Festival Reports

Now established as one of the main cinematographic events in the mushrooming festival landscape of India, the 13th International Film Festival of Kerala, in Trivandrum (locally known as Thiruvananthapuram) was held from December 12 to 19, 2008, under the active supervision of the Kerala State Chalachithra Academy. Although it was marred by much too frequent technical "incidents" (such as delays, power cuts in the middle of a film, and the rather disturbing waves of cellphones left on during the screenings (even though it is forbidden), the festival, under the firm direction of Bina Paul Venugopal, was able to show to the curious local audiences a great variety of films, both local and international, as usual. The Netpac Jury, comprising Freddie Wong from Hong Kong, Sudhir Misra from Mumbai, and myself from France as Chairman had two well-furnished sections to view: the ten Asian films in the competition, and the Malayalam Cinema Today section of nine films, to which two more were added at the last minute as two directors strongly protested against their non-selection, and even went to submit their cases to the High Court, which seemed a very strange reaction, at least to foreign observers (imagine if all the directors of the non-selected films in Cannes or Venice would go to High Court!). The main jury, chaired by Brazilian director Lucia Murat gave its award to the Mexican film Parque Via by Enrique Rivero. The FIPRESCI jury (comprised of Barbara Lorey, Chris Fujiwara, and Manoj Borpujari, from Assam (1), chose the Venezuelian film Postcards from Leningrad by Maria Rondon, and Little Red Seeds (Manjadikkuru), by the newcomer director Anjali Menon, for the Malayalam section. We, in the NETPAC Jury chose two films: My Marlon and Brando (Gitmek), by Turkish director Huseyn Karabey from the Competition section, "for the innovative narrative in portraying a girl's desperate pursuit of love amidst a difficult political context", and The Imprints (Adayalamgal), an opera prima by M.G.Sasi, in the Malayalam section, "for the sensitive and humanistic approach in depicting a young man's strong will to overcome the harshness of life without losing hope". A very promising film indeed, as is Little Red Seeds in its own fresh way. Of course, other films were discussed for our award, with qualities of their own which made them eligible too. Gulabi Talkies by established Bangalore director Girish Kasaravalli, is a simple but pregnant tale of a Muslim woman (Gulabi) who turns her fisherman's house into a kind of TV salon for the neighbouring community, but eventually fails to prevent religious confrontations. Hafez (Iran/ Japan, 2007), by well-known Iranian dircetor Aboufazl Jalili is a stunningly pictured story of an Islamic scholar who is trapped by his forbidden love for his Japanese-born pupil, whom he shouldn't even look at. As for the Malayalam selection (including the two extra "High Court" films), it was generally disappointing, with a strong tendency to the same kind of filming, with sometimes similar stories (Jayaraj's Gulmohar, and Madhupal's Thalappavu, or M.Mohanan's As the Story Unfolds/ Kadhaparayumpol), with over-talkative dialogue-driven scenes. Even if most of the films are technically clever, and aiming at a local audience, they show nothing new in the Malayalam cinema landscape, contrary to The Imprints or Little Red Seeds, or the quite odd and unusual My Mother's Laptop, by newcomer Rupesh Paul, a poet who turned to independent filmmaking. There seems to be a crisis in the renewal of Malayalam cinema, which was once amazingly creative. Another interest of the well-run, very hospitable IFFK is the great opportunity given to the overflowing local audience to catch up with foreign films by reknowned directors, previously shown at Cannes, Venice, Berlin and other major festivals. These included Japanese helmers Kiyoshi Kurosawa's stunningly sharp Tokyo Sonata and Takeshi Kitano's Achilles and the Tortoise, a rather funny spoof of contemporary art. Also included was Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's superb Three Monkeys, among many others. That alone can lead us to forgive the inevitable technical flaws and incidents, and reassess that Trivandrum is one of the major film events in India nowadays. (1) Manoj Barjupari is the editor (with Dr Garima Kalita) of a very comprehensive book on Perspectives on Cinema of Assam (2007), which gives us very valuable information and insight on that rather neglected cinema in India.

The snow storm finally subsided. As guests, delegates and jury members arrived at the airport, the rain slowly filtered down from a dark sky, a black night looming towards us. It could have been an ominous start, but instead was the perfect setting for almost ten days of film screenings, lectures and special events which characterised this impressive festival, framed against the backdrop of a medieval town on the Nordic coastline.

