IFFK 08: Awards and All After... news

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Top award to Mexican film "Parque via", Special Jury mention to Nandita's "Firaaq"

It is quite a coincidence that I wrote about the importance of the Mexican films at the festival a few days ago and I find that the competition jury decided to give the top award (the Golden Crow Pheasant) to a Mexican film "Parque via". All the Mexican films were surprisingly a delight to watch and none of them could be termed similar to any of the others in style or content.

The resurgence of Mexican cinema is incredible-the entry of Reygadas (none of his films were on show at IIFK 08) as a major name in international cinema and the delightful acceptance of "Pan's Labyrinth" by world audiences paved the way for this phenomenon.

There are more to awards than the announcements on the awards night. For the second year in a row the original jury Chair did not turn up. Yes at IFFK 07 the Czech filmmaker Jiri Menzel cried off at the last hour, and the Iranian Jafar Panahi took over the reins and an Iranian entry walked way with awards. At IFFK 08, the Burkina Faso director Idrissa Ouedraogo was expected to arrive but was held back by his family after the Mumbai terror strikes-and the lightweight Leftist journalist-cum-filmmaker from Brazil, Lucia Murat took over the reins of the jury by default. The awards, in such
a situation, were predictable.

Because of the presence of experienced filmmakers like Samira Makhmalbaf and Jabbar Patel on the jury, the films that won had to have quality not mere Leftist ideology. The films that got the awards from the main jury were "Parque via"
(Mexico), best director "Postcards from Leningrad" (Venezuela), Best debut film "Gitmek--My Marlon and Brando" (Turkey) , Special Jury Award "The Yellow House" (Algeria) and Special Jury mention "Firaaq" (India). The FIPRESCI awards went to "Postcards from Leningrad" (Best Film) and "Manjadikuru" (Lucky Red Seeds) directed by Anjali Menon (best Malayalam film). The NETPAC awards went to "Gitmek--My Marlon and Brando" (Turkey) for Best Asian film and "Atayalangal / The imprints" (Best Malayalam film), "Manjadikuru," making its World Premiere at IFFK'08 also picked up the new Hasankutty Memorial award set up by Mira Nair. The Audience award went to "Machan" (Sri Lanka/Italy).

For those who can read between the lines, the final composition of the Jury made a difference. A deserving film with little or no Leftist ideology "Dreams of Dust" (Burkina Faso) did not find any mention possibly because sub-Saharan Africa had no votaries on the jury. The fact that "The Yellow House" won a special Jury prize indicates the dissension within jury for the top prizes.

IFFK 08's obvious weakness was an eventually weak and diluted jury. But as almost all the films in competition were of high quality any winner had to be good. Had Mr. Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso made it to IFFK 08, the jury's selection could probably have been less tilted towards Leftist ideology and more towards good cinema.

On the other hand, which festival International Festival would have a mentor like Kerala's Education Minister Mr. M A Baby who could wax eloquent with incredible knowledge on good cinema without a prescribed written speech. He asked the audience if any had seen the Seventies film of Ermanno Olmi called "The Tree of Wooden Clogs" and if so raise their hands. I was among the few in the audience with a raised hand. He dreams of bringing such films to future IFFKs. How many Indian film critics would have seen this Olmi film, far less know about the Italian director? Mr. Baby knows his cinema, an unusual qualification for a politician. And interestingly Olmi is not a Leftist but a humanist. As long as Mr. Baby is in charge of IFFK, the Festival is in knowledgeable hands-in the same manner as the Delhi IFFI flourished when Mrs. Indira Gandhi took an interest in that event.