My dear friends,
The arrival of Digital Technology and its application in different areas of audio visual medium is creating a total transformation in the concept of cinema that we experienced in the previous century. In this issue of e-cineindia there is an article on Nollywood, the film industry of Nigeria where cinema has become a home industry which is something unique in its very concept.

The article gives a clear picture of the Film Production, its distribution, and its exhibition in homes. Films are marketed just like vegetables and groceries in the provision shops.

The development is so fast, it is quite difficult to keep pace with it. By the time we are accustomed to some format, the new one arrives with a bang and the old one becomes obsolete.

However on the positive side, access to cinema, local or foreign is becoming easier and easier as the day passes. On the other side the thrill of enjoying cinema in a well equipped auditorium as a community viewing on a large screen is slowly losing its importance and charm.
Let us see how things take shape in the coming years.

With best wishes
H.N.Narahari Rao
Editor.

By Rafique Baghdadi
(2011 is the year to celebrate the 80th year of Indian Talkie. Our colleague Mr. Rafique gives a graphic description of the struggle that Ardeshir Irani, one of the pioneers of Indian cinema went through to make this historic film that heralded a new era of Indian Talkie with full of songs that still persists even today.....hnn)

Through all the high adventure and grinding endeavour covered over with starry-eyed romance, the development of the film industry has been a tale of interesting twists and incredible turns. Amidst all this, the name of Ardeshir Marwan Irani, the maker of the first Indian talkie will always remaining a shining streak. He shares his birth year (1885) with the printing of the first photograph of a meteor shower, the premieres of operas El Cid in Paris and Gilbert & Sullivan’s Mikado in London; this was the year also of the founding of the Congress Party in India. It would be another six years before Edison would come out with his motion picture camera (1891) and another twenty-five years by which Edison’s phonograph would be available (1910-14).

By 1913, India had made its first move, thanks to the pioneering efforts of another stalwart, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke. But it was Irani who led India into the then elite group of countries which had the capacity to produce a talking film. Working against heavy odds, without any experience in the field, it was only his strong spirit of enterprise and his rousing leadership that brought about the release of the first Indian talkie: Alam Ara – which on its release at the Majestic Theatre in Bombay (as it was then called), necessitated the deployment of police to control the crowds! Tickets were sold at twenty times the printed rates. Of course it was the novelty that attracted the thousands but that does not detract us from the fact that it was the first talkie made in India.
What were the makings of this pioneering spirit? What was his motivation to work through the myriad problems? And what were his credentials for such a venture? In fact there was nothing spectacular. He completed his education in JJ School and began his career as a school teacher; he then drifted to the posts of a Kerosene Inspector and a Police Inspector before he joined his father’s business of musical instruments and phonograms in Bombay. His foray into the film industry was by way of distribution of foreign films and in 1914 joined Abdulally Esoofally – a tent showman – and with him, acquired the Alexandra Cinema (Lohar Chawl, Bombay). Universal Pictures recognised the potential in this young entrepreneur and appointed him as their representative in India. While engaged in this activity he saw Phalke’s silent films and a new spirit stirred in him – he set up his first company ‘Star Films Limited in 1922. With Bhogilal Dave (of Sharda Company) a graduate of the New York School of Photography for his partner, the company produced Veer Abhimanyu (with Fatima Begum in the female lead) and a few more mythological themes. Seventeen films down the line they dissolved the partnership and Irani floated another company called ‘Majestic Film Company’ in 1924 which in its single year of existence produced fifteen silent movies.

Then in 1925, Irani, in partnership with Mohammedally Rangwalla and his old associate Abdulally Esoofally, set up his most famous unit: Imperial Film Company, which made sixty-two films and introduced several new actors, including Prithviraj Kapoor and Mehboob Khan. But its most famous product was, and always will be, Alam Ara, the first Indian talkie.

What inspired Irani to venture into this uncharted field – where capital, technology, and the skills of the existing artists were a constant, heart-rending challenge? It could have been anything: the Warner Brothers production of Don Juan (1926) or the 1927 production of Jazz Singer; or The Throw of Dice, a film based on an Indian subject; or the short reels displayed around this time by way of recorded speeches, songs and dances; or the screening of Showboat at the Excelsior in Bombay; or the fact that the country eagerly waited for its first indigenous feature talkie. Whatever it was, Irani now 46, was fired up: though there were 24 other talkies produced in the year 1931 (besides three in Bengali, and one each in Tamil and Telegu), none created so much excitement as Alam Ara (translated freely as Beauty of the World) produced under the banner of Imperial Films, directed by Ardeshir M. Irani and released on the 14th of March, 1931 at the Majestic Theatre in Bombay.

Alam Ara boasted of a star-studded cast:
Master Vithal, Miss Zubeida, Miss Shushila, Miss Jilloo, Elizer, Prithviraj and Jagdish as its stars, these being household names of the silent screen. More about them later.

In the mean time there were hundreds of hurdles to be crossed before this raging success could become a reality

There was the market to be considered: how many theatres in Bombay and across the film-going country had theatres that could afford to or otherwise accommodate the sound reproduction systems? In Bombay there were only six.

Cinema halls had projectors meant for silent movies – which were noisy! How long would cinema enthusiasts tolerate the irritation? Also, talkie projectors with sound amplifiers and appropriate loud speakers would have to be imported.

While the excitement of hearing actors talking reduced the interest in silent movies, a major question arose about the language for mass communication. Silent movies had a universal appeal insofar as there were no words to be heard and/or understood. Market segmentation took place by itself, giving each language a pride of place on its own. The south of India, for instance, which had hardly any presence in the ‘silent’ days, suddenly found its importance. Films came to be made in Hindi and translated into the South-Indian languages – but this turned out to be a costly enterprise. Studios therefore came to be set up in Madras and elsewhere. What was a problem for the Indian producers became, however, a total turn-off for foreign film makers and distributors.

It was not known at the time of these films whether songs as a major part of the entertainment would really be accepted. The introduction of ‘sound’ and the surfeit of songs interwoven in the story, it was feared, would undermine the value of the script/dialogue/story. But apparently, it was an unconscious tapping of a centuries-old tradition that had been lost along the way: Jatra and other forms of folk music for the lyrical propagation of teachings (Ojapali of Assam, Jashn of Kashmir, Kathakali of Kerala, the Leela of Orissa, the Swang of Punjab).

Thus, the Indian sound film of 1931 was not only heir of the silent film, but it had inherited something more powerful and broad-based. Into the new medium came a river of music that had flowed through unbroken millennia of dramatic tradition. Films as a new form of entertainment also killed the Jatras and other forms of drama; the new theatre was almost wiped them out

The songs were transformed through new instrumentation and largely western rhythms.

Then there was the equipment:
There were no sound-proof studios to aid production. The shooting had to be done at night. This meant huge lights. Irani is said to have managed with ‘half a dozen lights’. His studio was near a railway track which meant he was forced to shoot during the off-peak hours when the frequency of trains was low. Sound recording staff also had the job of driving away all the pigeons.

Ardesher Irani recording Alam Ara
Irani also brought in Wilfred Deming from the UK to help them in recording. Deming’s work of assembling the recording machine and explaining its working cost them a prohibitive hundred-bucks-an-hour. The never-say-die Irani picked up the technique within a month and did the recording with the help of his colleague Rustom Bharucha.