The celestial drama of the overture night set the mood for the following days, and the opening film, Happy-Go-Lucky, by British director Mike Leigh, kick-started the festival. Comfortably seated in the magnificent halls of the old Tallinn's Russian theatre, we were projected into the hustle and bustle of Camden, London. In the film, the cheerfulness and optimism of the main character draws the audience into a circle of lives that meet and depart, like a dance which people join and leave, to then disappear into the shadows. On the same evening my job as a Netpac Jury member began. Accompanied by Rahel, our guide in Tallinn, I headed towards another theatre hall, less grand but equally charming and cosy. This film, the first of 14 films selected for in the Netpac Award Competition, chosen out of the festival's 40 Asian films, was God Man Dog by Taiwanese director Singing Chen. 

As hinted in the title, God Man Dog is a film which portrays different realms of life. Set against the beautiful Taiwanese landscape, it follows an intricate maze of souls all looking for some sense in their lives. Infused with Buddhist spirituality, the film speculates on the concepts of interdependence of all beings, human and non-human, leaving the audience with a sense of hope rather than despair, even when confronted with the crudeness of life's challenges. By the time we left the hall it was almost midnight, and Tallinn was now lit up with decorations and lights, a reminder of impending Christmas festivities. The film had left me with a sense of displacement, yet with a feeling that there may be a greater reason for being there, a reason beyond the scope of the festival. I started to chat with Rahel, wishing to know more about her, Estonia, about our passion for cinema that had brought us together. Hungrily munching our McDonald's burgers, we talked about Asian cinema, Estonians' pride in their language and culture, and Mediterranean cuisine. The usual mundane symptoms of globalisation, or a conscience, pricked by this film, that anyone of us is entwined in an invisible interdependent web of connections which we struggle to give meaning to? Left to ponder, I turn in for the night, and awake to the second day of the festival. During the following days, I was able to see many films directed by young Asian filmmakers such as They Say I'm a Monkey (Indonesia, 2007) by Djenar Maesa Ayu, Beautiful (South Korea, 2008) by Jung Jaihong, Mozart Town (South Korea, 2008) by Jean Kyu-Hwan and Two Legged Horse (Iran, 2008) by Samira Makhmalbaf.

The first two films revolve around female characters, and we are confronted, in quite dramatic ways, with the conflicts of two Asian women who face the challenges of entering adulthood. Set against urban sceneries, the beautiful, young women must come to terms with their past and obsessions. Director Djenar Maesa Ayu, herself a young Asian woman, depicts a female character reflecting on the split aspects of her life, trapped in a world of guilt that she escapes through her writing. In Beautiful, the director leaves little hope for his character who embarks on destroying her own image, resulting in the loss of her life.

Mozart Town, also from South Korea, is perhaps less accomplished cinematically, but the film's plot is well narrated and holds the audience's attention,. The film conveys the over-riding sadness of a Korean town, whose inhabitants appear to live in their own microcosms. Less lyrical, if not utterly crude, is the film Two Legged Horse by Samira Makhmalbaf, certainly the most famous among the young Asian directors, but whom in my opinion, fails in this recent endeavour. Shot against the arid Afghan landscape, the geographical harshness is reflected in the human creatures who inhabit the place, almost completely de-humanised and dryly exposed in front of the camera. I had the feeling that the film was capitalising on a common, exploited notion of the cruelty of this region. The children's characters, far from being signs of hope, become the perpetrators of physical and psychological abuse. The film was awarded a Special Mention at the Festival, but I would have spared the praise for other films, in this abundant and competitive festival. 

Of the films I found to be beautifully executed and truly worth mentioning are Gulabi Talkies (India, 2008) by Girish Kasaravalli and The Photograph (Indonesia 2007) by Nan Triveni Achnas. Also the documentary directed by Jia Zhang-ke, 24 City (Hong Kong, China, Japan 2008) and the intimate, slow-paced but deeply poetic film Still Walking (Japan 2008) by Hirokazu Kore-Eda.  In the end, the Netpac Jury gave its award to The Shaft (China 2008), the directorial debut of Zhang Chi, a young Chinese filmmaker. The skilfully mastered photography leads the spectator on a journey in to one of modern China's less exposed realities - a miners' town, where people are trapped in a geographically and socially closed world. The claustrophobia of the environment encapsulates the simple lives of a few family members whose ambition and dreams are crushed by poverty in a country which strives to convey an image of unparalleled success on the world stage whilst hiding the almost surreal reality of ordinary lives in China's backwaters.

These are only a few of the films that I saw in Tallinn. The programme of the festival was rich and full of surprises, not least for me, the discovery of a thriving cinematic scenario in Estonia itself. Every film gave me a chance to tap into another world, reminding me that like a family history, untold secrets can be finally revealed and wonders disclosed, to then be put back safely into a memento box for future generations.

The last film screened at the end of an enjoyable and professionally orchestrated closing ceremony, was appropriately titled Pandora's Box. A delicate and visually splendid Turkish film by director Yesim Ustaoglu, closed the 12th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, bringing forward the message and poetry of human relationships, and the importance of respecting other ways of life.