Panaji: 25 NOV 2018 … ICFT is involved in major film festivals all over the world but Goa is the master-piece of all Film Festivals, said Mr. Georges Dupont, DG, International Council for Film Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT) and jury member of the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal at IFFI. ICFT is trying hard to get into festivals like Cannes in order to get space for young film-makers  he added.  Mr. Dupont  was addressing the media along with Mr. Eric Falt, Director of UNESCO and Regional Representative for India & neighbouring countries on the sidelines of the 49^thInternational Film Festival of India in Goa today.

Elaborating on the process of selection, Mr Dupont said that criteria for selecting films to the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal Section are difficult  because they have to meet UNESCO’s  themes of peace,  unity and  international co-operation,  and movies come from different origins and cultures. “Film critics of international repute are involved in the selection process. Movies are shortlisted in India and taken to Paris for jury to watch. Then they are distributed to all the members via internet. The members do their homework as per their convenience and discuss their notes to arrive at a decision. The criteria for selection of movies for  the Medal this year  have been broadened. This year Silver Prize will be given as we are celebrating the 150^th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi”, he said.

Discussing the future prospects of  films and film-making, Mr Dupont said ICFT is trying to get youth involved in these festivals as they are the future of cinema. UNESCO is also educating youth about media in the wake of issues like fake news.

Mr. Eric Falt,  Director, UNESCO said UNESCO supports culture in all its forms and there is a long-standing love affair between cinema and the international  organisation. “UNESCO is involved in many cultural programmes in India. The ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal eschews the value of Peace, Unity and International Co-operation. We are making efforts to prepare for the 50^th anniversary of the festival next year and to bring ICFT and UNESCO closer”, he said.

Replying to a question, Mr. Eric Falt said that India has the most vibrant film industry than anywhere in the world. It makes UNESCO happy and proud to be associated with IFFI. Underlining the importance of dialogue in promoting peace, unity and international co-operation, Mr Falt said UNESCO is  promoting   discourse between international organisations and the  film industry to address various social and cultural issues

Backgrounder

IFFI collaborates with the International Council for Film, Television and  Audiovisual Communication (ICFT) Paris, to present a special ICFT Prize consisting of the UNESCO Gandhi Medal.  ICFT established in 1956, is an official partner of UNESCO, and is an NGO aiming to stimulate the production and distribution of high quality audio-visual work, especially of young artists and media avocations at large.

The UNESCO issued commemorative medal in 1994, marking the 125^th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. Since then the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Award is being given to a film that best reflects Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals of peace, tolerance and non-violence. This year 12 films   are vying  for the Award which will be announced at the closing ceremony of the Festival on 28^th November. Out of the 12 films, two are Indian and the rest are foreign.

The Indian films competing for the prestigious ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal are ‘Walking With the Wind’ and ‘Baaram’.The foreign films in the fray are :  Border, Capernaum, Dovlatov, Laugh or Die, Los Silencious, Rain of Homs, The Interpreter, The Mercy of the Jungle, The Rib and The Silent Revolution.

Georges Dupont is a Communication Expert & Member of the National Commission for UNESCO, Luxembourg & presently serving as DG ICFT.

Eric Falt is a French senior official at the United Nations. At present, he is serving as UNESCO Director and Representative for a region covering Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Previously, from 2010 to 2018, he was Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Public Information at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) based in Paris, with the rank of Assistant Secretary-General (ASG).

Panaji :: 25 NOV 2018 … The 6^th day of the 49^th International Film  Festival in Goa saw varied subjects like Varanasi handicrafts, Varanasi funeral ghats, and Naga bravery get interwoven with each other at a ‘Meet the Directors’ event at the Media Centre this morning. Three non-feature films ‘Bunkar: The Last of the Varanasi Weavers’, ‘Nani Teri Morni’ and ‘Burning’ were the topics of discussion.

