Documentary Today #3

The Cover The representational cover depicts the varying colours of the first nine Mumbai International Film Festivals held between 1990 and 2006.

6 The Genesis of a Festival Author and documentary filmmaker Sanjit Narwekar talks about the genesis of the Mumbai International Film Festival from the time it was a mere dream to the time it became a reality.

12 MIFF through Bombay and Mumbai Cultural activist and curator Amrit Gangar talks about the early days of the festival and the various people who brought it to life and immortality.

19 Reflections of a documentary buff Filmmaker and educationist and herself a recepient of the Dr V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award for 1998, Vijaya Mulay talks about the time when she feared that the festival would be lost into nonentity to the time it proved to be a resounding success.

22 It is documentary coming of age!

Filmmaker and former president of the Indian Documentary Producers Association Jagdish Banerjee recalls the few events which makes the festival memorable.

23 Down Memory Lane Filmmaker, former Chef Producer of Films Division and a recepient of the Dr V.Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award for 2004 goes down the memory lane for his own memories of the festival.

24 A Festival Sketchbook A few memorable personalities reproduced from caricaturist N. D. Adam’s sketchbooks of the last nine festivals.

28 They Did Short Films Proud Profiling the nine respected recipients of the Dr V.Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award who have done immense service to the documentary movement.

45 Making Your Documentary Matter Kate Schuler reports on an important conference which explored ideas for making the documentary more relevant to the milieu in which it is made.

Plus • Rare documentation on the first nine MIFFs: Juries, Awards and more!!

• The latest news from the world of documentary films • The latest documentaries on display • Letters to the Editor

From The Editor’s Desk

Editor Kuldeep Sinha Executive Editor Sanjit Narwekar Production Co-ordinator Anil Kumar Printed at Work Center Offset Printers (I) Pvt Ltd. A2/32, Shah & Nahar Industrial Estate, S. J. Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400013 Tel.: 24943227 / 24929261 Published by Films Division, 24, Dr.Gopalrao Deshmukh Marg, Mumbai 400026 Tel.: 23510461 / 23521421 The Editors would like to acknowledge the help extended by the following staff members of the Film Division in the compilation of this special issue: V. Packirisamy V. S. Narvekar Kalim-ul-Haque Rakesh Saxena N. B. Sonawane Mridula Kadwadkar Randhir Kumar Ajitha Nair B. S. Mulik D. B. Jadhav M. N. Wankhede

Who would have thought that decades after the seeds of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) were first sown by Films Division way back in 1952, the tiny sapling would not only grow up to become a huge tree but would also spread its pollen to various other places in the country. Initially the festival was started to promote the growth of the entertainment industry and its market in overseas territories. Though the documentaries produced by Films Division were also creating waves by this time, they could only be shown in the Indian Panorama non-fiction section of the IFFI. The mandatory compulsory screening of documentary films in cinema halls and their annual presence in IFFI created only a marginal awareness about the documentary media. It was understandable that the documentary films just made a beginning after Indian independence. Therefore, there was a long way to be traded for the documentary cinema. The number of documentary filmmakers was growing by leaps and bounds but incidentally these filmmakers did not have much exposure for their documentary films.

While Films Division was trying to go out of way to promote short filmmakers, it had very little role to play in marketing and screening their films.

Thus the documentary films and their makers remained a poor country cousin of the expensively-made feature films made purely for entertainment. The documentary films were not only lacking in glamour and luster but also lacked a proper system of financing and recovering of investments made in these films. Except a lucky few, most of the documentary filmmakers did not have access to documentary films made abroad. Therefore, it became the prime responsibility of Films Division to take the lead once again and the Bombay International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation films was born in 1990.

Initially those championing the cause of the Bombay International Film Festival did not expect much enthusiasm and response from either the filmmakers or the film industry or the viewers but the continued support it received from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting made the festival a permanent reality. In spite of some apprehensions, the first Bombay International Film Festival was a resounding success. This success was DOCUMENTARY TODAY

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followed by the increasing successes of the other editions of the festival. This created a wave of enthusiasm among the fraternity of short filmmakers.

