A feast for film buffs

The curtains came down on the Fifth International Film Festival of Kerala, which had its share of surprises, organisational hiccups and controversy. K. SANTHOSH writes...

KOZHIKODE WAS apparently not ready to host the Fifth International Film Festival of Kerala, from March 31 to April 7.

The delegates from abroad had two things to complain about: heat and dust. The Mavoor Road - where the main venues of the festival, Kairali and Sree theatres, were located - was under repair and closed to traffic in the first three days.

An apologetic City Mayor was in the news, so was Derek Malcolm, chairman of the FIPRESCI (International Film Critics' Federation) jury, who criticised the inclusion of the festival executive director, Shaji N. Karun's Malayalam film, ``Vanaprastham'', in the competition. The FIPRESCI made it clear that its rules did not allow the conferment of the award on the ``host's film'', while Shaji argued that his role as a film maker was more important than that of a festival director.

The surprise of surprises was the bestowal of the Suvarna Chakoram, the award for the best Afro-Asian or Latin American film of the festival, carrying a purse of Rs. 10 lakhs, to the Korean film, ``Mayonnaise'', which was considered by many as a minor work. The delegates obviously favoured, from the 17 entries, ``The Cup'' from Bhutan, ``Bye Bye Africa'' from Chad and the Kannada film, ``Deveeri''.

Very few delegates had apparently seen ``Mayonnaise'', directed by Yoon In-ho, a former assistant director on Parmount Pictures productions such as ``Apollo 13'' and ``French Kiss''. The jury praised the ``psychological interpretation'' of the delicate relationship between a woman and her daughter. The theme is almost Bergmanesque. Ah-Jung's mother applies mayonnaise on her hair. Mayonnaise reminds Ah-Jung of how conceited her mother had been even when her father was on his death-bed.

``Mayonnaise'' was not the favourite of even the jury chairman and former director of the Pesaro and Rotterdam festivals, Marco Muller.

``The Cup'' impressively illustrated the theme of the competition: humanism. Tibetan refugee problems are seen through the eyes of the young monks of a Buddhist monastery. ``Bye Bye Africa'', with its cinema-verite approach, and ``Deveeri'', with its powerful theme, were appealing. In the first ever sale at the IFFK market, ``Deveeri'' was picked up for distribution in Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The masterly touch was missing in Shyam Benegal's ``Hari Bhari''. Like many of his other recent works, ``Hari Bhari'' too is excessively wordy and less cinematic.

One of the best in the World Cinema - Information section was the 70-minute Iranian work, ``The Cart'', directed by Gholam Reza Ramezani. A boy, who is a bundle of mischief, is punished by his pedlar father and shut up in a cabinet under the latter's handcart. As the man pushes the handcart along the streets, the boy observes life, through the holes in the cabinet.

It takes two to tango. Elena, an up-and-coming tango performer, dances into the heart of Mario, a top showman. They make a perfect pair on stage, a fact resented by her ex-beau, a mafioso cabaret owner, who completes the triangle.

Carlos Saura's ``Tango'', which attracted a huge crowd just as his compatriot Pedo Almodovar's ``All about My Mother'' did (film buffs had already seen Saura's movie at IFFI this January), was a delightful treat to the senses. Lovely music, some fine dancing, and a poetic narration make it one of the best Spanish films made in recent times.

For want of publicity, a work each of the masters Eric Rohmer and Werner Herzog screened at the festival eluded notice. Though well-made, Gautam Ghosh's documentary, paying tribute to his hero, Satyajit Ray, did not find many takers.

What infused substance into an otherwise average IFFK-2000 was a retrospective of the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini. The entire corpus of the Italian maestro was screened in its first major retrospective in India.

The fifth edition of IFFK was decidedly a shade better than the previous one held at Kochi. The enthusiastic audience at Kozhikode was willing to overlook the organisational hiccups so long as they got their fill of films.

One remembers Godard being quoted in ``Bye Bye Africa'', one of the good entries in the IFFK competition: ``Cinema creates memories''. Film festivals do too.

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