The cameras were outdated and generated a lot of noise – which competed with the dialogue in shots loaded with emotions or softly spoken passages. Irani had to use quilts and gaddas to dampen the noise. Hiding the mike from the camera was another technique to be mastered.

And then there was the new technology:
The raw stock, lab chemical and all the spares would have to be imported – which would take time and small numbers required would make it commercially unviable Fox Movietone had talkie-making equipment for newsreels in India and could be hired at night.

There were no technical devices like back-projection, dubbing, trolley shots, playback voices. Since there were no moviolas at that time even cutting was difficult. Early sound equipment was cumbersome and not very efficient. And finally there were the artistes:
Actors working in silent films had good looks and could act but now the voice became an important additional requirement. After 1931 many of the Anglo-Indian actresses had to leave because of their inability of speaking in Hindi – the first and most outstanding casualty among them being Sulochana (Ruby Myers): one of the most beautiful and the highest paid in her times. Singers would be needed as well as dialogue writers, music directors. Everything had to be planned from scratch. Irani helped in selection and rehearsal of tunes – with the harmonium and tabla as the only equipment, some times accompanied by violins. In the absence of playback systems all songs were directly recorded along with the acting (they worked with the single-system ‘Tanar’ recording equipment in which the sound goes directly to the picture negative. In the more versatile double system introduced later, picture and sound are kept separate, to be combined in the lab as one of the final step in production, giving flexibility in editing).

There was also the need for utmost secrecy! When Irani started Alam Ara he was aware that Madan’s in Calcutta were also working on their first talkie. It was a very unique race. And the secrecy was more than justified

Irani and his team met all these challenges with practically no help from foreign technicians or consultants; and it was with a mixture of great anxiety and excitement that the film was released on the 14th of March, 1931 – one month before the Madan Theatre’s : Jamai Shashti. It had taken all of four months to complete and the total cost came to Rs. Forty thousand. The film length was about 10,500 ft.

But the main question that remains is: Why Alam Ara? Actually it was an adaptation from popular stage presentation at that time; it had an Arabian Nights type aura and depicted the life of a sultan with two wives, one of whom was a slave girl. The original play was by Joseph David (affectionately known as Jeosab Dada), a person who was an incredibly talented personality, possessing equally facility in Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi, well versed in Scandinavian, Greek, Jewish, Egyptian, Iranian, Chinese And Indian Mythology And Literature. He was also an authority on Indian dancing and was a connoisseur of Indian classical music. By the time he wrote the screenplay for Alam Ara, he had written more than 100 plays, and here he has tried to create a fantasy that would appeal to all classes of people – so that the phenomenon of talking films could attain instant popularity.

The stars of the show:
Zubeida, the lead actress of the film and star of the times, was the daughter of the Nawab of Sachien and Begum Fatima, who is the first woman to become a film director in India in 1926 with her Bulbul-e-Paristan (The Nightingale from the Land of Fairies). Zubeida, who entered films at the age of 12, was 19 when she appeared in Alam Ara. Two years later, at the age of 21, she married the former Raja of Dhanrajgir. By that time she had acted in 36 silent films and 20 talkies.

Master Vithal who played opposite Zubeida was another top star of the day. He is said to have started off as an office boy and was given a break as a hero by Bhalji Pendharkar (Director). He later joined Sharda Films and became very successful, but as there were no monetary rewards for him there, he joined Irani’s Imperial Film Company for which he was sued by Sharda Films. Master Vithal was defended by none other than Muhammad Ali Jinnah who won the case. Vithal had done 5 silent films before he was cast for Alam Ara. The irony of his role was that in the first Indian talkie Master Vithal was asked to play mute – as he kept muffing up his lines!

Wazir Mohd Khan had come to see the working of the recording machine and was among the many people invited to sing. Irani heard him out and asked to sing a Persian song also. He finally gave him the role of an old fakir. The song sung by him came to be one of the most popular parts of the film:

News paper advertisement of Alam Ara.1931
The crew of the film:
Movie Banner: Imperial Films Company
Movie Director of Alam Ara: Ardesher Irani.
Music Director of Alam Ara: Firozshah Mistry, B.Irani
Screenplay and Story Writer of Alam Ara: Joseph Daid and Ardesher Irani
Cinimatographer of Alam Ara: Adi Irani
Editor: Ezra Mir.

(It is to be noted here that L.V.Prasad, the legendary South Indian Filmmaker and the recipient of D.G.Phalke award has acted in the film Alam Ara. As a poor boy interested in Cinema he went to Bombay and joined Kohinoor Studio where films were made. He worked as an errand boy till he got a chance to play a small role in this film, the first talkie film.)

Dhobi Ghat, publicized as an ‘art house film’ at the time of its release, is actually very different from what art cinema has been in India. Indian art cinema came out of government policy and still represents the kind of cinema which can officially represent Indian culture to the world. Art cinema, since it is dependent on government patronage, has needed to take its social / cultural responsibilities very seriously. This may explain why – after its best period in the 1970s and 1980s – Indian art films have generally dealt with issues – secularism, gender equality, human rights, the displacement of tribals, colonial oppression etc. – which get attention from the state. When ‘issues’ are not the focus, art cinema has tried to gain respectability by invoking classics of literature or traditional performance; it has ridden on the back of high culture to persuade the indifferent state that it is ‘serious’ about culture. This means that unlike any other ‘art house’ cinema in the world, Indian art cinema has been tendentious. It has either thrust messages down the throats of audiences or produced cultural artifacts which are boring, but which bureaucrats will consider suitable for public consumption. Kiran Rao’s Dhobi Ghat is unlike any of the art cinema seen in recent years because it does none of this, which is not to say that it does something strikingly original. Dhobi Ghat is set in Mumbai and deals with four different characters from different classes. The model may have been something like Alejandro Gonzalez Innarritu’s films - Babel (2006) or Amores Perros (2000). Kiran Rao uses Innarittu’s music composer Gustavo Santaolalla and that also suggests it.

In Dhobi Ghat Arun (Aamir Khan) is an artist and he meets Shai (Monica Dogra) an investment banker just back from the US. Shai comes from a rich family of builders and is interested in the video medium. Shai meets Arun at a party and, after drinking more than they should, spend the night together. Arun tries to withdraw – citing his aloofness – and this spoils the relationship. Shai, meanwhile, meets a dhobi named Munna (Prateik Babbar) and decides that she wants to videograph him extensively – where he works, what he does, his home life etc. Munna finds himself falling in love with Shai, who seems unaware of it. The forth character is a newly married Muslim woman named Yasmin (Kriti Malhotra) who one lived in Arun’s flat. She was a migrant and liked to shoot video footage of everything she saw in Mumbai. Arun, who finds the tapes she has shot, has no idea of what happened to the woman but it gradually comes to light that she killed herself because of her husband’s unfaithfulness. The most chilling episode in the film is Arun’s discovery that she hanged herself from the hook on the ceiling of his living room.

Dhobi Ghat
It may be apparent from the description of Dhobi Ghat that the film is primarily trying to get a cross-section of the public in a big city and explore the way different classes interact. The difficulty is that the single powerful element – Yasmin’s life and death – is not used to link the stories together – which is Innarritu’s method. It is, instead, Shai and her boring preoccupation with videography which hold the film together. And, unhappily, Shai is not interesting enough to hold our attention.