The Bombay (now Mumbai) International Film Festival has not only provided them with a wonderful showcase for their own films but has also made it possible for them to look at the limitless potential of the documentary medium through the cinema of the world which is brought to their doorstep. And, of course, there is the highest cash award along with the golden and silver conches awarded to the best documentaries in various categories. We are told that the cash prize awarded by the Mumbai International Film Festival is by itself a great incentive for the award winners to plunge into the production of their next documentary production. Thus the Mumbai International Film Festival has become one of the most awaited events in the world film calendar.

The evolution of the Mumbai International Film Festival can be observed from the increasing number of entries and delegates participating in the festival, details of which can be found elsewhere in the issue. The present 10th Mumbai International Film Festival attracted 540 National and 225 International entries for the respective competitions respectively – which is, once again, a new high.

The question of what impact film festivals have on the public, the industry and the promotion and circulation of documentary film culture has been asked by several critics of the festival culture. My own experience of being associated with the Mumbai International Film Festival has shown that the festival – though an expensive affair to host – has served to place documentaries on a pedestal which even several decades of trying has not been possible.

I particularly salute the role of film festivals in laying the foundation for the success of a film by showcasing films which, because of the awards or recognition they received there go on to become landmarks in the history of cinema. A case in point is Gaurav Jani’s Riding Solo To The Top of the World. In a sense I can say that the film was first “discovered” by the Mumbai Festival where it not only won commendation from the Critics Jury but also the top award in its category. It subsequently went on to bag other top awards. No doubt the film being an excellent one would have done well in any circuit but there is no denying that its participation at the festival gave it the platform from which it could go further.

It is in this context that film festivals acquire a new and very important role. Formerly a showcase for the different national filmmaking practices exhibiting their best jewels, they become the intermediary of an uninterrupted circulation of another idea of cinema than that favored by the market. Beyond the numerous differences (in length, subject and tone) between the various festivals, they constitute a planetary network where a different kind of cinema is possible. Cannes, the preeminent festival in the world, plays an important role both as a model for others and as a particularly powerful echo chamber, indeed as an anchoring point of initiatives, of which it isn’t always the first to be in the know, but to which it lends a supplementary weight, beyond that of simply showcasing films.

However, this phenomenon could have two specific dangers. The first is aesthetic: there is the risk of creating “festival films,” simply a variation on Hollywood mass production but equally simplistic. Those in charge of selecting films for festivals and film critics have the duty to work tirelessly against such a tendency. The second danger is economic: there is the possibility of creating two distinct systems and of unequal weight, a powerful global market and a festival bubble where “artistic” films and their makers can exist in a state of weightlessness, thanks to grants and sponsoring.

But if we can take care to minimize these two dangers I am sure the festival culture can be of immense use to the maker. But for the moment let us brush aside these concerns and sit back and enjoy the films that will be shown at the 10th Mumbai International Film Festival.

Keen watchers of the Mumbai International Film Festival since its inception will be very happy to know that the 10th Mumbai International Film Festival has moved back to its original home: the National Centre for Performing Arts, a prestigious cultural hub in the city which not only gave the festival an international ambience but also became a prestigious venue of this event because of its art-centric activities. It is also like a home coming for all the documentary film lovers and film makers. The excitement of having the Mumbai International Film Festival at the NCPA is a clear reflection of the pleasure and satisfaction we expect to see on the faces of the delegates. I am sure the 10th Mumbai International Film Festival will, once again, be another milestone in the history of documentary cinema.

Kuldeep Sinha 6

DOCUMENTARY TODAY

Eighteen years … ten festivals … a record by any standards … particularly for a documentary film festival in a country which worships the fiction format. The tenth edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films will unspool in Mumbai from February 3, 2008 at the National Centre of the Performing Arts but, for now, it is time for some nostalgia … a time to go back in the past and renew memories of the nine festivals that have gone by … We asked six regular attendees of the festival to delve in to their past and write or sketch about their ...

Memories of Festivals Gone By DOCUMENTARY TODAY

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The Genesis of a Festival

By Sanjit Narwekar his dream of hosting a festival of documentary films. Chandra was a filmmaker … a dreamer … but also a practical man who went about pursuing the dream with the Ministry till the necessary okays came through by the middle of 1988.

