A lot of positive things to say

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

FUKUOKA (Japan), SEPT. 17. The Director-General of the Fukuoka International Film Festival, Mr. Tadao Sato, made interesting observations about the coming festival in India.

In an exclusive interview with The Hindu here today, Mr. Sato, who has been a regular at the International Film Festival of India for more than a decade now - and who plans to visit the one to be held from October 10 this time in Bangalore - felt that the cinematic event had not grown the way he had hoped it would. Although Indian movies themselves could be excellent, the festival had been disappointing in some ways. This, in any case, was true of most festivals the world over.

This is regrettable given the phenomenal interest in Asian cinema and film festivals lately. With Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Philippine and Korean fare taking the centre-stage in just about everywhere (Ms. Mira Nair's work, `Monsoon Wedding' clinched the prestigious Golden Lion at Venice some days ago), it is time to give a more concrete direction to the Indian Film Festival.

Mr. Sato's commitment to Asian celluloid creations is complete and total, and he has in about 11 years succeeded in making the Fukuoka Film Festival renowned. One important reason for this is his determination not to let it get unwieldy. This year, there are just 32 entries from 15 nations.

Also, Mr. Sato - who went to Cannes this May for the first time only because his student had made a picture which was selected there - has resisted the temptation to make Fukuoka broadbased. This event has stuck to screening merely Asian works, and has helped discover fascinating talent. For instance, two of Mr. Majid Majidi's Iranian movies (`Children of Heaven' and `Colour of Paradise') were virtually introduced to Japanese audiences via Fukuoka. This year, his `Baran' opened the Festival.

Mr. Sato's search for better cinema takes him to some of the world's poorest nations like Bangladesh and Mongolia, and his trips have seldom gone in vain. In fact, he is credited with having introduced Mongolian cinema to Europe and the world. It was at his gentle persuasion that a package of films from this country was, for the first time, exhibited at Berlin, which proved to be a gateway to the rest of mankind.

The Filipino director, Ms. Marilou Diaz-Abaya, is another case in point, whose artistic sensibility and excellence was first noted at Fukuoka. Her next stop was New Delhi, where the head of the Munich Film Festival saw it and though that it would be a great idea to show it in his own backyard.

This year, Fukuoka gave her the Laureate of the Arts and Culture Prize. Mr. Ravi Shankar and Mr. Muhammad Yunus have been the earlier recipients of this award.

Despite Mr. Sato's efforts, Asian cinema is rapidly shedding its identity; it is getting closer to European and American cinema. ``I will not be surprised that a time may come when it will be almost impossible to distinguish Asian movies from the others. Happily, Asian cinema is far less violent than American stuff, but I wonder how long this will remain so,'' Mr. Sato averred.

He thought that ``the pictures from our continent still had a lot of positive things to say, unlike European films, which tend to be dark and cynical''.

Asian cinema is still sound and healthy, and at Fukuoka a liberal sprinkling of such movies can be seen, as the Festival approaches its halfway mark.

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Section  : Entertainment