Another difficulty is that Kiran Rao has no eye for social conduct. There would, for instance, be no mistaking a video artist from a dhobi – so deeply is hierarchy ingrained in one’s social behavior in India. But Munna and Shai behave as equals, watch the same films, sit side by side in the same expensive restaurants and both seem equally comfortable – regardless of the milieu in which they appear together. Anyone who has seen an actual dhobi at work will also understand what an unconvincing dhobi Prateik Babbar makes in Dhobi Ghat. At the same time, Kiran Rao seems to go along with ‘realism’ i.e. the notion that hierarchy would make a romantic relationship between Munna and Shai impossible. Shai eventually goes back to Arun – and Munna facilitates it willingly.

Lastly, the greatest problem with Dhobi Ghat is perhaps Aamir Khan as Arun. Aamir Khan exudes a self-important air and even swaggers instead of walk. Arun describes himself as ‘shy’ or ‘aloof’ but Aamir Khan appears his usual self in Dhobi Ghat. Just as, after Ardh Satya (1983), Om Puri began to walk at all times like a policeman, Aamir Khan has not been the same after Lagaan. He is best in advertising shorts in which he is mimicking Nepali watchmen or other ethnic types and, when he is trying to be realistic, he is much less engaging. Since one is aware of Aamir Khan’s relationship with Kiran Rao, Shai’s charmed response to Arun also has the appearance of something forced by the director and one finds oneself wishing that she had found Munna the more suitable match.

Dhobi Ghat tries to do something different and one respects Kiran Rao for it but the film is amateurish in conception. Shai’s videography becomes an occasion for the film to catch ‘ordinary’ lives – tradesmen, people on the streets, elderly people etc. without implicating them in the story. In spite of all these efforts, it does not appear that it is catching life in the city and much of it looks forced – perhaps because the lead characters – excepting Yasmin, who has much too small a role in the story – are all so unconvincing.

By MK Raghavendra

NOLLYWOOD
(This is an interesting information that is available on the website. It is a classic example of how the technology is changing the very concept of production and exhibition of cinema. And we should remember that it is happening very fast)

Nollywood, Nigeria's booming film industry is the world's third largest producer of feature films. Unlike Hollywood and Bollywood, however, Nollywood movies are made on shoe-string budgets of time and money. An average production takes just 10 days and costs approximately $15,000. (Rs 7, 50, 000/-)

Yet in just 13 years, Nollywood has grown from nothing into a $250 million dollar-a-year industry that employs thousands of people. The Nollywood phenomenon was made possible by two main ingredients: Nigerian entrepreneurship and digital technology.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Lagos and other African cities faced growing epidemics of crime and insecurity. Movie theaters closed as people became reluctant to be out on the streets after dark. Videos for home viewing imported from the West and India were only mildly popular. Nigerians saw an opportunity to fill the void with products of their own.

Experts credit the birth of Nollywood to a businessman who needed to unload thousands of blank tapes and to the 1992 video release of Living in Bondage, a movie with a tale of the occult that was an instant and huge-selling success. It wasn't long before other would-be producers jumped on the bandwagon.

Currently, some 300 producers churn out movies at an astonishing rate—somewhere between 500 and 1,000 a year. Nigerian directors adopt new technologies as soon as they become affordable. Bulky videotape cameras gave way to their digital descendents, which are now being replaced by HD cameras. Editing, music, and other post-production work is done with common computer-based systems. The films go straight to DVD and VCD disks.

Thirty new titles are delivered to Nigerian shops and market stalls every week, where an average film sells 50,000 copies. A hit may sell several hundred thousand. Disks sell for two dollars each, making them affordable for most Nigerians and providing astounding returns for the producers.

Not much else about Nollywood would make Hollywood envious. Shooting is inevitably delayed by obstacles unimaginable in California. Lagos, home to 15 million people (expected to be 24 million by 2010), is a nightmare of snarled traffic, pollution, decaying infrastructure, and frequent power outages.

Star actors, often working on several films at once, frequently don't show up when they're supposed to. Location shooting is often delayed by local thugs, or "touts", who extort money for protection before they will allow filming to take place in their territories.

Yet Nollywood producers are undeterred. They know they have struck a lucrative and long-neglected market - movies that offer audiences characters they can identify with in stories that relate to their everyday lives. Western action-adventures and Bollywood musicals provide little that is relevant to life in African slums and remote villages.

Nollywood stars are native Nigerians. Nollywood settings are familiar. Nollywood plots depict situations that people understand and confront daily; romance, comedy, the occult, crooked cops, prostitution, and HIV/AIDS.

"We are telling our own stories in our own way," director Bond Emeruwa says. "That is the appeal both for the filmmakers and for the audience."

The appeal stretches far beyond Nigeria. Nollywood films are proving popular all over English-speaking Africa and have become a staple on M-NET, the South African based satellite television network. Nigerian stars have become household names from Ghana to Zambia and beyond. The last few years have seen the growing popularity of Nollywood films among African diaspora in both Europe and America.

"Look out, Hollywood," one exuberant Nigerian producer exclaims. "Here we come!" Courtesy : http://www.thisisnollywood.com/nollywood.htm

The task of any international film festival is to showcase the best of the latest productions happening world-wide. Like in Cannes or Venice, Toronto International Film Festival too excels in this respect. And the 35th Toronto International Film Festival staged from 9-19 September was no exception with its array of the world premieres of outstanding films. These films were presented in a separate category, elegantly titled as ‘Special Presentation’.

‘Special Presentation’, in fact, represents the cross section of contemporary world cinema, with regard to country of origin, genre and style. Out of the 59 films included in the section, US films claim majority with one third of the total followed by UK and France. As the festival puts it, the selections were done on the basis of either the quality of the films, the presence of brilliant actors or major filmmakers. The festival also reiterates that these are the ‘crowd pleasing films made by some of the most sought after directors working today’.

It is true that, with the exception of a few, the filmmakers are well established with their recognized earlier works. Undoubtedly some of them shine beyond our hope whereas the greater part does not satisfy our expectations. But the freshness of plots, treatment, characterization, style and tone of expression lingers in these films. And it is a matter of great appreciation that a few outstanding films of the year could also be fished out of this collection.

The Hollywood family dramas are exemplified by their skilful entwining of romance, humor and pathos. They draw the audience with their mesmerizing allure. Toronto International Film Festival also had it share of these kinds of films. Most of them deal with the intricacies of love and family life. The lovers keep on talking about true love and they act reversely. The conflict of love within the family grows beyond their control and eventually bursts to disaster. The same old wine, but strikingly, in new bottles. Even in this cliché of plots and treatments, films like Beginners and Rabbit Hole stands out with their exceptional brilliance of execution. Beginners by Mike Mills is all about the revelation of self discovery in a seemingly unoriented world of love, solitude and choices. The film has the twin narratives where Oliver, the protagonist interact with his seventy five year old ailing father who declares himself as a gay and the French actress who makes profound influence in his love life. Beginners is the personal journey of Oliver, often dwindling between past and present, offering his moods to transcend the limits of solitary human experiences. Rabbit Hole is a simple family drama, but with unusual charm and complexity alien to this sort of cinema. John Cameron Mitchell has effectively brought out the mental agony of Becca, who lost her son in an accident, extracting superb performance from the veteran actress Nicole Kidman.