Secretary (Films) in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, put it most succinctly, “It was felt that the trained manpower committed to the art of documentary film and resources available at the Films Division, Bombay would be utilized at advantage for organizing the Festival.” Films Division was asked to send a proposal explaining how it would go about organizing the Festival and a detailed

“What began as a dream, a fervent hope has today become a reality. The Indian documentary film is finally receiving the recognition it richly deserves. The documentary has been featured as an appendage of the feature film. But most thinking people have now realized its special attributes and the consequent need for the short film as the mass medium of influence and importance,” said Vijay Chandra speaking at the inauguration of the first edition of the Bombay (it hadn’t become Mumbai then!) International Film Festival for Short and Documentary Films on March 1, 1990 at the Tata Theatre of the National Centre for the Performing Arts at Nariman Point in Mumbai.

“It was felt that the trained manpower committed to the art of documentary film and resources available at the Films Division, Bombay would be utilized at advantage for organizing the Festival.”

The festival had been a dream … a glimmer in Vijay Chandra’s eye for at least half-a-decade before it actually reached fruition in 1990. He had just become the Chief Producer of Films Division then. As early as 1987, when we were together in Tashkent for the Festival of India, he had told me about

Films Division was given the task of masterminding and managing India’s first-ever documentary festival – almost half-a-century after the first organized documentary production unit (the Information Films of India) had been set up. B.K.Zutshi, then Joint

The first meeting to discuss the proposed festival was held on August 18, 1988 and almost unanimously

Shri Shankar Dayal Sharma, then Vice President of India declares the first Bombay International Film Festival open by lighting the auspicious lamp watched by Shri C. Subramaniam and Shri P. Upendra, then Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

note was sent a few months later on December 22, 1988.

Matters move ahead pretty quickly after that the Organising Committee was constituted on April 24, 1989.

B.K.Zutshi was appointed Chairman.

Other Government officials on the committee included P.K.Sarkar, Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ravi Gupta, General Manager, National Film Development Corporation, Urmila Gupta, Director, Directorate of Film Festivals, D.K.Afzalpurkar, Secretary, Department of Information and Public Relations, Government of Maharashtra, and, of course, Vijay Chandra, Chief Producer, Films Division as the Member-Secretary. The other non-official members of the Organising Committee included Mani Kaul, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Bhimsain, Jabbar Patel, S.Krishnaswamy, Rajiv Mehrotra, G.D.Agarwal, Keith Stevenson, Bikram Singh, Jagmohan and M.Shamim.

The first meeting of the Organising Committee took place in May 10, 1989.

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A series of Organising Committee meetings gave final shape to what had been a mere “glimmer in the eye”. After considering several venues – Goa and Pune, among them – it was decided that Bombay should be the permanent venue of the festival primarily because it was the birthplace of cinema but also it housed the headquarters of all the organizers of the festival: the Films Division, the Indian Documentary Producers Association as also the State Government of Maharashtra which had agreed to chip in with a third of the expenses.

It was also to be a biennial competitive festival. The festival was to be simply known as the Bombay (not yet Mumbai) International Film Festival of Documentary and Short Films (animation had still not been added) or simply by the acronym of the first few words: BIFF. None of these parameters have changed over the years.

Very early on it was decided to host a “non-exclusive” festival without a specific theme so that all kinds of films would be able to participate. A shloka from the Rigveda proved to be the right

Noted Japanese filmmaker Nagisa Oshima declares the second Bombay International Film Festival open by lighting the auspicious lamp.

several themes: seeing is believing, the candid eye, points of view, search for the truth, the eye that probes, insight and, finally, the creative eye of the filmmaker. Speaking at the inauguration of the first festival Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, then Vice President of India, praised the symbol for its aptness and significance. He

The “eye” was meant to represent several themes: seeing is believing, the candid eye, points of view, search for the truth, the eye that probes, insight and, finally, the creative eye of the filmmaker. motto for the festival: “Come Together, Speak in Harmony” very succinctly described the festival’s approach. The artists working at the Cartoon Film Unit of the Films Division had come up with several designs but the design that appealed the most to the members of the Organising Committee was that of “the creative eye” submitted by Girish Rao. The eye was in a “finished” form so the noted artist and animator Bhim Sain, also one of the members of the Committee, drew the eye in “free hand” and it was this drawing that was finally accepted as the logo.

The “eye” was meant to represent

said, “Of course it has many meanings but it reminded me of an old saying: I look at everyone with the eyes of affection.” Many foreign delegates have also, over the years, commented on the appropriateness of the symbol.

