Thiruvananthapuram: Members of various film societies in Kerala have seen Jirí Menzel films, way before IFFKers learnt to use the wedge above the ‘r’ in his name. P.C. Jose, now a retired bank official, was one of them. He would travel to film distributors in other districts to lug film spools to his home town Poonjar in Kottayam. To get ‘Olavum Teeravum’ he had come to Thiruvananthapuram. The box of film weighed 30 kilograms, but he didn’t mind the toil. “It was three times the size of a trunk. I was stronger in those days,” he says.
Jose would heave sighs of relief when he has to take 16 mm films, which are a lot lighter than 35 mm films. The films would be enjoyed in the company of fellow film enthusiasts at Poonjar Film Society. The societies would get films by European masters when Federation of Film Societies of India would distribute copies it procured from various embassies. That’s how Jose saw Jirí Menzel’s ‘Closely Guarded Trains’, which was screened at IFFK 2016. The politics and culture of Poland and Cuba would sneak its way into their discussions. He understands the value of film archiving. “Archivist P.K. Nair is as important to Indian as a Satyajit Ray. If he were not there, none of these movements would exist. There would be no film festival, no IFFK,” he says.
Does the Poonjar Film Society still exist? He says yes. Pala Film Society, some kilometres away, is also still active, he says. Some of the members have managed to hand over the baton to the next generation. His children try to hold world cinema screenings at the schools of his grandchildren. He has gone to Delhi and Kolkatta to watch IFFI. He would be on leave for almost a month to take part in festivals. Jose has been to 20 of the 21 editions of International Film Festival of Kerala. He missed just one. “I could not come last year. My mother was unwell,” he said.