In India, every family thinks it as a matter of great pride to have at least one Banarasi silk in their homes. Yet, those persons who weave these world famous Banarasi silks continue to toil in poverty. Satyaprakash Upadhyay, Director of ‘Bunkar: The Last of the Varanasi Weavers’ said that his film seeks answers to the question as to why the Banarasi sari weavers are strugglingdespite the popularity of  the valuable product of their hands.  “While doing research on the topic, it was revealed to us that most of the people are buying power-loom woven saris mistaking them  as hand-woven. .The common man don’t have any idea about the difference between hand-loom woven and power-loom products”, he said.  A lot of topics including the history of Banarasi silk, time taken to make one handloom product, GI marks, etc  are covered in the  film. Unless common man get sufficiently informed, he can’t contribute to the cause of handloom weavers, he further added.

Producer of the film, Ms. Sapna Sharma, said if we don’t support handloom weavers by buying genuine Banarasi silk, the art will become extinct one day.

Akashaditya Lama, Director of ‘Nani Teri Morni’ described his journey to Nagaland to explore the story of a seven year old child who swam across a river  to save a drowning grandmother. “The stories from our ancestors form the bedrock of our, thoughts, and they in turn create the persons we become. The main character in this film Mhonbeni Ezung who became the youngest recipient of National Bravery award for children in 2015,  was also inspired by such a story told by her grandmother  which prompted her act of bravery”, he said. He added that his perception about Nagaland changed a lot while shooting the film there.

Journalist turned film maker Sanoj V. S., Director of ‘Burning’ said it is his obsession towards the holy city of Varanasi that prompted him to create such a film. The story shown from the perspective of two mothers depicts how women are subjected to social forces like patriarchy, religion and caste, he said.

Backgrounder

1. BUNKAR: THE LAST OF THE VARANISI WEAVERS

The film by Satyaprakash Upadhyay presents the history of Bunkar -the artisan handloom weavers of Varanasi in  India. Through interviews with craftsmen, the film conveys the details of the ancient craft and also how mechanization has brought hard times to the craftmen..

Shri Updadhay is Founder & Director of ‘Narrative Pictures’ which includes team of expert storytellers from the media, TV and film industry.

2. NANI TERI MORNI

The film directed by Akashaditya Lama is based on Mhonbeni Ezung who is the youngest recipient of National Bravery award for children in 2015. She saved her grandmother from drowning overcoming her fear. The tale is set in a far flung eastern corner of India, in the village of Tsungiki in the Wokha district of the State of Nagaland. Nani Teri Morni is said to be the first film to be entirely shot in the picturesque mountains of Nagaland by a crew entirely from Mumbai. He shot in Nagaland in order to make the film as real as possible.Akshaditya’s forefathers are originally from Arunachal Pradesh. The film is produced by Children’s Film Society of India.

3. BURNING

A short film ‘BURNING’ directed by Sanoj V.S. is about a conversation between two young mothers brought together by strange and cruel social realities at a funeral ghat in Varanasi.Mr. Sanoj, a native of Kerala has been working in the UP plains since 2014. He visited Varanasi at least eight times before embarking on the movie.  

Panaji : 24th Nov 2018 ::: Getting audience and funds are the two challenges before the documentary film makers and efforts are being made to overcome these problems said President, IDPA-Indian Documentary Producers Association, Ms. Usha Deshpande while talking to media at Media centre today. General Secretary, IDPA, Sanskar Desai was  also present. 

IDPA is endeavouring to provide exposure to documentary film-makers by organising film screenings, approaching film clubs for screening, negotiating with television channels for slots and participating in film festivals across the country.  It also organises competitions, workshops, seminars, masterclasses etc said Ms Deshpande.

Talking about Open   Forum which is going to be organised from 25-27  November for an hour starting at 1:30 during IFFI 2018, Deshpande said the themes will be:

1. Director’s take on biopics –  how much fact and how much fiction is there  in it?
2. Is technique over-riding content in today’s film-making and its impact.
3. Cellphones are making each one of us into film-makers. Is this medium capable of graduating into way of making proper films?

IDPA is a non-profit organisation established in 1956 and is India ’s single largest association of producers of documentaries, animation films, advertisement films and TV programmes. It is also facilitating the documentary makers by providing them with regular updates, standardised rate cards and by settling disputes. IDPA, as a Trust,  is part of the movement trying to take further legacy of documentary film makers. It has history of distinguished Presidents like Aruna Raje, Mike Pandey and Vijaya Mulay, informed Sanskar Desai.