The venue of the festival was also decided upon in one of the early meetings. At first, the Nehru Centre at Worli was selected but it proved to be beyond the festival budget. Eventually, the sprawling campus of the National Centre for the Performing Arts at Nariman Point was chosen and what an ideal spot it has proved to be. Of course, eventually the venues have

changed over the last eighteen years: the Nehru Centre at Worli and then the Rabindra Natya Mandir at Prabhadevi, both more centrally located. However, in its tenth edition the festival has now shifted back to its inaugural venue: the National Centre for the Performing Arts.

The first festival was eventually held between March 1 and 7, 1990 with a remarkable response of 600 films from 40 countries. Writing in the companion volume produced on the occasion of the first festival the then President of India, Hon’ble R.Venkataraman had written: “Though feature films reflect the present status of society, documentaries hold the mirror to society in a fuller sense. We have one of the world’s biggest short film producing organizations, in addition to the lively creations of private short filmmakers. I am sure the ensuing festival will provide an opportunity to our documentary and short filmmakers and viewers to assess the scope of this genre and, thereby, set its sights for the future.” But even he, writing with great optimism then, could not have visualized the great success that the festival would enjoy in the years to come.

The opening film was the Mani Kaul DOCUMENTARY TODAY

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strides in the 90s as it became cheaper, more accessible, more advanced.

Being cheaper and lighter it democratized the entire filmmaking process for filmmaker and viewer.”

Vijay B. Chandra address the seminar on John Grierson: A Re-appraisal of the Documentary for the 1990s. Seated on his right are filmmaker M. V. Krishnaswamy and British film historian Charles Barr.

masterpiece Siddheshwari. Jehangir Shapurji Bhownagary, veteran filmmaker and once part of the Films Division before he went to the UNESCO, was the first chairman of the international jury comprising Dennis O’Rourke, Ulrich Gregor, Erika Richter, Ishu Patel, Mikhail Litviakov and Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Noted Dutch documentary filmmaker Bert Haanstra was also to be a part of the jury but backed out at the last minute (on January 30,1990) quoting urgent personal work. Over the years several respected filmmakers went on to grace the international festival jury: John Halas (BIFF 1992), Nagisa Oshima and Werner Kobe (BIFF 1994), Patricio Guzman and Alanis Obomsawim (MIFF 1996), Richard Kaplan (MIFF 2000), Krysztof FESTIVAL DIRECTORS 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 10

Vijay B.Chandra Vijay B.Chandra R.Krishnamohan D.Gautaman Bankim Bankim Jatin Sarkar Raghu Krishna Raghu Krishna Kuldeep Sinha

DOCUMENTARY TODAY

Zanussi, Jerzy Kucia and Peter Wintonick (MIFF 2002) to name just a few of them.

The pattern of the festival was set from its very first edition: it had the usual Competition, Information and Retrospective sections. The surprise package was the Spectrum India section – on the lines of the Indian Panorama – as a part of which Indian films made in the previous year would be shown. Like the Indian Panorama, this section went on to become a favourite of foreign film critics and festival hunters because this gave them the opportunity to see the best of Indian films at one central location. The first festival focused on the Indian Documentary in the Eighties: once again, a kind of look-back at the best documentary films of the 1980s. The Spectrum India ceased to be a separate section after MIFF 1998.

The increasing importance of video also found a place in the festival. In 1996 the Video Vista was introduced with 85 films being showcased from a total of 250 entries. Writing in the brochure edited for the occasion filmmaker Paromita Vohra said, “Video gained popularity in the West, specially in USA, in the 70s. In India it gained ground in the 1980s taking dramatic

Video’s importance increased to the point it was, on the recommendation of the Selection Committee of MIFF 1998, integrated into the mainstream of the festival – something the National Awards is yet to do! It was after MIFF 2000 that the sections of the festival changed. The Competition and Information sections gave way to a more practical division between the International and National sections. All the films shown now were in competition!

A special highlight of the first festival was the showing of the award winning diploma films of the students of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune along with Retrospectives of Sukhdev and Georges Melies. The Melies retrospective comprising 46 films had been made possible by the erfforts of Jean Bhownagary. The rarely-seen films, which included the classic Trip To The Moon (1901) for a special treat for film archivists and students. Another rare retrospective of pioneering films would be held at BIFF 1994: the Lumiere Century, which showcased the works of major French documentary filmmakers since Louis Lumiere. BIFF 1994 also witnessed a rare homage to the genius of the Indian pioneer Dadasaheb Phalke. 1994 marked the 125th birth anniversary as also his 50th death anniversary – a rare occasion on which to show his films to an international festival audience. The Retrospectives would hold pride of place in the years to come and would become something of a speciality of the festival.