A few other films could also be mentioned for their radiance and mastery of craft. John Curran’s Stone presents Hollywood’s most compelling dramatic actors, Robert De Niro and Edward Norton, in conflicting roles. 127 Hours by the Academy Award winner Danny Boyle has dexterously explored the true story of Aron Ralston struggling for his life in a fatal accident among the canyons around Moab. The Way is a remarkable film by Emilio Estevez depicting the bond between a father and son and a long pilgrim journey from Pyreness to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. It’s a Kind of Funny Story co- directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden is so witty but with the irony of life and mental degeneration. John Sayles’ Amigo has the authenticity of a historical recreation of the US occupation of Philippines in 1900. Passion Play ( Mitch Glazer),Everything Must Go ( Dan Rush ) and Henrry’s Crime ( Malcolm Venville) are some of the other US films of the section demanding our varied attention.

The French film L’Amour Fou was indeed the highlight of the ‘Special Presentation section’ of the Toronto Festival. A film with no casts, a feature length documentary one would call, set in the backdrops of the life and times of the internationally renowned fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, L’ Amour Fou’dwells on an extraordinary level of cinematic experience. His lover and long time business partner Pierre Berge picks up Yves from his memory. With its exquisitely patterned frames and the narrative taking the spectator to a world of eternal beauty, Pierre Thoretton, touches one’s heart with a feather composed of the stark loneliness of the great artist amidst the crowd of his spectacular shows.

Mothers
Mothers Mothers from Macedonia ( Milcho Manchevski) captivates us with its brevity and soul. The three short fictions woven into a single unit by the thread of the concept of mother hood, the film has more to ponder over the many facets of contemporary Macedonia.

Chris Kraus’ Poll Diaries, a co-production of Germany, Austria and Estonia, unlocks a lesser known page of Baltic history in the backdrop of a neo classical manor that hovers on the stilts above the sea in Estonia. The film takes us to the mysterious laboratory of Ebbo Schaefer, where the smell of death loiters in the dark shades and where so many ethical questions remain to be answered.

The two Indian Bollywood films that flavored the section were Mumbai Diaries ( Dhobi Ghat ) by the debut director Kiran Rao and That Girl in Yellow Boots by the accomplished director Anurag Kashyap. Surprisingly the films lack the regular characteristics of the trivial entertaining Hindi movies with the extravaganza of songs, dances and the color saturated takes and characters. The films are indeed a welcome

Dhobi Ghat
change in the Hindi film landscape, demanding serious attention and aesthetics. Mumbai Diaries chronicles the life of everyday Mumbai in subtle terms. Two characters simultaneously try to go to the inside life of Mumbai, one directly and the other indirectly. That Girl in Yellow Boot is more rational, less pretentious and goes to the bleak grounds of real Indian underworld. Shot in available light and unusual angles, Anurag Kashyap breaks the common narrative strategy with confidence and sense of discovery.

That Girl in Yellow Boot
‘Special Presentation’ had its splits of thrillers too. The Spanish film Julia’s Eyes by Guillem Morales precisely employs the potential of the camera to portray a woman coming to terms with the onset of blindness. The film from United Kingdom, Let Me In is more than a vampire movie, fabricated with an under aged romance, and draws into the world of struggles and isolation of childhood.

Made in Dagenham ( UK) by Nigel Cole has a content too political. It speaks about the strikes of female workers at Dagenham’s Ford factory in UK in 1968 and its resolution. Rio Sex Comedy is also political, but circuitously. Set in the backdrops of the infamous Vidigal Favela of Rio de Janeiro, the film, with its witty undertones, talk much about freedom and social justice. The films of the two accomplished actors of the Hollywood were of major attraction in the section. Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter ( UK ) and Woody Allen’s You will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger do not disappoint the audience. The Brazil- Spanish co-production Lope by Andrucha Waddington is the recreation of the life of one

Submarine
Submarine of Spain’s most prolific writer Lope de Vega. Julian Schnabel’s Miral and Richard Ayoade’s Submarine stands out with their outstanding treatment and storyline. The Canadian films too had its rightful representation in the section with meaningful ventures like Trigger( Bruce Mc Donald), Repeaters ( Carl Bessai) and Heartbeats ( Xavier Dolan).

Indubitably, ‘Special Presentation’ is the discovery of the 35th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. With an enthusiastic, disciplined audience, the festival serves its mission ‘to transform the way we see the world through the films’. It is indeed a meeting point of the filmmakers and industry supporters around the world. 300 films participating in various programs apart from ‘ Special Presentation’ like’ Gala Presentations’, ‘ Masters’, ‘ Discovery’, ‘Real to Reel’, ‘ Vangaurd’, ‘ City to City’, ‘ Wavelengths’ ‘ Midnight Madness’ etc conform to the claim of the festival as the ‘Festival of Festivals’.

Werner Herzog, who has become a legend in the world of cinema, was rightfully recognized by IFFK-2010 by conferring the ‘Life Time Achievement Award’ in view of his contribution to world cinema. Surprisingly Werner Herzog is very much active even at this age. He has come out with his latest work Cave of Forgotten Dreams ( 2010).

In his Cave of Forgotten Dreams Herzog takes us back to 30,000 years to bring before our eyes the Chauvet- Pont- d’Arc cave art of Southern France. He has shot the film in 3D format though initially he was dead against to employ the same. When we see the film we are convinced of the fact that 3D format is very apt in communicating the contoured surface on which the charcoal figures are drawn. The shots of the stalagmites like a crystal cathedral in the cave too provide an ethereal charm to the film. The accomplished cinematic genius of Herzog has given a fourth dimension to the drawings inside the cave. The works at Chauvet are breathtaking in their artistry and Herzog was successful in capturing its spirit fully.

The Chauvet – Pont –d’Arc cave was discovered only in 1994. Since then access to this age old artistic marvel was restricted due to concerns that over exposure, even to human breath, could damage the works. It is told that Herzog was granted extraordinary permission to shoot using lights that emit no heat.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams was inspired by an article by Judith Thurman in ‘The New Yorker’. In fact, she was denied access to this cave, but wrote the article with the help of photographs and interviews. Perhaps no other comment would be more authentic about the film than Thurman’s, ‘ Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a miracle’. Yes, it is really a miracle that happens once in a lifetime.

Indian films, especially films from Bollywood, have received wide acclaim over the past couple of years inToronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Truly speaking, Bollywood films are characterized by the extravaganza of song, dance and spectacular shows with stock characters and plots. TIFF-2010 had the Indian presence with some really good Hindi films, marking a welcome change from the customary rotten stuff from Bollywood. The Toronto media applauded the films counting it as a signal of new wave filmmaking in Bollywood. But, as we know, Bollywood has infrequently come out with some meaningful productions responsible for the emergence of uncompromising filmmakers, of course, with an unsuccessful box office history.