It has organised film festivals and instituted awards to deserving talent . IDPA has been associated with Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) since its inception in 1988.  Currently, the membership of IDPA is open to any Indian filmmaker who makes documentaries, short commercials, corporate films and animation films. said Shri Desai.

Shri Desai told that  IDPA has a slot on DD National  on Saturdays at 10 am.  for documentaries. Screenings are also arranged in Mumbai and at other places to promote documentary movement.” IDPA has proposed and is persuading  for a dedicated channel  for documentaries. It also curates packages as per the needs of the various festivals.

Backgrounder

Usha Deshpande, an alumni of screenplay writing course of FTII,  is an independent producer, director and writer. Her film ‘Khayal’ on Hindustani classical music is quite popular.

Sanskar Desai, a Mumbai based filmmaker, scriptwriter, theatre person, singer and a poet, has been actively   associated with Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) & International Film Festival of India (IFFI) since many years. He is General Secretary of IDPA and his film ‘Stepwells of Gujarat’ was widely received.

Panaji  : 24th Nov 2018 ::: Aamir Khan is called ‘Uncle Mir’ in China: Marco Mueller (Film Critic & Historian, Artistic Director, PYIFF, Pingyao) … Violence is an inescapable part of our culture: Ivan Ayr (Filmmaker) … If your film isn’t pirated then you have a problem: Paolo Bertolin (Programmer, Venice International Film Festival) …. The audience for indie films is thin but spread wide across the world: Prakash Bare (Actor & Producer) … The Filmmakers Pitch sees filmmakers exciting pitches on films from across South Asia on Day 3 of the Film Bazaar

Day 3 of the Film Bazaar saw activity around the business of cinema peak with multiple parallel meetings throughout the day between those seeking to pitch their films to interested buyers, distributors, or festival programmers. An exciting slate of panel discussions ignited as well as sated the curiosity of the audience on relevant issues around cinema and its future.

 The most interesting session of the day saw 20 filmmakers pitch their films to the audience under the newly launched initiative at the Film Bazaar called Filmmakers Pitch. The pitch which was open to all the films in the Viewing Room was added to the Bazaar this year based on the suggestion of filmmakers at the previous editions. Each filmmaker got five minutes on stage to present their films. Most of them were looking for finishing funds and help with distribution and marketing of their almost-ready-for-release films.

 The Knowledge Series continued with its amazing slate of sessions of value to the filmmaking community. The most interesting of these was the one on ‘Films without Borders – Bridging cultures’ where Marco Mueller (Film Critic & Historian, Artistic Director, PYIFF, Pingyao) explained in detail the Chinese market the reason for the recent success of Indian films in that market.

 “PK was the turning point for Indian films in China when they went from being niche to being mass. The success of PK, Three Idiots and Dangal, has really been because of the many years of marketing that was done by the distributors of these films in China. The marketing followed practices that resonate with Chinese audiences and included reaching out to the Chinese superstars who endorsed these films leading to their fan clubs spreading the message and helping these films get an opening push. However eventually it was because the films reflected the shared values between India and China that they did so well. Now Aamir Khan is lovingly called Uncle Mir in China”, said Mr. Mueller. The panel then helped the filmmakers understand what it takes for a film to travel internationally.

 Mr. Mueller was on another interesting panel that had some old India hands on it who discussed the state of South Asian cinema and its future. Alongside Mr. Mueller, this panel included Derek Malcolm (Film Critic), Paolo Bertolin (Programmer, Venice Film Festival), Dominique Welinski (Producer) and was moderated by Orly Ravid (Founder, The Film Collaborative).

 While the panel was divided over the future of South Asian cinema, they were united in their opinion on how films from the region can succeed globally. “It cannot just be one man’s fight, you can’t do it alone. You need allies to push your cinema. I am very happy that Film Bazaar has a created a space for us to come here and interact with filmmakers”, said Mr. Mueller. This was echoed by Ms. Welinski who said, ”People should really talk to each other, come together and organize themselves to be able to do this better.”