Another special highlight of the festival is its seminars, workshops and Open Forums. Once again this series was kicked off in the first festival with a significant seminar on “A Reappraisal of the Documentary for the 1990s” held to pay homage to documentary guru John Grierson. The noted British

THE FESTIVAL AT A GLANCE Festival

Award Money

Countries No. of Participated Entries

No. of film shows/ screened Category

BIFF’90

Rs. 7.50 lakhs (alongwith Golden/ Silver Conches)

47

633

Rs. 11.00 lakhs (alongwith Golden/ Silver Conches) + 6.00 lakhs (Cash Award of Rs. 5.00 lakhs instituted by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare) BIFF’94 Rs. 12.00 lakhs (alongwith Golden/ Silver Conches)

40

650

31

620

MIFF’96

Rs. 16.50 lakhs (alongwith Golden/ Silver Conches)

51

725

MIFF’98

Rs. 17.50 lakhs (alongwith Golden/ Silver Conches)

36

576

MIFF’ 2000

Rs. 25.50 lakhs (alongwith Golden/ Silver Conches) including Dr. V. Shantaram Award of Rs. 1.00 lakh)

34

652

MIFF’ 2002

Rs. 24.75 lakhs (alongwith Golden/ Silver Conches) including Dr. V. Shantaram Award of Rs. 1.00 lakh) Rs. 28.50 lakhs (alongwith Golden/ Silver Conches) including Dr. V. Shantaram Award of Rs. 2.50 lakh) Rs. 28.50 lakhs (alongwith Golden/ Silver Conches) including Dr. V. Shantaram Award of Rs. 2.50 lakh)

36

655

31

30

BIFF’92

MIFF’ 2004

MIFF’ 2004

Competition Information Retrospective Spectrum India Competition Information Animation Retrospective Spectrum India

Delegates Attended

No. of Foreign Indian Audience films 92 57 22 4000 94 105 88 116 60 58 6000 101 127 73 39

Competition Information Video Vista Retrospective Spectrum India Competition Information Video Vista Spl. Screening Hot Docs Spectrum India Retrospective Competition Information Competition (V) Informaiton (V) Spl. Screening Retrospective Int. Film (Comp.)

Int. Film (Inf.) Int. Video (Comp) Int. Video (Inf.) Nat. Video (Comp.)

Nat. Video (Inf.) Retrospective Workshops / Spl. Packages Comp. (International) Comp. (National) Retrospective Spl. Packages Indian Panorama

81 83 76 68 33 73 62 85 2 11 57 103 82 70 47 64 60 34 53 16 29 13 67 17 62 135

622

Comp. (International) Comp. (National) Retrospective & Spl. Packages

44 62 172

574

Comp. (International) Comp. (National) Retrospective & Spl. Packages

54 81 202

58 76 26 95 17

91

30

8500

25

40

10000

30

46

12000

42

97

14000

8

99

15000

15000

29

108

15000

DOCUMENTARY TODAY 11

List of International and National Juries BIFF’90

BIFF’92

BIFF’94

MIFF’96

MIFF’98 Main

National Video

Jehangir Bhownagary (India) Chairman

John Halas (UK) Chairman

Nagisa Oshima (Japan) Chairman

Alanis Obomsawin (Canada) Chairman

P.K. Nair (India)

Girish Kasarvalli (India) Chairman

Adoor Gopalakrishnan (India)

Fali Bilimoria (India)

Amos Gitali (Israel)

Patricio Guzman (Spain)

Dino Raymond Hansen (Denmark)

D. Gautaman (India)

Ishu Patel (Canada)

Philip Glass (USA)

Werner Kobe (Germany)

Slamer Rahardjo Djared (Indonesia)

Melanie Guiney (Australia)

Rashmi Doraiswamy (India)

Dennis O’Rourke (Australia)

Jaya Bachchan (India)

Kwaw Ansah (Ghana)

Kazuo Hara (Japan)

Ram Mohan (India)

Ruchira Gupta (India)

Mikhail Litviakov (Russia)

Ken Okubo (Japan)

Barry Parker (Canada)

N.S. Thapa (India)

