Thanks to the awareness created by the film societies in Kerala, there’s a new generation of film-makers who make good films, noted director Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who heralded the film society movement with Chithralekha back in the 1960s, has said.
Inaugurating the 11th edition of the SiGNS documentary and short film festival, from which films will be selected for the prestigious John Abraham awards, at the Town Hall here on Tuesday, Mr. Gopalakrishnan said even some commercially-compromised films in Malayalam these days by young filmmakers displayed a refreshing treatment. “This is owing to the lasting impact that the film societies had made on them by screening films and having discussions on good cinema.”
Mr. Gopalakrishnan, however, rued that barring the Doordarshan, no television channel had a slot for documentary and hence the importance of festivals such as SiGNS. “It’s been conventionally believed by some that documentaries are drab, monotonous with long narration and the like. But documentaries are highly refreshing and vibrant. They tell you certain facts about things in an interesting manner.”
Earlier, he said the advent of digital technology brought about a revolution of sorts in film-making, as anyone with an idea could make a film.
He also outlined the switch from the Films Division produced news-based documentaries to near real-time news churned out by the television.
“While the Films Division shifted focus to narrative documentaries, it is on its death bed now. It turned into an agency of the government to further its propaganda, and has now been administered the last dose of medicine before an inevitable death. They aren’t recruiting people and the staffers are being retired one by one,” Mr. Gopalakrishnan said.
The SiGNS fest, which will screen over 100 documentaries, short films, focus films, films in the history of Indian cinema category, country focus films, resistance films, films as a tribute to departed directors and an artistic cinema package over the next four days, will have Amrit Gangar, film historian and chairman of the jury, delivering the John Abraham Memorial lecture on Wednesday.