Dhobi Ghat
Dhobi Ghat ( Mumbai Diaries) by Kiran Rao from Aamir Khan Productions had its world premiere in TIFF. In the elegantly decorated Elgin theatre in Toronto Kiran Rao presented her film proclaiming, “This is not the usual film you see my husband in”. Aamir Khan also added, “This isn’t a Gajini or 3 Idiots”. Dhobi Ghat, though pretentious to some extent, dwells on a narrative quite unfamiliar to Hindi films. As Kiran Rao claims, it is her love letter to the city of Mumbai. The film explores the days of four characters in the rumbling city: Arun, a brooding painter, who just had a solo exhibition; Shai, an Indian American women visiting her family in the city; Zohaib nicknamed as Munna, a laundry man and Yasmin, a housewife. We see Yasmin only through her self- made videos on her handicam unfolding the sad plight of a Mumbai housewife who is transplanted from her village to the city. The plot underlining the discovery of Yasmin by Arun appears as the most attractive part of the film with its shocking revelation. The principal casts include Aamir Khan, Prateik Babbar (son of Raj Babbar and late Smitha Pateil ), Monica Dogra and Kriti Malhotra with their stunning performances.

Anurag Kashyap, though started his career in main stream Mumbai cinema, is now in the forefront of the new generation of Indian filmmakers with his films like Dev D and Udan.

Anurag was with his film That Girl in Yellow Boots in Toronto. This year another of his films, Udan, made it to Cannes and That Girl in Yellow Boots was premiered in Venice too. Set in a bizarre world of massage parlor with a glimpse of Mumbai underworld, the film portrays the search of a biracial women Ruth ( Kalki Koechlin) for her father. That Girl in Yellow Boots is more sincere in its approach to Indian realities. With misce-en scence imbibed in every frame, the film compresses people against Mumbai’s humid mass of bricks and concrete. The writer-director Anurag Kasyap was striking at the core of his film when he was addressing the international press at Toronto, “I am constrained by the moralities of my country, but I will keep on writing, because these stories need to be told”.

Soul of Sand
Apart from the glittering Mumbai film industry two other typical art house productions also made their appearance in Toronto in the prestigious section ‘ Discovery’: Soul of Sand ( Pairon Talle) by Sidharth Sreenivas and Autumn ( Harud ) by Aamir Bashir. Soul of Sand unveils the story of a watchman and his wife in the background of an abandoned silica mine in the outskirts of Delhi. The ‘honor killing’ and the oft repeated theme of ‘oppressed turns against the oppressor’ flows as the undercurrent of the narrative, of course with a different treatment. The story of Autumn happens in a border village between India and Pakistan that has witnessed thousands of deaths and disappearances since the outbreak of insurgency in 1989. In the film Rafiq, the younger son of the family, is in an unending search for his elder brother who is missing.

The Sound of Mumbai- A Musical showcased in the non-fiction category was a documentary film by UK based Australian filmmaker on ‘Bombay Chamber Orchestra’, who recruits kids from the slums of Mumbai. The film ponders over the dreams and realities of the eleven year old slum boy, Ashish.

West is West ( Andy De Emmony ) and Miral ( Julian Schnabel ) are , indeed, not films from India. But celebrated Indian artistes were the prime casts in these films. Om Puri was in the lead role in the UK film West is West, presenting the father in a Pakistani family carving out an identity for themselves in England of seventies. The singer turned actress Ila Arun is also casted in the film.The Slumdog Millionaire fame Freida Pinto was the lovely daughter in Miral, a co- production of UK, Israel and France.

In fact, India was a breathing aura in Toronto with its remarkable films, filmmakers and artistes. Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Anurag Kashyap and Freida Pinto made their immaculate appearance before the Toronto audience and international press. As an Indian, it was an unforgettable experience for me to witness India being recognized at an International Film Festival to the status of Toronto.

(Madhu Eravankara was a FIPRESCI jury in TIFF - 2010 )

HOW TO JUDGE A FILM?
By P.K.Nair
Sometime back an unassuming member of the judging committee for film awards, posed a pertinent question to his fellow members “ What’s the criterion for selecting a film for awards? “ This is a question which many an illustrious member sitting on judgment on someone else’s work must have posed. Granting film experience is a highly subjective one and all of us have our personal likes and dislikes, can we arrive at a consensus in working out the norms for judging films meant for mass consumption as well as artistic expression? On the basis of my vast experience in the field, I have attempted to put down some points, which could provoke further discussions.

CINEMA is an audiovisual experience. The Sounds and Visuals selected and put together by someone with a certain purpose. It may be for entertainment or enlightenment or for both. Watching film is a subjective experience. Even the person sitting next to you in the auditorium or your own family member need not experience the film the same way you do. In fact no two individuals experience the same film the same way. There may be some common reactions but not necessarily hundred percent the same. Because each human being is an individual in his or her own right With strong individual perceptions. It’s not proper to use the same yardstick to judge films of different genre and made for different purposes. Despite this inherent difficulty, some broad parameters can be kept in mind for arriving at one’s own assessment of a film while sitting in an Award committee. Incidentally these are my personal views and need not tally with someone else’s Films can be broadly classified either as Fiction or Non-Fiction. even though there are certain overlapping ones termed as “ docu fiction “ etc. Let us not go into those gray areas and for argument’s sake, and just stick to the two basic divisions for the time being. Perhaps the norms could be extended to other categories also with suitable modifications

Non – Fiction:
1. The purpose of the filmmaker - whether to entertain, inform, educate, motivate or self preservation

2. The selection of the subject has come from within or come as assignment from an outside agency.The filmmaker’s commitment to the issue tackled in the film and whether he/she has any definite point of view (P.O.V) and it has come out eloquently in the treatment or not?

3. Whether the filmmaker has used the basic audiovisual elements effectively, in communicating what he/ she wanted to convey?

4. Whether the film has succeeded in holding viewer interest irrespective of the nature of the subject be it of universal concern or not

5. Whether the expressive potentialities of the medium have been adequately explored to provide the viewer an experience that goes beyond the limited concerns of the subject in hand. and thereby lift the film from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

6. Whether any attempt has been made to explore the medium rather than sticking to conventional patterns of non-fiction filmmaking.

Fiction
1. The intention of the filmmaker – whether to entertain, enlighten, or both or for mere self-expression.

2. The filmmaker’s primary aim is for the box office or sharing personal concerns of society with fellow humans.

3. The characters are believable and true to life or the figment of someone’s wild imagination as if come out of a dream world and no relevance to contemporary life, even in a metaphorical sense, irrespective of the social norms of the period in which the film is set?

4. Whether the characters have their individual identities or conform to the worn out stereotypes we come across repeatedly both in the big and small screens?

5. The location and the ambience where the action takes place integrated with the cinematic space. Whether such characters as they delineate enhances the cinematic narrative or strikes a discordant note and reduces the seriousness of the main theme diluting and distorting it beyond recognition.

6. The treatment of the film gives the impression that the filmmaker has some respect for the viewer or just treat them with utter contempt and ridicule, and cash on their daily frustrations and unfulfilled desires The filmmaker’s attitude towards the viewer as reflected in the film’s narration – whether as equals, superior or inferior

7. Whether the vast potentialities of the ever-changing medium have been either fully or partially utilized to take the medium forward and providing an experience that the viewer can cherish beyond the limited viewing span of the film. In the final analysis whether the experience of the film leads you to a better understanding of life and human beings.

