A Punjabi feature film that evokes the fear and sense of doom in post-Operation Blue Star Punjab through tranquil, painterly frames — a rare coming together of art and politics in cinema; an abstract documentary that explores Koodiyattam through the life and recitals of a young exponent, Kapila Venu; and a film on the works of the renowned and versatile artiste, Atul Dodiya. These three unusual films — Gurvinder Singh’s Chauthi Koot (2015), Sanju Surendran’s Kapila (2015) and Kamal Swaroop’s Atul (2017) — were the undisputed highlights of the recent 12th International Film Festival on Art and Artist organised by the Jatin Das Centre for Arts (JDCA) in Bhubaneswar.
Aptly titled ‘Imaging The Arts’, and with a special focus on short films on the arts, craft, and literature, the festival received entries from over 15 countries, including Switzerland, France, Germany, Iraq and, of course, several from India. “There aren’t many forums for short films when they are an equally compelling medium as the feature film,” said Siddhartha Das, Vice-Chairman and Managing Trustee of JDCA, on the importance of short films.
What to shoot, how to shoot
The festival included a seminar titled ‘Cinematic Films on a Budget: Digital Filmmaking’ conducted by national award-winning documentary filmmaker, Nandan Saxena. “Many people own a DSLR camera but do not know the nuances of filmmaking. Nandan has perspective about what to shoot as well as how to shoot it,” said Das. Workshops, illustrated seminars and master-classes with various artistes, filmmakers and photographers drew crowds to the IDCOL Auditorium in the city.
From the forests
In her talk, Manisha Mohan, animator and the chief designer at Tata Interactive, spoke about the versatility of animation and computer graphics in education as well as in solving real world problems. Actor and director Nandita Das spoke about her upcoming film, Manto , starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Rasika Dugal. Renowned photographer Raghu Rai, who was the guest of honour at the closing ceremony, spoke about his experiences as an artiste, and treated the audience to the trailer of the documentary Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait made by his filmmaker daughter Avani Rai.
One of the older films screened at the festival was the Odiya film Maya Miriga (Mirage, 1984), shot on a shoestring budget in the temple town of Puri, about the aspirations, dilemmas and conflicts of three generations of a joint family. Directed by Nirad N. Mohapatra, the film played at several international film festivals in its time, including the Critics’ Week at Cannes. The unpretentious film was screened as tribute to its unassuming late filmmaker.
Mohapatra, a graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India, is best known for his documentaries, and a selection of them, spanning his entire career, was showcased at the festival: Ahilya ra Bahaghara (Ahilya’s Wedding, 2009), Chhau Dance of Mayurbhanja (1985), Dhauligiri Shantistupa (1974) and Pata Painting (1986).
Free fare
Refreshingly, the film festival charged no fee. “Even though the cost of hosting the entire festival was about ₹15 lakh to ₹18 lakh, we wanted it to be democratic. The idea was that the middle-class or the rich should not be the only ones to participate; we wanted lovers of the arts and film from all over to come together,” said Das. The organisers were also happy to note that the audience belonged to a younger demographic. “We were able to reach a larger audience this year. The atmosphere was vibrant and buzzing with discussions and interactions between artists and filmmakers and participants,” said Das.
The organisers’ vision for the next year is to reach out to colleges in the State.
“A number of students have shown interest in volunteering next year and we are hoping that colleges in and around Bhubaneswar will encourage them. The exposure to international artistes will help open their minds to world cinema,” he said.
Addicted to the big screen, books and binge-watching TV shows, the writer gets paid to combine her two great loves — words and cinema.