 On the topic of co-productions, the panel felt that that the filmmakers should be realistic about their needs and pursue co-productions accordingly. “It’s not easy” was a common refrain. Another common query from the filmmakers in the audience was the challenge of cracking the festival circuit. Paolo Bertolin threw light on how to approach it by saying that, “the main target should be to make a good film that is true to the original vision of the filmmaker. Then you should send your film to as many festivals as possible.”

 Discussion soon veered to the issue of piracy and how the Chinese companies were using it to decide which film to release in China. Mr. Bertolin ended the session by repeating what he said he told filmmakers very often.

 Two interesting sessions involving filmmakers were also part of the schedule today. The first was a session on violence in cinema with filmmakers Devashish Makhija (Ajji, Bhonsle) and Ivan Ayr (Soni) engaged in a conversation with Somen Mishra (Head, Creative Development, Dharma Productions).

 When probed how he decides whether or not to show violence on screen, Mr. Makhija said “It’s important for me to make the audience complicit in the violence on screen but I am careful not to make it exploitative or glamorous.”

 Mr. Ayr called for action rather than dejection when confronted with violence all around us. He said, “Let’s not be frustrated, let’s do something about changing the system which we are all a part of.”

 A panel on building resources for indie and experimental cinema spoke about the need to create an alternative model for producing and distributing artistic cinema. All the four panelists had a shared history, each having worked together on films like Oraalppokkam and Ozhivudivasathe Kali in various capacities.

 Prakash Bare (Actor & Producer) spoke about the challenge of getting the audience to watch the films. “Once they’ve watched the film, they are wowed. They say they didn’t know such films exist.”

 The last session in the Knowledge series saw the duo from Starlight Runner Entertainment, Jeff Gomez (Founder & CEO) and Steele Filipek (Executive Editor) take the audience through the relatively new field of transmedia which is all about leveraging the world of possibilities inherent in a film to be taken on to other platforms, thus helping build interest, franchisees and eventually revenue models. The duo spoke about their experience with the immensely popular Pirates of the Carribean franchisee and how they helped extend take the world and the characters on to platforms like books, video games and theme parks.

 The two of them, with the moderator Mr. Rohan Sippy (Filmmaker & Producer) engaged in a conversation with filmmaker Gitanjali Rao on how her film Bombay Rose (animation) could go transmedia and leverage other platforms.

 The company has also consulted with Bahubali where they were involved from the very early stages. Speaking over video from the US, Mr. Gomez said that, “It was thrilling to see the war sequence from Bahubali go viral across the world. That was due to the willingness of the creators of the film to build a transmedia model.”

 As on the previous three days, the Producers Workshop continued to enlighten the young producers on the various aspects of production. A roundtable session in the morning had them talk to experienced professionals representing every facet of filmmaking while later in the day Orly Ravid (Founder, The Film Collaborative) shared her views on how to maximize the festival circuit. She told the eager producers that “there’s a lot of serious film making in India. It’s way better than what I have seen in the USA. The films here are very cinephile-oriented. To maximize a film’s potential, you need to have its world premiere at a festival of the highest level that you could manage. You must also be aware of which festival your film is more suited to.”  

Panaji :: Goa, 24th November 2018: I think I am a gangster at heart: Vishal Bhardwaj (Filmmaker) … If you are looking for unique locations that exist in isolation, then Lakshadweep is the place: Vikash Sivaraman (Advisor, Film Tourism, UT of Lakshadweep) …. If I was a filmmaker today, I would make a pilot for a web show and pitch to an OTT platform: Suri Gopalan (Founder, Vista India Digital Media) … 24 exciting projects of the Film Bazaar Recommends section pitch their films to industry participants … You have to live amongst the people and hear their stories to be able to tell them honestly: Sange Dorjee (Filmmaker  …

 The second day of the Film Bazaar 2018 carried forward the excitement of Day 1 with film pitches, exciting panel discussions and informative sessions on the potential of filming in different parts of the country. The Viewing Room and Industry Screenings also saw intense action with sales agents, distributors, financiers and festival programmers shuttling between films in an attempt to watch as many of the brilliant films on offer as possible.

