Romanian film ‘Hooked’ will kick-start the 11th edition of the annual Osian’s Cinefan festival, which will attempt to reflect the changing themes and trends in cinema globally.
The low-budget film by debutante Adrian Sitaru premiered at the 2008 Venice Film Festival and has since then picked up several international awards including the New Voices/New Visions prize at the Palm Springs Film Festival.
The current edition of the Osian’s Cinefan festival, beginning on October 24, will screen over 100 films, which are an eclectic mix of Asian, Arab and Indian cinema.
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“Instead of having a theme we have first looked at all great cinema and created a narrative from them. For example, we found that filmmakers in East Europe were fascinated by consumerism and new capitalism,” said festival director Mani Kaul.
“For filmmakers in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong the same consumerism had become very oppressive. And also for some filmmakers in the Middle East objects of consumerism have become objects of freedom,” Mr. Kaul said.
Apart from postponing the festival to October from July, the duration of the event has also been cut down from the usual 10-day affair to a week-long one.
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“Cinema is arising out. The purpose of the film festival is to consolidate the filmmakers and articulate the new movement,” Mr. Kaul added.
The 30-member festival jury will comprise of eminent personalities from diverse fields including photographer Raghu Rai, reputed Hindi writer Asghar Wajahat and Odissi dancer Shivani Vazir Pasrich.