Prof. Satish Bahador (India)

Rauf Ahmed (India)

Ulrich Gregor (Germany)

Jeannette Paulson (Hawai, USA)

B.D. Garga (India)

K.L. Khandpur (India)

Robert Cahen (France)

Dr. (Mrs.) Erika Richter (Germany)

Baku Sadykov (Tadjikstan)

Goutam Ghose (India)

Angela Haardt (Germany)

Ron Holloway (Germany)

MIFF’2000 Main

International

National Video

Critics Jury

Richar Kalpan (USA) Chairman

Richard Raskin (Denmark) Chairman

Vijay Chandra (India) Chairman

K.M. Amladi (India)

Girish Kasarvalli (India)

Sandra Kogut (France)

Sumitra Bhave (India)

Victoria Belopolskaia (Russia)

Ferry Radax (Australia)

Catherine Le Clef (Belgium)

Prof. M.M. Chaudhri (India)

Ms. Ranjanee Ratnavibhushana

Luciano Rigolini (Switzerland)

Vijaya Mehta (India)

Sudhir Nandgaonkar (India)

Nicole Salomon (Denmark)

Nguyen Ha Bac (Vietnam)

Aribam Syam Sharma (India)

MIFF’2002

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International Film & Video Competition

National Film & Video Competition

International Critics Jury

National Critics Jury

Jerzy Kucia (Poland)

Peter Wintonik (Canada)

Heikki Jokinen (Finland)

Fr. Gaston Roberge (India-Kolkata)

Paul Bush (UK)

Deepa Gahlot (India)

Vidyarthy Chatterjee (India)

Maithili Rao (India)

Krzysztof Zanussi (Poland)

Vinod Ganatra (India)

Adina Bradeanu (Romania)

Sadanand Menon (India)

Gleny Rowe (Australia)

K. G. George (India)

Vijaya Mulay (India)

Kalpana Lajmi (India)

DOCUMENTARY TODAY

MIFF’2004 International Film & Video Competition

National Film & Video Competition

International Critics Jury

National Critics Jury

Tom Zubrycki (Austrialia)

N. S. Thapa (India)

Barbara Lorey Lachrriere (France)

Dilip Patnaik (India)

Nicolas Philibert (France)

Prem Vaidya (India)

Bodo Schoenfelder (Germany)

Pradip Dixit (India)

Richard Green (South Africa)

P. K. Nair (India)

Gowri Ramnarayan (India)

Vishwanath Sachdev (India)

Siladitya Sen (India)

D. Gautaman (India)

Ram Mohan (India)

Aurel Klimt (Czech Republic)

MIFF’2006 International Film & Video Competition

National Film & Video Competition

International Critics Jury

National Critics Jury

John Akomfrah (UK)

Manjira Dutta (India)

Ruediger Suchsland (Germany)

Sanjit Narwekar (India)

Lasse Naukkarinen (Finland)

Gautam Bora (India)

Hubert Niogret (France)

K. M. Amladi (India)

Sato Makoto (Japan)

K. Hariharan (India)

Premendra Mazumdar (India)

Swapan Mullick (India)

Lisa Goldman (USA)

Kireet Khurana (India)

Nirad N. Mohapatra (India)

Sumitra Peries (Sri Lanka)

historian Charles Barr was invited to deliver the keynote address. Others who spoke included filmmakers Dr Gopal Dutt (on Grierson India visit), M.V.Krishnaswamy (about his interaction with Grierson during his student days) and Suhasini Mulay (about her days with the National Board of Canada where she interacted with Grierson.

When the festival started there was no separate section for animation films but there were several excellent animation films entered in the festival.

Considering the strides that animation was making the world over and the impact it was to have on India which would soon become a hub for animation, it was decided to introduce animation as a special section. Thus,

animation was added to the festival in its second edition in 1992.

BIFF 1992 also had a special focus on the World of Animation so as to take a comprehensive view of the trends in world animation.