 The first and the last were the most interesting sessions of the day. The last session in the evening had the acclaimed filmmaker and music composer, Vishal Bhardwaj talk about his films, his love for language and the many powerful female roles in his films in a session titled ‘Badlands and the ‘Gender’.When asked about the powerful female roles he’s written over the years he said, “I’ve seen that whenever a crisis comes, women come to the forefront. Men look physically strong but women are inherently stronger”.

 The audience – largely filmmakers – latched on to every word of his and enjoyed the bits from his films that were played in between. They peppered him with questions on his approach to filmmaking and directing actors. In response to one of these questions he said, “When I go to the set, I don’t tell my actors too much. I don’t open my cards, I give them the space. Sometimes they come up with really good ideas and when they don’t, I make suggestions, but in the process they start thinking for the character and caring for it”.

 He also spoke about how blessed he felt to be a filmmaker because it allowed him to live the lives of so many people as well as travel the world while doing what he loves. When asked where all the violence in his films comes from, he responded by saying that, ‘I feel like a gangster at heart’, drawing much applause and laughter from the audience.

 The day started with the 24 projects under the Film Bazaar Recommends pitching their films to a roomful of eager industry participants. Like the films in the Co-Production Market yesterday, these 24 films reflected the amazing diversity of stories that the South Asian region is home to.

 Across the Ocean, an interest project conceived online after the two female filmmakers met on Facebook, was a one of its kind project that had the two filmmakers making the two separate halves of the film in their home territories without ever having met face to face. While there were films in Malayalam, Bengali and Hindi as usual the slate also included three films from the North-East and two from Chhattisgarh and Nepal each, clearly a sign of the growing confidence of filmmakers from the hinterland.

 The Knowledge Series continued to enthrall and enlighten the audience with insightful views and opinions on matters of interest to the filmmaking community.

 The first session in the morning saw the team from Lakshadweep present their territory as a destination for filming. Vikash Sivaraman (Advisor, Film Tourism, UT of Lakshadweep) said, “If you are looking for unique locations that exist in isolation, both on land and under water, then Lakshadweep is the place to come to. It has everything from remote islands to shipwrecks to mindboggling seascapes to visually exciting landscapes.”

 To ease the pressure on film producers to carry their own equipment to and from the islands, Lakshadweep is planning to park state-of-the-art equipment in the UT. Balram Meena (Director Tourism, UT of Lakshadweep) promised to learn from the best state policies that exist across the country and come up with a policy framework that will enable quick turnarounds. 

 A panel of filmmakers from the North-East alongside Anshulika Dubey (Co-Founder & COO, Wishberry) discussed the unexplored potential of cinema coming from the region. The panel that included Pradip Kurbah, Napolean RZ Thanga and Sange Dorjee discussed the challenges of raising financing for their films.

All the three filmmakers are based in their home states and stressed on the need to maintain their roots in the region to be able to share stories from there. They stressed on the need to create awareness about platforms like the Film Bazaar amongst the filmmakers from the North East.

 “You have to live amongst the people, hear them and their stories to be able to tell those. That can’t happen if you live in the big city”, said Sange Dorjee, the filmmaker from Arunachal Pradesh.

 Another insightful panel that saw a huge turnout was the one that discussed the future of the OTT market. Moderated by Orly Ravid (Founder, The Film Collaborative) the panel had Ajay Chacko (Co-founder & CEO, Arre), Rasika Dugal (Actor), Rohan Sippy (Filmmaker) and Suri Gopalan (Founder, Vista India Digital Media).

 “I don’t think the challenges for indie filmmakers will be resolved with the emergence of these OTT’s because there’s a lot of demand for longer format storytelling by the OTT’s” said Mr. Gopalan starting off the discussion. Mr. Sippy however was excited by the potential for filmmakers that the online platforms offered. “The rules keep changing. People are playing with the medium. It’s an unbelievably powerful way of showcasing content”.

