English Bulletin - Kolkata International Film Festival

Issue 6
15th November, 2014
Ray In Remembrance : Govid Nihalani
“On a moment like this, I delve into my past when
I first met Mr. Ray, two decades later I dared to call
him Manik da”. The veteran cinematographer turned
director Govind Nihalani spoke at the Satyajit Ray
Memorial Lecture before some esteemed cinephiles.
Nihalani put forth his initial days with the master
and expressed his gratitude when Ray narrated
Pikoo’s Diary to him from the very first shot to the
last. “Its very important for a filmmaker to remain
relevant to his times and be connected to his reality,
his harsh reality”, he echoed Ray’s words.
Nihalani flashed upon his memories of a chat
session with Ray on Mahasweta Devi’s novel which
he later adapted into “Hazar Chaurasi Ki Maa”.
He believes any cinema which provides visual and
aural pleasure is good cinema and also spoke about
Ray’s ‘humanism’ and the criticism he faced for not
taking a political stand.
“Cinema is a very powerful medium. It acts as a dialogue between the filmmaker and his viewers. It can convince you to pick up a gun
and kill someone.” Nihalani, who proved the power of his cinema in his television series Tamas, vehemently believes that cinema has
evolved with technology as a more democratic medium. He concluded his talk on the future of cinema by saying, “In these times of hope
and convictions, cinema will never die because it has a tremendous possibility of creating magic, poetry and change.”
Mayukh Ghosh
Press Meet
Govind Nihalani appreciated the
recent developments of 20th Kolkata
International Film Festival. He added
that the women’s competitive category
offers exposure and platform to women
filmmakers. On the context of shifting
from his usual “serious” content to an
animated movie, he mentioned that
one should always keep expanding
one’s horizon. With reference to digital
technology taking over celluloid and
the advantages it provides he said,
“Technology is all that you want
and it will get better with time.” He
appreciated Japanese animation as an
ingenious art form, but added that it
will be sometime before India embraces
such content in animation.
Sharanya Munsi
Hon’ble Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
attending the Satyajit Ray Memorial Lecture.
Open Forum
Topic : Monopoly of capital is corrupting media,
distribution system and cinema as a whole.
The fourth session of the Open Forum, organised by the
Federation of Film Societies of India, was attended by
eminent speakers Sisir Roy, Sekhar Das, Abhijit Roy
and was moderated by S.V.Raman. The panelists began
by raising questions about how monopoly of capital
can corrupt cinema and severely affect the distribution
system. “The success of a film should be measured in
terms of how many people have seen it and not on its
earnings and collections”, said Sekhar Das. However,
they unanimously agreed on the fact that presence of
new media has significantly contributed in marketing
and distribution of films.
Soumyadev Banerjee
Seminar : Children of the Silver Screen
In adherence to the occasion of Children’s Day,
a seminar on ‘Child Artists in Cinema’ was held
on the 5th day of the 20th Kolkata International
Film Festival. Eminent personalities, Prosenjit
Chatterjee and Indranil Roy Chowdhury were
the guest speakers. Mr. Roy Chowdhury started
the seminar by voicing his discontent on the
distinction between children’s film and adult’s
film. “We don’t have separate categories for
films on the basis of caste or religion, then why
a separate category called children’s film?” he
said. He further talked about giving his child actors a sense of freedom to gain their trust and get
the most out of them. When asked about the success of child actors, Prosenjit advised that they
should not let the success of their childhood ventures get into their head.
Puja Pincha
On the context of formal training
being a must for filmmaking, Irfan
Khan mentioned, “It is not necessary
to have a degree but it does give you
exposure and we do have several people in the industry who do not have a
formal degree”.
Press Conference
Exclusive
Egyptian filmmaker, Hala Lotfy, held
a press conference, a day after the
screening of her first feature ‘Coming
Forth by Day’ at the 20th Kolkata
International Film Festival. “The film
is a very personal story” said Lotfy.
Egypt’s commercially established
but unwelcoming industry prompted
Lotfy to start an independent company of her own in 2010 called ‘Hassala
Films’, to support young artists. On being asked about the use of natural
lighting in the film, she said, “I didn’t want to add beauty element to the
story, I wanted to give a sense of reality”.
Hala Lotfy spoke to us in
a
one-on-one
interview
where she recommended
the films ‘Silent Heart’ by
Billie August, ‘Goodbye
to Language’ by Jean-lucGodard and ‘Diplomacy’ by
Volker Schlondorff. She also asked young filmmakers,
to follow their vision, express themselves freely and
not get discouraged. “It is important to allow oneself
to make mistakes, only then can you succeed,” said the
Egyptian filmmaker.
