International Film Festival of Kerala: Requiem for argumentative delegate
There was a time when the IFFK delegate was as provocative as a boxing coach.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Last year at the International Film Festival of Kerala, young Cuban film producer Pablo Chernov suffered a major disappointment. Not that his competition film, 'Project of the Century', a searing allegory of life under Fidel Castro, did not win an award but that he was not asked a single question by the audience at IFFK. "It is generally known in independent film circles that the audience in Kerala does not care for reputation and could ruthlessly size up even the greats. As a Cuban I was even more thrilled to be at the IFFK as I had read that most houses in your land had pictures of Che and Castro," Chernov said right after an interaction session at IFFK, unable to swallow the shocking indifference he experienced just minutes ago.
"Weren't you the ones who gave lessons on Marxism to the Polish," Chernov asked, sarcastically. He was referring to the battle of wits Marxist intellectual P Govinda Pillai had with the great Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi at the Open Forum of the 4th IFFK in 1999. The highly regarded PG, still smarting under the knockout blow a trade union leader by the name Lech Walesa had delivered the Communist movement in 1990, attempted to lecture Zanussi on the movement's glories. Zanussi sat through the diatribe with a soft forgiving smile. It was aggression versus patience. And then, the master of the Polish New Wave, who had lived through the excesses of the Communist regime, told PG in humble inoffensive words why he was not impressed. It was erudition versus wisdom. Such intense arguments, which have become global lore, are no more heard at IFFK.
"Over the years, IFFK has changed in terms of participation," said award-winning film critic C S Venkiteswaran. "Participants have become younger, and there are more women, which in itself is very welcome. But what is unfortunate is delegates are interested only in watching movies. They don't want to discuss about it, and are not concerned about the context or the politics that had triggered the films," he said. This perhaps explains why the argumentative delegate is facing extinction. Democratisation of cinema, too, might have dulled the enthusiasm of the delegate. Cinema is no more an elusive art form, it is right between everyone's thumb and forefinger.
"Film schools have burgeoned, and visual communication courses have become all too common. What's more, cinema is part of school curriculum; 10thstandard students in our state now study the script of Majid Majidi's 'Children of Heaven'," said Prof I Shanmughadas, noted film critic. Cinema is no more fun, it just like biology or mathematics, better suited for the ambitious than the dreamer. At IFFK, the age of politics - a period when events at Poland or Iraq or Tunisia agitated the mind of the delegate - has given way to the age of technology where the focus is more on the process than on the emotion.
It was therefore only natural that the Open Forum, an almost chaotic event as quintessential to IFFK as its competition section, was wound up in 2012. Though the Forum was revived three years later, the gatherings felt more like a memorial service. The transition from the 'age of politics' to the 'age of technology' is also reflected in the choice of films at IFFK. "Earlier, we were not too eager for films that had won big at European festivals and Oscars. Now, third-world films, professedly the focus of the festival, are virtually crowded out by European films," said Jacob Mathew, a freelance lecturer of cinema aesthetics.
Even retrospectives of Third World filmmakers have vanished. This year, for instance, there are two retrospectives, that of Ken Loach and Mia Hansen Love, both European filmmakers. Auteurs of the third-world are forgotten. This year IFFK pays homage to the legendary Andrzej Wajda, not to the great Latin American filmmaker Hector Babenco. The arguments must have ceased but not the passion. Kim ki Duk had realised this in 2013 when he thought he could take a stroll around the leafy capital unseen. This man, who can easily go unnoticed in his native South Korea, was mobbed even by schoolchildren here. The Mexican great Arturo Ripstein too had confirmation of the IFFK delegate's all-consuming passion during the inaugural of the 19th IFFK.
Whenever the name Priyadarshan (who was then Academy chairman) was mentioned the thousands who swarmed the Nishagandhi open air auditorium badly strained their throats to express their ferocious disapproval of him. But the very same irreverent crowd broke out into an impromptu 'Happy Birthday' just when Arturo Ripstein announced he had turned 70 on the day. At first Ripstein did not believe that the crowd was singing for him. He moved away from the podium and stepped forward towards the edge of the dais, trying to hear better and just when he realised that the song was indeed for him he looked overwhelmed; he held his hands close like in prayer, and bowed. "You are the best," he cried.