Hello Shrikant bab I have not written the article but it from Hindustan Times analyst, so you should accordingly address your querry of -- right place, time and person- to the concerned Reporter mog asundi
On Fri, Nov 27, 2009 at 5:48 AM, SHRIKANT BARVE <[email protected]> wrote: > Armstrong Vaz may have raised valid question, but it would have been at > right place and to right people and at right time had he participated in > OPEN FORUM on Nov. 25 at 1.30 to 2.30 pm at Chota Cinema hall. Manoj > Srivastav, S. M. Khan and Shankar Mohan All three Executive representing > Govt. organisation were present to listen to delegates. Report is published > on Daily IFFI bulletin published on Nov. 26, 2009 > > Open Forum has been conducted in every IFFI for last 25 years and on First > day, Executives representing Govt. Organization answers queries raised by > delegates. > > Shrikant Barve > > > Why IFFI is a decaying film festival > > http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2009-November/186371.html > The first few days of the 40th edition of the International Film Festival > of > India now on here merely confirms what I have been writing for years. If a > movie festival is to grow and develop, it needs a strong leader at the helm > of its affairs. Let me give the example of Cannes, a festival that the > Directorate of Film Festivals that runs IFFI has been so desperate to > emulate. Cannes, which opened in 1946, reached its undoubtedly premier > position on the world festival map through sheer stability. It had Robert > Favre Le Bret leading it for 30-odd years, Gilles Jacob for 20-odd years, > and now Thierry Fremaux would probably head it for as long, if not longer. > Therein lies Cannes’ one vital secret of success. > > Another major global festival at Venice, despite being the oldest having > begun its run in 1932, could never match up to Cannes. The reason is > apparent. For the first 50 years of Italy’s Republic, there were 60 > governments and as many heads of the Venice Film Festival. > > IFFI’s record is equally abysmal. In the past decade or so, we have had > directors come and go with the change of seasons. Deepak Sandhu, Neelam > Kapur, Shankar Mohan and now S.M. Khan have headed the Directorate but with > little success. To begin with, most of them have really not been keyed to > cinema. The last Director who had a fairly good sense of cinema was Malti > Sahai. Unfortunately, she was never given the kind of support by the > Directorate’s parent body, India’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry. > She left with a broken spirit and a demoralised Directorate. > > Although it has been discussed and debated for years that the Directorate > must be given complete autonomy to run IFFI with the Government being just > the funding, not executive, authority, precious little has been done in > this > direction. Even a few weeks ago, when I met Raghu Menon, Secretary in the > Information and Broadcasting Ministry, he said that IFFI must not be run by > the Government. > > But like many others who have shared this opinion, Menon would probably > push > IFFI out of his mind once the festivities end at Panaji. And the > Directorate’s Joint Director, Shankar Mohan’s words would prevail. “This is > a Sarkari Festival. What more can you expect?” And by 2010 November, when > the Festival’s next edition would begin, it would have covered a little > more > ground on its journey downhill. > > It does not, therefore, come as a surprise that this year’s IFFI has an > extremely poor content. In one of the Festival’s top category, Cinema of > the > World, there are neither big movies nor renowned helmers. Pedro Almodovar > (with his “Broken Embraces”) and Jacques Audiard (with his “A Prophet”) are > just about the exceptions. This appears to be the impression among the > Festival audiences as well. > > As far as the Competition is concerned, the canvas seems equally bleak, > with > a single ray of hope coming from Vimukthi Jayasundara’s “Between Two > Worlds”, which screened at Venice. I really wonder why a cinematically > engaging Konkani work, “Paltadcho Manis” (The Man Beyond the Bridge”) by > Laxmikant Shetgaonkar was not included in the Competition. Instead, we have > Atanu Ghosh’s “Angshumaner Chhobi” and Satish Manwar’s “Gabhricha Paus”. > Shetgaonkar was surprised that while his film was found suitable to open > the > Indian Panorama section, it was not considered worthy of competing with 14 > other movies. > > Judging these competing entries would be a five-member jury, headed by > Brazilian helmer Joao Batista de Andrade. The brochure says that his > “latest > film is “The Trunk” (1999)! Part of the jury is Indian actress Sarika, > whose recent claim to fame was “Parzania”. Is she important enough to be on > this panel? This is a question that has been making the rounds at the > Festival venue. Jean-Michel Frodon ( French film critic), Kenichi Okubu > (Japanese university lecturer) and Vic Sarin (film director from Kashmir) > are the other jurors. Hardly known in India, and relatively unknown even > in > their own countries. > > With a budget of about Rs seven crores that come out of the taxes that you > and I pay, IFFI has no business to squander the money on putting up a > festival year after year that shows no sign of perking up. Rather, it > exhibits a strong tendency to decline and decay. > > Shrikant Vinayak Barve > 9403175973 > > > The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Yahoo! Homepage. > http://in.yahoo.com/ > >