 Mr. Chacko however warned against getting carried away. “While a lot of things will change, the structure of consumption will probably not change. It’s still going to be the same as TV. We are seeing that already.”

 Ms. Dugal was happy with the emergence of these OTT platforms. “I’ve been lucky to do roles that would otherwise have been difficult to come across. I hope there will be interesting roles for women on these shows where women will have something to do rather than just be. It doesn’t really matter to me who makes the content as long as the roles are exciting enough.”

 Encouraging independent filmmakers in the audience, Mr. Suri signed off saying, “If I was a filmmaker today, I would make a pilot for a show. That would allow me to pitch my story to the OTT’s who would then find it easy to assess the quality of my work and idea.”

 Alongside these sessions the Producers’ Workshop also continued with the young producers getting a chance to interact with some of the most experienced professionals from across the producing landscape.

Panaji : 23rd Nov 2018 ::: Directors of five feature films in the Indian Panorama Section of IFFI- 2018 interacted with the media today. Jayraj, Director of Malayalam film Bhayanakam; Kamakhya Narayan Singh, Director of Bhor; Nipun Dharmadhikari, Director of Marathi film Dhappa; Srijit Mukherji, director of Bengali film Uma and Priya Krisnaswamy, Director of Tamil movie ‘Baram’ were of the opinion that alternate cinema has great social transformative potential and that it is really a good thing that alternate cinema is getting good OTT platforms.

Bhayanakam is an adaptation of two chapters from Takazhy Sivasankara Pillai’s epic Malayalam novel called ‘Coir’ and has won three awards for Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography at the 2017 National Film Awards.

In 1999, Jayaraj started his Navarasa film series with Karunam, followed by Shantham (2001). Shantham won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Bhayanakam released in 2017 is Part 6 of Navarasa series. Navarasa series is nine-film series project. The story is set in Kuttanad and its backwaters in central Kerala during the World War II and revolves around a war-injured postman, who delivers money orders at homes of those who have joined the army. Though Kuttanadu lost lot of soldiers in the war, yet it is not part of the history. Bhayanakam tries to narrate those events from telegram and money-orders delivered by one postman.

Jayaraj said “Without showing any war sequences, gun fight or soldiers, the story of world war is depicted here through the mental trauma of a handicapped Postman. It was very difficult to re-create Kuttanadu of that era but we worked hard for it. I have been trying to do this movie for the last 30 years, and I am happy that I got the opportunity to do this now”. He also added that nowadays, there is no market for panorama cinema. “If we have a digital platform like Netflix and support from DFF for such panorama films, it would help”.

Main protagonist of the movie lead actor Renji Panicker said that his transformation from script writer/director to actor was by sheer accident.

‘Bhor is a film about Bihar’s Mushahar community and revolves around the plight of a poor girl Budhni, struggling to get her basic right for education and sanitation. The film was also watched by Goa’s Hon’ble Governor Smt. Mrudal Sinha yesterday at IFFI-2018. 

Director Kamakhya Narayan Singh said “Since childhood, I was fascinated by Musahar community, who live in planes near the cities, are simple, poor people but do not cry about their poverty. They are happy and honest people. We wanted to make a honest story on them. The condition of Musahars has improved a bit now. But I wanted to show how these people lived when I was a child. Since Bollywood actors could not spare 2 months from their schedule, we chose to take new faces who lived, worked with them for two months to understand their situation. We used real settings by using clothes actually used by local Musahars. The recording of the music was also done live after performing in the villages”.

Marathi film Dhappa portrays how children come to terms with the stark contrast between the idealistic lessons taught in school and the harsh realities of the world outside.

The Direction & screenplay of ‘Dhappa’, a Marathi film is done by Nipun Dharmadhikari. In the movie, a children’s play during Ganesh Chaturthi Festival on environment using messages of Jesus Christ and Sant Tukaram turns into a flash-point between elders & children. Dhappa has won the National Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration this year. The film is going to be screened in theatres today. Throwing light on his movie’s idea of national integration, Nipun Dharmadhikri said, Pune which has great tradition of Ganesh festival is of late witnessing emergence of gated communities which have become separate worlds in themselves.