P.K.Nair


Brief Report on the visitors program of the Federal Republic of Germany.
February, 10 to 20, 2011. 61st Berlin International Film festival.
By H.N.Narahari Rao
It was a very pleasant surprise for me that when I landed at Berlin in the afternoon of 10th February, 2011, I was greeted with bright sun glittering over me. It was a surprise because many of my friends had told me that it would be the biting cold with snow that I had to face.

The moment I entered the hotel, our accompanying officer Mr. Nicolas Grossman greeted me with a smile that was with me throughout my stay at Berlin and it still persists when I remember him. Immediately after the check-in I got all the instructions that I had to follow and it was displayed on a flip chart kept at the hotel lobby which later became the meeting point for all of us, our fellow delegates, who had come from 16 countries around the world.

I had a long journey, almost 11 hours, but all my fatigue took the back seat when I was asked to be ready to attend the inaugural function of the Berlinale. We were all ready in the evening. We attended the inauguration, not exactly live, but at another theatre where it was relayed live. The red carpet, the dignitaries, the glamour of the artists and the directors Coen brothers of the inaugural film True Grit, followed by dinner marked the end of the eventful first day of our visit.

Our formal acquaintance with Goethe Institut dignitaries and our accompanying officers and our fellow delegates from other countries, introduction to the schedule for 10 days of our stay at Berlin took place on the 11th Feb, morning at our Hotel NH Berlin-Mitte. At the very outset the detailed hour to hour programme gave us a fairly good idea of the events that were to follow in the subsequent days.

Ms, Angelika,MP- addressing the visitors.
One of the most important visits took place on the very first day itself when we visited the German Bundestag. We had an hour long discussion with Ms. Angelika Kruger-Leissner, member of the parliament, in charge of the Film Policy. It was a very interesting session and some of the policy decisions taken by the Government were spelt out by Ms Angelika. Basically she has a passion for cinema and she was in a hurry to book tickets at the Berlinale for seeing films, and that itself was an eye opener for us. We all felt happy to know that as a policy, to see that people living even in rural areas in Germany can have the opportunity to see films on a large screen in a dark theater the Government has mobilized 16 million Euros for putting up state of the art theatres. It was also interesting to note that there is no quota system for occupancy in public theatres for German cinema as it exists in some of the other countries. It was a very fruitful discussion that we had and the interaction was very friendly and very cordial.

With Ms Marina Ludemann at Goethe Institut.
In the evening of 11th Feb, we had a meeting at the Goethe-Institute Berlin where we were introduced to German Cinema, Television and Radio and the structure of the Berlinale 2011, including its birth and evolution. Most importantly all the visiting delegates made their self introduction through power point presentation and that made things easy for us to become closer to each other.

On the subsequent days there were many schedules and many of them were optional giving us scope for attending film screenings also. Most of the visits were carefully designed to give a very good insight into the subject of cinema that we are basically interested and also to know something about Germany, its history and its people.

We had a good glimpse of highlights of German cinema section presented at the festival, presented by Ms.Anna de Paoli. This was on 12th Feb.

And the most interesting, for me, was the Video Bus tour that took place on 13th Feb. To go round the city of Berlin by itself is an interesting journey and to do it with the background of cinema is something more exciting. The bus that took us around was well equipped with the DVD system and large number film clippings that were shown right at the spot where it was shot and we actually stood there for sightseeing. It was really great.

Video Bus Tour
The film expert who accompanied us as the guide explained to us with the help of the clippings of the films: The Lives of Others, Wings of Desire, Goodbye Lenin, Around the world in eighty days, Run Lola Run, and many other American classics, that were shot particularly in the erstwhile GDR, all stood true testimony to what we had seen earlier and now in the clipping and exactly at the place of actual location. It was really an enjoyable experience.

As a student of cinema I evinced keen interest in visiting Studio Babelsberg AG that brings back to us the memory of the birth of cinema, the silent era and its evolution to the present state. The history of the silent era and the golden age of German expressionist cinema such as Metropolis, The Blue Angel, and many others that we have seen many times in our film society circle were all shot here. The well equipped studio with its various departments like Costumes, Sound recording, Floors with settings, and the erected streets of Berlin city all gave us a refreshing experience.

Mr. Rao with Mr., Speck
For me, as a curator of films for film festivals another important session was discussion with Mr. Wieland Speck, Director Panorama section of Berlinale and with Mr. Christoph Terhechte, Director of Forum section of Berlinale.

Mr. Rao with Mr., Speck.
It was a very candid question and answer session that we had with Mr. Speck, who regularly appeared at the Panorama section screenings at the Cinemax theater. It was interesting to note that out of the 300 films that come, around 40 are selected for Panorama and in the recent years the Documentary films are gaining more and more importance. He also stressed the importance of visiting various countries and different festivals around the world throughout the year scouting for good films. It is also a point to note that films that are shown in other festivals are not normally accepted at Berlin. Interestingly he made a remark that Arts cannot be democrat- You have to insist on quality and take decisions independently. It is also his experience of over 30 years that makes him take important decisions interacting with other sections such as competition and Forum that they make the programme with a consensus approach.

Mr. Christoph Terhechte, Forum section –with us.
Forum section, on the other hand is a unique one, in the sense that it has abundant scope with no constraints on innovation. It is open for independent films. This is the section which receives film in large numbers. Mr. Christoph Terhecchte admits it is quite a thrilling experience to view thousands of films and make the final selection. Our decisions are always subjective and sometimes opinions differ so much that it ranges from best to the worst. This by itself is the essence of this section, he remarks. There is no quota system for the countries. It is purely on merit. Sometimes some countries may not be represented at all. Normally emphasis is given to experimental work, essays, avant garde, political reports etc.

Visitors with Mr. Max Maldacker at the Foreign office.
We had a lively Lunch session at the AUSWARTIGES AMT, Federal foreign office, on 15th Feb. It was lively because we had a free session with informal discussion on issues that interests us. Mr. Max Maldacker, Head of Division: International Cultural Projects enthralled us with his humorous talk. His interaction with every one of us in a very relaxed and light hearted way was a refreshing experience for us.

Dr. Rolf Giesen, film historian – addressing us.
Another session which I opted to attend was with Dr. Rolf Giesen, film historian who talked on How to sell moving images tomorrow. He was not very specific about things that may take shape in the future in the light of fast developing IT sector that may play a very major role in selling films on-line in the coming years. One interesting comment that I remember he made was, he is of the opinion that Asian philosophical outlook of life may bring more contentment for the mankind than western philosophy of scientific analysis and its never ending search for technological innovations. He is very particular that using Internet for positive education must be our motto for the future.

Film screening room in Berlin.
We had two long sessions of screening of films made by the visitors. Our colleagues came from different parts of the world, totally 16 countries were represented and except the two feature films all were short films. The screenings were arranged in a small,l very cozy hall that resembles a film society type projection system. It was a very nice gathering with mutual respect.

Concluding part of our visits was the visit to the Museum for film and Television. Displays of the screenings on the monitors of the history of the early cinema from the genesis to the present day modern cinema were on view at the museum. Just glancing through them gives us a brief history of German Cinema – One interesting display is the model that depicts how Fritz Lang made sky-scrapers, helicopters and Airplanes flying, trains and cars moving for his film Metropolis.– all made in the studio with the help of a few artists who did the miniature modules. It was an educative visit.

