Giuseppe Tornatore might not know that in far away Kerala, the name of his iconic film Cinema Paradiso is inextricably tied to that of a certified movie buff.
Thanzeer S., for whom that film opened the doors to a world hitherto unknown, is now a much sought after name for any information on the works of master film-makers from across the world. They call him ‘Cinema Paradiso Thanzeer.’
So, when his first short film ‘Ettam page’ (Page 8) gets ready to premier at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) next week, the expectations are sky high. The film, starring Vinay Forrt, M.R. Gopakumar and others, is on the turmoil of a journalist who handles the obituary page in a Malayalam newspaper. A decade ago, Thanzeer was confused about his next step, after failing Class X. “I was sent to my aunt’s house in Beemapally. There I started working in a video library, in the world cinema section. I was not familiar with the films displayed there. But, the things that the visitors used to talk about piqued my interest. It was Chribuna Viswas, a Professor at the University College, who asked me to watch Cinema Paradiso . That changed how I viewed cinema and over the next three years, I managed to watch quite a number of films,” says Thanzeer.
Minister’s offer
But, when the video library closed down, he was left in the lurch. Around that time, the then Minister for Cinema K.B. Ganesh Kumar who had heard about this young guy with a vast cinematic knowledge, asked him whether he wanted to work at the State Chalachitra Academy’s archives. Since then, he has been building up the archives here and giving his inputs to the selection of films at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK).
Personal collection
Later, he started his work in films by assisting film-maker Kamal in Celluloid . He has also assisted Anil Radhakrishnan Menon in two of his films. He has also been building his personal film collection, which he says, now has more than 10,000 films. Almost every other day, he shares a short review of a film which he has watched recently and liked. These recommendations from him have a considerable following online.
“Many of them keep asking me about my film and so I am scared at how they will like it, after so much expectation. I wanted to make a feature film for my debut, but when Shamsudheen Kuttoth came with this interesting script, I thought I will start with a short one,” he says.
