Spotlighting India at Fribourg news

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Edouard Waintrop, Artistic Director of the Fribourg International Film Festival, was enchanted by a posse of films he saw last year at Osian's-Cinefan: Girish Kasaravalli's Gulabi Talkies, Jaideep Varma's Uproar, Mazhar Kamran's Mohandas. Later, Nandita Das's Firaaq impressed him as did the last two films by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. These and others he enjoyed propelled him to place India at the heart of his festival this year. Firaaq and Mohandas will compete with twelve others from Asia, Africa and Latin America in the official section.

Panorama: Out of Bollywood, a package of eleven films made in 2007-2008, has been put together with the intention of introducing new trends in Indian cinema to the Swiss public. The selected films reflect India's social and linguistic heterogeneity, says Waintrop in an interview with this writer, and the present-day problems they deal with can be understood by non-Indians as well. Included here is veteran critic (for Positif) and documentary filmmaker Huber Niogret's unique film, Indian Cinemas: From North to South, which presents a panoramic view of India's many cinema industries, mixing interviews and film clips to place these cinemas in their social and political context - Bengal, "The Heroes of Hindi Cinema" and "The Film Industries of Southern India".

Featuring in Panorama: Women's Revenge will be Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen. This genre, which appeared in the US in the 70s, triggered off a reflection on gender representation in cinema - films that spoke of violent vendettas by women following the brutality and dishonour they suffered. "I've tried to choose about ten films - American, French and Indian - about the violence of men and the rape of women," says Waintrop. "I don't think the problem is less important now than it was years ago."
On the flip side is the image of the mafia godfather in Asian cinema as seen in six mafia-related films Waintrop himself has selected. The films in this section called Panorama Noir Total: The Godfather in Asia examine the theme of the ruthless mafia don and bear the Coppolla seal. Waintrop was struck by a new genre that he calls Mumbai noir - Ab Tak Chappan, Company, Sarkar. The films will will be shown alongside Kurosawa (The Bad Sleep Well) and Johnnie To (Election and Election 2).

This is not the first time that Fribourg will screen Indian films, but it's a first for a contemporary package. And the Indian connection does not end there. Mr Pascal Couchepin, Federal Councillor and Minister for Culture, was given a carte blanche by the festival to present a cinema classic. He chose Satyajit Ray's Aparajito which he will personally present on 17 March. This carte blanche marks the first anniversary of the Swiss ratification of UNESCO's conventions for cultural diversity. Says Waintrop: "It's a pleasure that Pascal Couchepin will present a film of Ray, one of my favourite filmmakers, particularly Aparajito, which speaks of the need for education and motherly love with such intensity and tenderness."

Adoor Gopalakrishnan will head the head a five-member jury of the festival whose 23^rd edition begins on14 March.

Competition

• Firaaq
• Mohandas

Out of Bollywood:

• A Climate for Crime - Adoor Gopalakrishnan
• Antardwand - Sushil Rajpal
• Gulabi Talkies - Girish Kasaravalli
• Uproar - Jaideep Varma
• Jodha Akbar - Ashutosh Gowarikar
• Kanchivaram - Priyadarshan
• Mumbai Meri Jaan - Nishikant Kamat
• Four Women - Adoor Gopalakrishnan
• Om Shanti Om - Farah Khan
• Tahan - Santosh Sivan
• Indian Cinema - From North to South - Hubert Niogret

Panorama: Women's Revenge

• Bandit Queen

Panorama: The Godfather in Asia

• Sarkar
• Company
• Ab Tak Chhappan