Mr. Martin Jabs, Dr. Olga Ulrike Gabelmann, Nicolas Grossman were the key figures who guided us throughout our stay looking after each and every aspect of our requirement and helping us to make it the most enjoyable and comfortable stay at Berlin.

On the last day of our visit, our accompanying officers took us round for a sightseeing visit by walk. It was a great experience to visit some of the great monuments, museums, Brandensberg Gate, Reichstag, Check point Charlie etc. But it was a moving and touching experience to visit the Holocaust memorial built for the murdered Jews. It is a grim reminder for all of us- the mankind.

Ms Nisha Anders at the Farewell dinner.
We had a farewell dinner at the Goethe Institute, 19th Feb with all the visitors participating in it. Ms Nisha Anders and her colleagues of the Institute deserve to be richly complimented for all the hospitality they showered on us.

Films at the Festival. I was able to see some 20 films including, True Grit the inaugural film, 6 in the competition section and remaining in the panorama section. It was my desire to see Bela Tarr’s Turin Horse and I could make it. But I was not able to see the award winning film Asgarh Farhadi’s Iranian film A Separation as I was pre occupied with other compulsory programmes. I am making a separate article on the reviews of the films that I saw.

It is not often that we get an opportunity to visit a country like Germany, an esteemed nation, that too to the historical city like Berlin to attend the celebration of cinema at one of the most prestigious event - 61st Berlin International Film Festival. I really consider it as a great privilege. I gratefully acknowledge the courtesy extended to me by the German Consulate, Bangalore and the support received from Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore.

H.N.Narahari Rao India

Meeting the Film-buff Extraordinaire
The Cinema of Trinidad
Manoj Barpujari
Last December, as the Hafeez Karamath Journalism Fellow, I went to the campus of the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad. The sole aim on my first ever visit there was to get acquaintance with the faculty of film studies. I did not have any previous knowledge of the faculty member or its location inside the sprawling campus. With much loitering, finally I could arrive in the film department of the university. There were a number of students and two teachers with them whom I got introduced with immediately. The teaching staff members were Bruce Paddington and Yao Ramesar both of whom I found very learned and cooperative to my benign enquiries. The film department in the University of W. I. was started in 2006. It has three full-time and six part-time lecturers. Most of them are professional film-makers including Paddington and Ramesar. The department offers a one-year photography course and a three-year degree course to 20 students. The later one gives specialization from second year onwards.

As I found out, Paddington represents everything film in the Caribbean region: apart from being a university lecturer for film and video, he is a co-founder of the award-winning Banyan Production Company and a member of countless Caribbean film and video initiatives and an avid guerilla film-maker and TV producer. Having been aware of the Guerilla Film movement of Latin America, the question that shot up my imagination was how he could be recognized as a guerilla film-maker. What he replied me was really an account of a keen lover of the medium. Paddington was a film student at Hornsey College of Art in London when he got impressed with the radical South American film The Hour of the Furnaces directed by the legendary Fernando Solanas. Then he went on to direct a documentary in that vein The Survival of the Black British that was screened at the Paris Pullman cinema in London. Paddington came to live and work in Trinidad in 1972 and began teaching film and video to students at Fatima College from 1973. The college owned one of the first Sony half-inch black and white Sony Camcorders that at the time were called ‘guerilla camcorders’. His students made a video on drug abuse using this equipment as well as a short 16mm film. In 1974, he formed Banyan Productions that was committed to producing socially relevant developmental video productions with an emphasis on local culture. ‘We worked collectively developing scripts using improvisational techniques and soon received commissions from the local TV station, UNESCO and the International Planned Parenthood Federation. This international recognition came just in time as for a while we were soon banned by the only TV station of the country, Trinidad and Tobago Television, for our radical work’ – Paddington relished his past nostalgically.

Later in 1992, he produced And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon under the banner of the Banyan Productions that focused on cultural imperialism. It was commissioned by the BBC and a consortium of television stations, translated into six languages and broadcast to over 160 countries. It was also shown at a number of international film festivals and won various prizes. In his long cherished career he has directed and produced over 500 films and television programmes. His recent documentary The Mennonites of Belize was awarded best educational and cultural programme at the 2007 Caribbean Broadcasting Union Awards. He has taught film and communications at various North and Latin American universities at Toronto, Ottawa, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Milton Keynes, Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico etc. He occasionally writes on photography, painting and others apart from cinema for different journals. Among them his thought-provoking and engaging interview with the celebrated Cuban film director Humberto Solas is specially mention worthy.

Ramesar, on the other hand, is another name to reckon with in Trinidadian cinema. He has won numerous awards across the continents and his work has been broadcast and exhibited all over the world. He holds a B.A (Film Production) and M.F.A (Film Directing) from Howard University, Washington D.C., where he studied under African filmmakers Haile Gerima and Abiyi Ford. His name looks like having Indian ancestry and true to my guess he has, though born in Ghana to parents of Indian origin. His most notable works were Sistagod (2006), the first of a trilogy, that became the country’s first feature film to gain official selection at a major international festival, Journey to Ganga Mai which won the Saraswatee Devi Award in 2000 and Mami Wata, the winner of Paul Robeson Award and Critics Choice Award at the Global Africa Film Festival, both in the US. Ramesar has created over 120 films on the people, history and culture of Trinidad and Tobago and many of his films were screened in more than 140 countries. He is acclaimed as a cornerstone of the emerging local and regional film culture. His contribution to Caribbean cinema is widely recognized at a young age which is evinced in his biography titled ‘Phenomenology’s Material Presence’ written by Gabrielle Hezekiah. The book was published in 2009 by Intellect Books in UK and Chicago University Press in the US. Ramesar’s aesthetic sense is deemed as ‘Caribbeing’ and this filmsense is characterized by an almost exclusive reliance on sunlight to illuminate the people and landscapes of his films.

Paddington made it a point to draw my attention that 2006 was a significant year in cinema of Trinidad. This is mainly for three reasons: (1) the department of film studies in their university was established in that year; (2) the prestigious and international T & T Film Festival began the same year; and (3) the T & T Film Company was formed which intend to provide all things a healthy film industry needed. ‘The Film Company (TTFC) provides logistical support and core services such as location scouting, research and acts as a liaison with industry partners, the community, production houses and Government agencies. This support and service is provided from the initial contact to the close of production.’ – informed Janine Charles-Farray, the Marketing Officer of TTFC. On enquiry, the company provided me a list of films made in the country which included films produced and directed by local and foreign film-makers on Trinidadian location as well as films made by local producers around the world. The list is not big. But the overall atmosphere is encouraging with students in two universities are presently jumping on the fray with their graduating films and some are working on upcoming projects.

It is noteworthy that a widely successful film with money coming from the USA was made in 2007 that heralded a new era of cinematic exploration in the Caribbean nation. It was called Contract Killers (2007), ‘a formula picture’ made in Hollywood style. ‘It was produced by G. Anthony Joseph. Despite his success in Trinidad, Joseph was convinced that his future was in the United States, so he moved to Hollywood and made this high-octane action movie. But of course its budget was not so big one compared to other studio films made in Hollywood; rather it was produced on a moderate budget’ – said Yao Ramesar while recounting some of the movies made by the Trinidadians. It was followed by another film of same genre titled Backlash (2007). Then came Dulha Mil Gaya (2010) which was actually a Bollywood film shot in some exotic T & T locations.

