Cochin International Film Festival will be held from August 6-12.
|
THE GROWTH of `good cinema' in the country has always been linked with the film society movement. And a living example of this is the progress and activities of the Cochin Film Society. Formed in 1984 this society, which completes 20 years of its existence, has decided to make this landmark one to remember by organising what will be known as the Cochin International Film Festival. The inaugural edition, of what is envisaged as an annual event, will be held in association with the Centre for Studies in Culture and Heritage of Cochin, in Kochi from August 6 to 12.
"We have screened over 800 world classics as part of our monthly archival screening programme, apart from the regular retrospectives, film appreciation courses, workshops and discussions. We also publish a monthly bulletin `Sequences,' which attempts to chronicle our activities and also other information and news on films. But we wanted to do something different to mark our 20th anniversary and this festival, hopefully will be that," says Varghese Mathew, secretary, Cochin Film Society.
Rich package
To be held at two venues - Kanoos Cinema (for delegates only) and E.M.S. Memorial Town Hall (free entry for public) - the festival will have a rich package of 60 films in 10 categories. P.N. Menon's latest film `Nerkkuneru' and Sashikumar's `Kaya Taran' will be the films screened for the inaugural and valedictory days respectively. Among the other films to be screened in the Indian Cinema category are `Imaginary Line', `Oorukku Nooruper', and `Bawander.'
Shyama Prasad's English film `Bokshu the Myth'will be screened in the Contemporary World Cinema category along with films from China, Hungary and Germany. New films from France and some fine representative short films from Mexico will complete the foreign flavour.
Films like The Conductor, Everything for Sale, Landscape after the Battle, Hunting Flies, and Rough Treatment by the Polish director Andrzej Wajda, will be screened in the Retrospective of Masters section. This will be one of the much sought after categories along with Marlon Brando's `The Last Tango in Paris' and four films of G. Aravindan in the Homage and Tribute sections.
Short classics
This festival will provide a rare chance to see some of the short fiction classics like Zoo, Wedding, Big City Blues, etc in 35 mm, along with many other memorable short films and documentaries.
The piece de resistance of the CIFF will be the three animation films by the Academy Award winning Australian cartoonist Bruce Petty.
The last time Kochi hosted a major film festival was way back in 1999 when the International Film Festival of Kerala was held here. Earlier, in the late 80s and early 90s the city did play host to a festival of Indian films, organised by the Kerala State Film Development Corporation and last year the Cochin film Society, along with the Chalachitra Academy conducted the Touring Talkies, a sort of weekend film festival. The CIFF will hopefully end the long drought.
K.PRADEEP
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