As a component of the animation section, there were lecture demonstrations by Barry Parker from the Sheridan College and Ishu Patel from the National Film Board of Canada. Parker spoke on “the latest technology tools being used in advanced countries for creating animation art” while Patel spoke on “the non-conventional technique of the animation art”. Other animation experts invited included Chang Guang Xi from China, Kiaz Pendle from

Denmark, Sandoz Reisenbuchler from Hungary, Jirin Barta from Czechoslavakia and Isao Takahata from Japan. A special introductory brochure on the world of animation which took an overall was published Over the years the festival has grown in stature and strength. The inaugural festival disbursed cash prizes worth Rs 7.5 lakhs – the Golden Conch alone carrying a cash component of Rs 2.5 lakhs. Over years the cash component has increased by leaps and bounds to a phenomenal Rs 28.5 lakhs making it a documentary festival with the highest prize money. In many cases this prize money has enabled the filmmaker to make his next film. Which in a sense is a great victory for a film festival.

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MIFF through Bombay and Mumbai

By Amrit Gangar Nineteen years ago, in 1989, telex days had leanly dawned on us in Mumbai, bringing in newer acoustic environment, particularly in institutional spaces. Communication had become a bit more fast while fax machine was waiting in time’s wings and ‘pager’ was to make its entry before the mobile phones entered our universe at large. Something wonderful was happening in the serendipitous space called cyber, we never knew then.

Cybâbâ! Cyberbâbâ zindâbâd!

But till then telephones were big, black and bulky. In offices, telephone operators sat against big boards, swiftly fixing connections; they looked like technicians from satellites. Remington typewriters were still omnipresent; thumping tak-â-tak in varying speeds while Kores carbon papers helped make one plus many copies. The siren still blew at 24 Dr Gopalrao Deshmukh Marg (Pedder Road), mornings and evenings – it does even now.

The typewriter still survives oddly with its own staccato sounds. The city had

more constants on its sound map than variables. About two decades ago, Mumbai had many more and different species of birds than it has now; majoritarian crows were less vocal and aggressive; they allowed smaller and tenderer birds to survive. It was in this environment, amidst the fragrance of an ancient Kailaspati tree and the songs of the koel inside the Films Division’s complex, the much-needed international festival of documentary, short and animation films was born – in Bombay.

and the Festival Director, late V.B. Chandra was full of people. There was an exuberant feeling of joy since Chandrasahab was successful in getting a nod from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, for launching this biennial festival from March 1990. As the birds chirruped outside, the smile on Chandrasahab’s face grew eloquent since it was not an easy task to realize his dream of having the Bombay International Film Festival for Documentary & Short Films (the word Animation was added later and

It was amidst the fragrance of an ancient Kailaspati tree and the songs of the koel inside the Films Division’s complex, the much-needed international festival of documentary, short and animation films was born – in Bombay.

I talk so much about sounds mainly because they retrieve my memory much more effectively than visual images do. That evening the sprawling chamber of the then Chief Producer

An ever-smiling V. B. Chandra welcomes a foreign jury member

Bombay had not yet become Mumbai officially).

Among the people was Mani Kaul, who wanted to introduce me to Chandrasahab and get me involved in the festival. Mani knew my Screen Unit background and my persistent efforts to screen documentary and short films in this film club that I was heading.

Mani was in a great form those days and contributing significantly to the festival getting into being on a sound footing. That evening the discussion was around designing the festival logo – among many suggestions finally it was decided to have the ‘eye’ – a brilliant idea from Mani Kaul. The human ‘eye’ that had somewhat mysterious looking retina.

Around September 1989, I had gone to Berlin to attend the Federation of International Cine Clubs meeting on behalf of the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) of which I was the Western Region Secretary. At this meeting, I was also privileged to

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have received FICC’s award in appreciation of my work in the film society movement in India, which in fact was the honour for all my coworkers and dreamers. Since I was in that part of Europe, I also visited Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Austria and took some time off to see short and documentary films at Béla Balázs Studio for young experimental filmmakers in Budapest while in Prague and Vienna I saw short and documentary films by many young filmmakers to get some good entries for the very first and fledgling edition of the BIFF. Several good entries did come to find place in the festival’s competition section. It was Pankaj Butalia from the FFSI’s Northern Region, whom I barely knew then, had proposed and strongly supported my name to represent the federal body at the above meeting. The then Vice President of the FFSI, Basu Bhattacharya helped me get extremely cheap seat on a Czechoslovak airline plane, which I could afford. My film society counterparts in other countries had hosted my stay. I feel happy that in those initial days of the BIFF, I could positively contribute to its growth. In fact, there was a sense of joy and commitment all around since such a necessary and large-scale event was happening.