I would rather celebrate kindness of one percent people than talking about cynicism of ninety nine percent, said Srijit Mukherji, Director of Bengali film Uma, which is story of a young girl  fighting a terminal disease and her father struggling to make his daughter’s dreams come true helped by a director whose past is haunting him. Srijit Mukherji is a popular actor, screenwriter and Director. His fifth film Jaatishwar won 4 national awards at India’s 61st National Film Awards (2014). He has won the National Film Award for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for his sixth film Chotushkone at India’s 62nd National Film Awards.

Sharing his experience about the film, Srijit said his inspiration came from a news report called “The Boy Who Moved Christmas” where the townsfolk orchestrated a Christmas for the terminally ill boy. He decided it to adapt the story to the realities of his hometown Bengal, replacing Christmas with Durga Puja.

Baaram which means burden, is a Tamil film directed & produced by Priya Krisnaswamy, which revolves around a widowed night watchman, Karuppaswamy and his sons during his last days, when he is subjected to the practice of Thalaikoothal. A veteran film-editor ,Priya Krishnaswamy made her directorial debut with Gangoobai produced by NFDC in 2013.

“When I read news about elderly infirm parents being despatched with a cold head-bath (‘Thalaikoothal’) and getting killed, and heard this had social sanction, I could not believe it; until I saw Satyameva Jayate by Aamir Khan who foregrounded the issue.”

Krishnaswamy said she then decided to do a documentary on this. She found out there were 26 documented ways to kill the elderly and that this practice is prevalent not only in south India but also in north India as well as in other countries.

“Baaram is based on true events; I find it incredible, it is all about humanity. As a mother, daughter and grand-daughter, I cannot believe that we have lost out on our humanity. When we lose out on these values, we lose out on kindness, gentleness. It had social sanction, there were traditional killers and it was being done for free. What began as tradition and was for free is now a business with brokers and commissions.”

When we talk about cultural messaging, this is the country that wants sons, yet the ones who murder the elderly are the sons themselves. We don’t have social infrastructure to take care of the elderly. This systemic failure has infiltrated the family as well. The breakdown of the joint family is a problem that I want to showcase through this movie. When we lose out on a generation before us, we lose out on kindness, wisdom, culture, cuisine. Hence I wanted to tell a story about this, said Krishnaswamy.

Panaji : 23rd Nov 2018 ::: The inspiration for ‘To the Desert’ came from a true news story I had read, about kidnapping in Patagonia. The film uses real-life settings of abandoned houses, employing thereby a documentary approach to film-making. It was an opportunity for me to get involved in the exotic landscape of Patagonia.

– Ulises Rosell, Director

The shooting for the movie was quite difficult as the weather conditions were hard; I always wanted to show Patagonia on the cinema and my wish is fulfilled through this film

– Valentina Bassi, actress

Rosell and Bassi were addressing a joint press conference at the 49^th International Film Festival of India, Goa today, November 23, 2018. Their film To the Desert is being screened under the World Panorama section of IFFI 2018.

“I was very happy when I heard that my film got selected in World Panorama section of IFFI which was like an opportunity to take my film to the other side of the world and we are really grateful for this opportunity”, Rosell said.

Narrating her character, Bassi said “Julia wants to escape in the beginning of the movie but she cannot as she is trapped in a vast open space; the emotions she feels are contradictory as she is dependent on the captor for her survival and she starts to admire the captor’s survival skills in the middle of nothing but at the same time she is very afraid of the harm he can inflict on her. Julia ends up believing that she would not tell anyone about the incidence.”

The film is thus also a story of a secret that should not be shared, added Rosell.

Backgrounder

Rosell is an award-winning Argentinian filmmaker with 12 feature films to his credit. Cast of the film & Rossel’s wife, Valentina Bassi is an Argentine film and television actress.

The film To the Desert revolves around Julia, a casino employee & Gwynfor, a Welsh descendent, who promises her an administrative position at the oil company where he works. Later on, what starts out as a morning appointment, résumé in hand, becomes a nightmarish journey in the middle of the arid landscape of Patagonia.

***