It is a matter of pride for me that being a film festival regular in India and abroad, I met the Festival Director of the T & T Film Festival who was none other then Bruce Paddington. One must adore him for his relentless crusade to put cinema of Trinidad on a respectable course. He has taken a pivotal role in forming a film policy of the government. Everybody is aware of what film culture can do for uplifting cultural and aesthetic mores of a nation. Even the celebrated Trinidadian writer and Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul said, ‘the future of creative expressions may not lie in books, but in films.’ With this motto in mind some really committed people of the island nation are setting their targets on creating an economically-viable Caribbean film industry within a decade and gave birth to many initiatives including the Kallisti Project. Paddington was the topmost important member of the film industry team when they prepared the strategic plan for the film industry of T & T on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Standing Committee on business development in 2005. Their aim was to guide the government to harness the potential of a creative industry like cinema. The government is also working to promote T & T as a location for filming with a Caribbean background and to develop a national consciousness supportive of the industry.

With this backdrop in mind, I also paid a visit to the office of the T & T Film Festival at Belmont, Port of Spain. It was a quiet afternoon and equally nice to talk to the festival administrator Skye Hernandez, a well-behaved lady at the helms of affair. ‘The festival has grown in stature. It has roped in sponsors and film personalities too from the outside world a few more than the previous year’, she asserted. The festival is supported by the T & T Film Company, a state enterprise. In 2008 the cable television provider Flow became the festival's presenting sponsor, and the festival expanded further to include technical workshops, and began a partnership with the University of the W. I. The 2009 festival saw the inclusion, for the first time, of jury prizes. In 2010 the festival entered into partnerships with the Zanzibar International Film Festival. The TTFF also has a partnership with Studio Film Club, a weekly Port of Spain cine-club, run by the artist Peter Doig. Going through the well-planned and flawless festival book, I found that there were 20 narrative features, 18 documentary features and 30 shorts shown in the latest edition held in 16-29 September, 2010. Besides other programmes, all the film screenings were run twice in five venues around the nation.

In keeping with its tagline – “You’re in Focus” – the festival is committed to promoting the culture of viewing indigenous films throughout T & T by hosting film screenings in communities outside of the main urban centres. These screenings are free of charge to the public. A commendable job is indeed. A fact an international organization like FIPRESCI, the Paris-based international federation of film critics, would like to appreciate most. I being a member of this organization was quite happy to note it down. One of the main features of the festival is the awarding of prizes to the best films. A jury, made up of local, regional and international film industry professionals, awards prizes for Best Feature Film, Best Short Film and Best Trinidad and Tobago Film. Each award comes with a significant cash prize. In addition, there are audience awards for Best Dramatic Feature, Best Narrative Feature, and Best Short Film.

The year 2011 is a significant year in the history of cinema in T & T. The year marks the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first cinema in Trinidad. The cinema was called the London Electric Theatre and opened its doors on February 2nd, 1911. It screened English films at that time. Though the country has strong Indian connection, yet it took almost quarter of a century to see an Indian movie. It was on December 3rd, 1935, when the Globe Cinema at Port of Spain had shown Bala Joban, the Hindi movie brought to Trinidad by one Ranjit Kumar. ‘This film re-ignited images and linkages with India’, told Primnath Gooptar at a special presentation held at the theatre of NAPA (National Academy of Performing Arts is a huge complex with distinct architectural design and built with Japanese technology at the capital city). On December 2nd 2010, I happened to attend the presentation which was a part of his research as a PhD student at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain. Although Gooptar is a former primary school principal and has even served the World Ramayan Conference as its Secretary in 1998, his keen interest in cinema is vindicated by his hard work on the subject which was ‘75 Years of Indian Cinema in Trinidad’. He has conceptualized Indian cinema as part of local history in specific entertainment context. He identified three periods in Indian cinema showing how the filmi songs, music, dances, costumes and larger issues were tagged to the psyche of local East Indian as identity linkages between themselves and India. Those periods are (a) the ‘era of singers and actors’ during 1935-1948; (b) the ‘golden era’ of Indian movies during 1949-1969; and (c) the ‘contemporary and modern era’ starting from 1970 through 2010. While showcasing influences of Indian film songs on the local psyche, he pointed out that the Government of India once viewed the Bollywood style of film music as corrupting people and even the All India Radio banned broadcasting of film songs in late 1950s. But Trinidadian Indians celebrated and even supported Soca music composed out of popular Hindi film songs.

But in times of new technological breakthroughs invading the world of cinema, has the culture of cinema ever decreased in Trinidad? This question rose in my mind too while I passed by any ‘Movie Towne’ in various places in the island nation. It is a chain of movie theaters built in different towns and cities. The Port of Spain Movie Towne has ten cinema screens, a shopping complex, restaurants and video arcade within the beautifully designed and decorated multiplex. Each theatre is identified with numerical number. I sat through one of its screenings on the evening show of a Denzel Washington-starred Hollywood blockbuster Unstoppable. The experience of film-making is not very rosy in Trinidad as moviegoers make beelines to see Hollywood-Bollywood kind of films only. Yet cinema thrives to fulfil aesthetic desires of the creative people. There lies the indomitable spirit, the resilience of cinema which some would like to describe as ‘the most important of the arts’

SMARIKA
Remembering the immortal musician who Created immortal songs.
Sachin Dev Burman (1906 – 1975)
Film Society of Jodhpur, a pioneer Film Society, now in its 42nd year published Smarika a book that profiles the career of one of the legendary figures in our film music, S.D.Burman who held the connoisseurs of music spellbound during the golden age of Hindi films from 1940 to 1970. Even today after several decades when we listen to those pieces, Mera sundar sapna by Gita Dutt, in Do Bhai, Upar gagan vishal by Manna Dey in Mashal, ye duniya agar milbi jayeto kya hai by Rafi in Pyaasa, Nain diawane by Suraiya in Afsar, Rote rote guzar gayi, by Lata in Buzdil, Jeevanke safar mein by Kishore in Munimji, Jayen to jayen kaha by Talat in Taxi Driver, Teri Duniya mein by Hemant in House No.44, Saiyan dil me Aana re by Shamshad in Bahar, and many other songs sung by a galaxy of singers, we get up from our slumber and listen to it with all the attention that we can mobilize. This is the magnetic effect of the melody that was created by Burmanda who ruled the film-music kingdom of India for over three decades in his hey days.

The variety of songs he created with his magic tunes in classical, in folk, tribal music, western, cabaret, devotional and many other styles are creations which remain immortal in our music heritage. The book which is edited by one of our most respected film society activist and veteran, Prof Mohan Swaroop Maheshwari, contains articles written by eminent persons that cover the life and achievements of this great musician. The book is definitely a collector’s item, particularly for those who love nostalgic memories of that period of music melody created by a galaxy of Music directors like Burman, Naushad, C.Ramchandra, Anil Biswas, Shankar Jaikishan and many others who figure in that illustrious list.

For copies of the book pl.contact:
Film Society of Jodhpur, 762,5th Road, Sardarpura, and Jodhpur-342003.

Review by
HNNarahari Rao