Government should play only a supporting role in art institutions and should let art flourish freely, actor Tom Alter has said. He was speaking after inaugurating the 8th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy at the Kairali theatre here on Friday.
“A couple of days ago, I visited the students who were protesting against the appointment of a new chairman at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune. I felt strongly about what was happening there as I had studied and had been associated with the FTII for long. The government runs that institute and it has the right to appoint the Chairman. But it is time for us to think deeply of the relationship between the government and art and on what role it should play. I feel that the government should play only a supporting role and let art flourish,” he said.
Mr. Alter said that documentaries can point us to where the problems lie, but cannot provide the solution. Film-makers should not leave the subjects they were tackling after the films are made. They have to get involved until a solution is at hand.
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“It is heartening to note that the mainstream Hindi cinema has started asking the hard and real questions. Our regional cinema, including Malayalam, has been asking these for several years now. Also, it is a positive thing that the right questions are now being asked whenever a riot or similar incident happens. Earlier when riots used to happen, we only used to say people of ‘one community’ attacked those from another community. But, now we have the courage to say exactly who did it and hopefully all of it will stop some day,” he said.
Rajmohan Unnithan, Chairman of the Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC), said that such festivals were being limited to a city or two.
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“There is now a situation wherein we can organise similar festivals in other parts of the State too, so that people there can also update themselves on the global happenings and take a look at our past, through the documentaries and short films. The KSFDC has also requested the State government to provide financial assistance to short films and documentaries based on artistic merit. The KSFDC is currently giving Rs.1 lakh to select short films and documentaries,” he said.
Secretary of Cultural Affairs Rani George presided over the function. Following the inaugural ceremony, the opening films Mat Kirkby’s The Phone Call and Javier Espada’s Following Nazarin were screened.
A total of 210 works from 35 countries will be featured in this year’s IDSFFK. The festival will be held at the Kairali, Sree, and Nila theatres. As part of the festival, national-level competitions will be held in short fiction, documentary, and music videos. At the State-level, a campus film competition will also be there. The focus of this year’s festival will be on animation films. The festival will conclude on June 30.