Asia on celluloid

Osian Film Festival was a cinematic extravaganza with films by Naseerudin Shah, Stanley Kwan, Mohsin Makhmalbaf only a sample of what was on offer

Nasrin Sultana Delhi

The red carpet was laid, the stars walked in, lights sparkled, people queued up, cameras flashed and thus started Osian's Cinefan, Eighth Asian Film Festival, in Delhi’s Siri Fort, held on 14 -23 July. In rhythm of the Jaisalmer folk musicians' performance, Rajat Kapoor on behalf of Osain's Cinefan welcomed everyone to the sapno ki duniya (world of dreams). Delhi chief minister Sheila Dixit inaugurated the festival by lighting the “Light of Asia”.

The festival of almost 140 films from 40 countries began with the world premiere of Pan Nalin's Valley of Flower featuring Naseeruddin Shah, Milind Soman and French actress Mylene Jamponai. Pan Nalin director of Samsara, said, "Making Valley of Flowers was much more difficult than Samsara." While introducing the cast and crew of the film, Nalin called Naseeruddin a "national treasure of India."                                                                                                                   

The Asian Competition had a collection of films from Iraq, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia packed with some latest offerings from Sri Lanka, Iran, and Indonesia. In this section, Ceasefire (Iran, 2006) directed by Tahmineh Milani, Dosar (The Companion, 2006) by India’s own Rituparno Ghosh, The Dreams (Iran, 2005) by Mohamed Al-Daradji were the most popular films.

Ceasefire is a satirical film, which shows the troubled life of an Iranian woman after her marriage. However in this film the woman is not shown as only the victim of circumstances; the protagonist possesses agency and is able to negotiate through life through her initiative.

Presenting Dosar Rituparno Ghosh announced, "Konkona's performance and the background score by 21 Grams is the USP of the film." In complete black-and-white, Dosar is an urban tale of infidelity and its effect on a marital couple portrayed by Konkona Sen and Prosenjit.

The eleven films in the Indian Competition included Eternally Secure, Herbert, Just for a Moment and It Could be You. Suman Mukhopadhyay's debut film Herbert intertwines two time frames: past and present.

The Cross-Cultural Encounters section had some popular films like American Blend (USA, 2005) directed by Varun Khanna, Hidden by Michael Heneke and Zozo by Josef Fares in its offerings.

The section entitled “Arabesque” showcased Paradise Now, directed by Hany Abu Azad and Nidal Al-Dibs’ Under the Ceiling. Asian Frescoes featured some of the finest films in the festival namely Mohsen Mahmalbaf's Scream of the Ants, Sex and Philosophy or Eric Khoo's Be with Me, John Williams' Star Fish Hotel (2005) or Huang Jinxin's Gimme Kudos. Scream of the Ants, largely shot in India, is about a girl who is married to an atheist and comes to India searching for truth about life, death and god. Sex and Philosophy is about honest love between four girls and their dancer lover.

 The most acclaimed films in the Indian Osean section were Anjan Das' Faltu and Rahul Dholakia's Parzania. The Arindam Choudhury produced Faltu is about a fatherless son, who tries to discover his identity, only to find that his mentally unstable mother had been raped by every male in the vilage.

The Eight Osian's Cinefan Film Festival celebrated the 2550th birth anniversary of Buddha, with films like Conrad Rooks' Siddartha (1972). The festival paid tribute to the great Indian master Ritwak Ghatak, Stanley Kwan, and four films under the banner of New Theatres.

Stanley Kwan, producer-director from Hong Kong said, "I’m very happy that my films have always been well-received by the people here.

Apart from a wide range of films, the festival also had other sections like Infrastructure Building for Minds and Markets (IBM2) and Talent Campus of India. IBM2 had been the platform for some hot debates, panel discussions and conference on topics such as “The Limits of Screenwriting, Cinema and Historical Sensibility”, “Independent Cinema: The Politics of Production and Distribution” and “Art as Knowledge and Education and Censorship”.

Talent Campus attracted 56 young people from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The young talents were exposed to a range of topics. They had the good fortune of learning from a master like Jean-Claude Carriere (French screenplay writer). Among other professionals who participated were Stanley Kwan, Pan Nalin, Santosh Sivan, and Sunil Doshi.

When asked about this section, the young felt privileged to have attended these workshops. Syed Mohammed Yunus, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia said, "What we were not taught in college is what we were taught here. Earlier we were a bit confused about different aspects of filmmaking, we are better informed now."

Osian's Cinefan presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Peggy Chiao, eminent author, critic and producer for her distinguished contribution to Asian cinema. She has been a promoter of Taiwanese films for the last 22 years and has many books to her credit.

The film festival offered a platform for debutant filmmakers and their films. Prominently featured were The Dawn, the first film from Oman and Today and Tomorrow, the first from Saudi Arabia.

In the midst of glory and fame, hope and despair, light and darkness, there were some films which received overwhelming response. The festival hosted world premieres of four films, Pan Nalin's Valley Of Flowers, Naseeruddin Shah's directorial debut Yun Hota To Kya Hota (What If?), Anjan Dutt's The Bong Connection and Onir's Bas Ek Pal (Just For a Moment).

Speaking about his film Naseeruddin Shah said, "I am interested in films that show the reality of life. I have attempted to show this in my film. I hope people like my attempt.”

What If is a story of four different lives. The common thread between them is that they are all heading to the US. Tilotoma (Konkona Sen Sharma) to meet her husband (Jimmy Shergill), Rajubhai (Paresh Rawal) to organise his show, poor medical student Rahul Bhide (Ankur Khanna), and stockbroker Salim (Irfaan Khan). All except Tilotoma lose their lives on the fateful day, September, 9, 2001, when World Trade Centre, New York, came crashing down.

The Bong Connection received a standing ovation for its sense of humour.  Director Anjan Dutt observed "We Bengalis have lost it halfway; my film is an attempt to laugh at ourselves."

Some of the best films in the Osian Film Festival were The Dreams by Mohamed Al-Daradji, Murali K Thalluri's 2:37, Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Scream of the Ants and Sex and Philosophy, Jeffrey Jeturian's The Bet Collector , Rahul Dholakia's Parzania, Conrad Rooks' Siddartha and Jafar Panahi's Offside, the closing film.

In the Indian Competition section, Ramachandra’s The Cleansing Rites was declared by the jury to be the best film. While in the Asian Competition Jeffery Jeturian's The Bet Collectorwon three awards including best film.

The film festival concluded with a promise by both Aruna Vasudev, the director of Cinemaya and Nevvile Tulli, the chairman of Osian that they would be back next year with more good films.