Pooja Daga
Soham Hazra & Pritam Mandal
Today’s Discussions
Open Forum
Talks of the Day
Women in Bengali Cinema
Women in Iranian Films
Pure film criticism does not exist anymore
Speakers :
Ratnottama Sengupta
Speakers :
Niki Karimi
Guest:
Mamata Shankar
Guest:
Sandhya Gokhale
Venue :
Bangla Academy
Time : 1.00 pm
Speakers :
Ashok Viswanathan
SohiniDasgupta
Surya Bandyopadhay
Moderator :
Siladitya Sen
Oraganized by :Federation of Film Societies
of India
Moderator : Sudeshna Roy
Moderator : Sudeshna Roy
Venue :
Jibanananda Sabhaghar,
Bangla Academy
Venue :
Jibanananda Sabhaghar,
Bangla Academy
Time :
1.30 pm onwards
Time :
1.30 pm onwards
Presentations
Shira Geffen and Saraya Samira presenting ‘Self Made’
Dr. Biju introducing his film ‘Perariyathavar’
Notice : Master Class with Tsai Ming Liang today, 1: 30 pm, Abanindra Sabha Ghar
An Erotic Odyssey
Nymphomaniac (Vol-I)/(Vol-II)
Director : Lars von Trier
Run Time : 145 mins/180 mins
Lars von Trier’s latest erotic drama, delves deep into the lifestyle of a nymphomaniac who has been rescued by a well-read charming
man. The film follows the woman’s narration as the man listens to her story and finds her quite a virtuous character, in spite of all her
adventures, which others may frown upon. She is in a very self-depreciative mood throughout, lying on her bed, as the man listens to her
sexual journey right from the point where she discovers her sexuality till she is fifty, divided into eight chapters.
Pritam Mandal
Book Launch
Paul Cox released the Indian edition of his book ‘Tales from the Cancer Ward’, at the 20th KIFF
yesterday. Speaking about the book, the Australian Filmmaker said, “It’s not a normal book. It aims
to enlighten people on the phenomenal invention of transplantation. We can give our lives to others
physically and metaphysically and thus slip into eternity together.”
Soumyadev Banerjee
Editor’s Pick for Today
Supernova
Jhumura
Run time : 190 mins
Venue : Nandan-I
Time : 11.45 am
Run time : 113 mins
Venue : Rabindra Sadan
Time : 5.15 pm
Director : Tamar Van
Der Dop
Director : Anindya
Chattopadhyay
Nymphomaniac
(Vol II)
The Umbrellas of
Cherbourg
Run time : 180 mins
Venue : Nandan-II
Time : 7.15 pm
Run time : 91 mins
Venue : Nandan- II
Time : 11.15 am
Director : Lar Von Trier
Director: Jaques Demy
Today’s Films
Nandan l
15 Nov.
Saturday
9-00 am
11-45 am
3-00 pm
5-00 pm
7-15 pm
Great Master: Stanley
Kubrick
Eyes Wide Shut
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
1999/USA/159mins
International Competition
Supernova
Dir: Tamar van den Dop
2014/The Netherlands
/90mins
International Competition
Eyes of a Thief
Dir: Najwa Najjar
2014/Palestine /98mins
Focus: Arabian Countries
Omar
Dir: Hany Abu Asaad
2013/Palestine/97mins
Cinema International
Nymphomaniac
(Vol II)
Dir: Lars von Trier
2014/Denmark/180mins
Nandan lI
15 Nov.
Saturday
11-15 am
3-15 pm
5-15 pm
7-30 pm
French Classic
The Umbrellas of
Cherbourg
Dir: Jacques Demy
1964/France/91mins
Retrospective
The Missing
Dir: Lee Kang Sheng
2003/Taiwan/82mins
Indian Select
Aadim Vichar
Dir: Sabyasachi Mahapatra
2014/Oriya/115mins
Retrospective
I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone
Dir: Tsai Ming-Liang
2006/Taiwan/115mins
11-15 am
3-15 pm
5-15 pm
7-30 pm
New Horizon
The Fifth Reaction
Dir: Tahmineh Milani
2003/Iran/106mins
Cinema International
Looking For Maria Sanchez
Dir: Bruno Irizarry
2013/Puerto Rico/98mins
Bengali Panorama
Jhumura
Dir: Anindya Chattopadhyay
2014/Bengali/113mins
Cinema International
The Two Faces of January
Dir: Hossein Amini
2014/UK/96mins
11-00 am
2-00 pm
4-45 pm
6-45 pm
Docu/Short
Children Screening
Homework
Dir: P.R. Ramadasa Naidu
2013/India/95mins
Docu/Short
Special Tribute
Uttar Falguni
Dir: Asit sen
1963/Bengali/125mins
Rabindra Sadan
15 Nov.
Saturday
Sisir Mancha
15 Nov.
Saturday
Festival at a Glance
Photographs by Sasmit Bagchi, Soham Hazra & Shinjini Paul
Programmes are subject to last minute change.
Editor : Shenjuti Dutta, Published by : Yadab Mondal, Director; Kolkata Film Festival,
Printed at : Hooghly Printing Co. Ltd. 41 Chowringhee Road, Kolkata-71.