Sydney Film Festival preview
For more than half a century, the impressive Sydney Film Festival has been like an annual feast for Sydneysiders who craze for the latest in contemporary and artistic cinema from Australia and the world.
This year the 12-day film fiesta, from 8-19 June 2011, will showcase 161 titles: 75 features, 39 documentaries, 34 short films, 13 retrospective titles, 10 world premieres, 86 Australian premieres. The festival will feature films from 42 countries in 47 languages, including 29 Australian productions (1 retrospective, 6 features, 10 documentaries, 12 short films).
“Between our high-octane opening night premiere of Joe Wright’s Hanna starring Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana and our closing night premiere of Mike Mill’s delicious romantic comedy Beginners with Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer, you will find the very best cinema from around the world,” said Festival Director Clare Stewart.
However Sydney’s large Indian community is disappointed not to see any film from India, in Hindi or any other regional Indian language, in the list, despite the fact that India produces the largest number of films in the world.
So, what’s the problem? Aren’t Indian films any good? Can’t agree with that; at the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival a montage of footage culled from nearly seven decades of Indian films, titled “Bollywood: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told,” was showcased with the irrepressible energy and over-the-top exuberance of Bollywood, and India itself.
Sydney Film Festival, since its launch in 1954, has screened films from reputed Indian filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal and Buddhadev Dasgupta. Today eminent contemporary filmmakers such as Aparna Sen, Goutam Ghosh and Karan Johar are making outstanding films, such as Japanese Wife, Moner Manush and My Name is Khan, which Sydney cinema lovers would have appreciated.
In 1996, a special night of Indian cinema was organised for the first time at the Sydney Film Fest, featuring three films back-to-back. With Shabana Azmi flown down as special guest, the event had gone down particularly well, and not only because of the charms of India’s leading ‘thinking’ actress. A few years later, mainstream Bollywood movies (eg Zanjeer) were also picked for a once-off retrospective one year. But lately, India’s representation has been, sadly, miniscule. This contrasts sharply with the Melbourne International Film Festival last year, for which Aamir Khan’s Peepli Live was picked, and yes, the star himself came down to introduce the film. It brought Melbourne’s Indian community out in larger numbers than ever before to the festival. Indeed, there were probably interstate visitors as well, just to get their own photo of Aamir! This must surely be a message to the festival organisers – bring in a Bollywood film, and one of its stars, and you will have a whole new section of eager audience members buying up your tickets and filling up your seats.
Endorsed by Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films, the regulating body for international film festivals, an official competition with the prize money of $60000 was introduced as a part of this festival in 2008. It has surely upgraded the status of the event. According to the festival organisers, the films were selected for their emotional power, resonance and the way the subject matter is treated. Sleeping Beauty from Australia and A Separation from Iran are the two films to watch out for in this year’s competition, which features ten other films.
A highlight of the program this year is the screening of eight films made by Iranian film directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammed Rasoulf who was recently, in a move that rocked the foundation of what is believed as freedom of expression, sentenced to six years of imprisonment on the charges of making films against their country.
The film festival is a major event on the international film calendar and one of the flagship cultural events for Sydney and New South Wales, attracting international attention and interest.
UNESCO last year honoured Sydney as “City of Film”, the only other city enjoying similar status being Bradford in UK. So no Indian participation in such a prestigious event perhaps raises questions, particularly at a time when enhancing Australia-India relationship beyond cricket curry and commonwealth into art and entertainment is at the top of the agenda for both nations. Sandip Hor
Photo: A still from the Iranian film A Separation