A youthful almost unrecognisable Mani Kaul at the time of shooting his first film Uski Roti.

hard to make the festival a success.

Perhaps this was the only festival in which filmmakers and technicians were so thickly involved in its organization.

I found Chandrasahab’s enthusiasm instantly infectious. He asked me to take care of the main catalogue of the festival, which I did. Tough task it was – taking days and nights. It was my friend Neelan (who had come to attend the festival) from Thrisur and my team of assistants who helped me shoulder my responsibility – still adequately

Both senior and junior staff members in the Films Division worked hard to make the festival a success.

Perhaps this was the only festival in which filmmakers and technicians were so thickly involved in its organization.

If the baby BIFF had some really excellent films in its cradle, efforts of many eminent filmmakers in Mumbai as well as other places in India and the world should be acknowledged. In the initial years, they contributed generously and imaginatively to make the festival healthy and handsome.

Also both senior and junior staff members in the Films Division worked

faster communication technology wasn’t around at the MIFF and time waited for none.

Well, at the end of the day, the catalogue came out – weighing almost a kilogram. Its cover page had a reproduction from V.K. Wankhede’s painting, quite unique. Painter, documentary and animation filmmaker

Wankhede was an Films Division staffer then. In the catalogue I had included Satyajit Ray’s letter in his calligraphic handwriting addressed to Chandrasahab as also Kumar Shahani’s seminal essay Modes of Representation besides Bert Haanstra’s letter, etc. It was quite amusing to see the delegates rushing from one venue to another within the NCPA complex, holding the heavy tome close to their hearts. Close to my heart, I felt terrible pain when I detected some typographical (in other words human, in other words my own) errors in title or synopsis texts.

I really enjoyed curating and organizing retrospectives for BIFF / MIFF. The first one that I remember fondly was Joris Ivens’ full fledged retrospective including his latest magnum opus A Tale of the Wind (1988) co-directed by his life-partner Marceline Loridan who was present during the event held at the Tata Theatre, NCPA. In Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin’s film Chronicle of a summer we see young Marceline asking a cross-section of Parisians to respond to the question “Are you happy?” In this film too, Rouch applied the same ethnological approach to the French. Edited down DOCUMENTARY TODAY 15

from 25 hours of interviews, this fascinating document ends with the interviewees reacting to themselves on screen. The film’s influence can be seen in the work the New Wave directors, particularly Jean-Luc Godard.

As I recall, the retrospective was possible by the efforts of Jean Bhownagary.4 Marceline was quite a demanding lady and was impulsively anxious about the projection condition.

The catalogue I had the opportunity to edit carried so many remarkable photographs that Marceline had given us – e.g. some of these photographs showed Joris Ivens with Robert Flaherty in New York, with Ernest Hemingway in Spain, with Pablo Picasso at Vallauris, with Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi et al. They not only evoked history of time but also the personality of a great human being that Joris Ivens was.

In my Prologue I wrote, “A few years after now, when the twentieth century will wind itself and we would pause for a while to look back at history, one of its grandest children – Joris Ivens – will provide us crucial references to

contextualise our present flux.” We were so lucky to have Bhownagarysahab around us. I wasn’t sure whether Marceline would like our catalogue. But during the inaugural ceremony, she stood up holding the catalogue and proudly showing to over a thousand people who were present.

On stage she hugged and kissed Chandrasahab and me amidst loud applause and amusement.5 There was one film (I think it was Rain) that was normal 35mm with a portion in Cinemascope, which meant the

Chandrakant Dhuri changed the lens so swiftly and smoothly that no body noticed the change. Later Mani told me that wherever Marceline travelled in Europe or elsewhere, she kept on talking about the BIFF’s impeccable retrospective of Joris Ivens’ films.

“India was the best,” she would proudly announce everywhere. Those were the pioneering times and the MIFF (as it is known now) went on becoming seriously popular across the world.

In 1992, I was also given the responsibility to edit “World of

Wherever Marceline travelled in Europe or elsewhere, she kept on talking about the BIFF’s impeccable retrospective of Joris Ivens’ films. “India was the best,” she would proudly announce everywhere. projectionist had to be extremely alert and agile to change the lens at that precise point in split of a second. Not sure about the “Indian” projectionist’s skill and efficiency, tensed and unsure Marceline was standing restlessly in the projection room throughout. But the NCPA’s perfect projectionist

Veteran animation filmmaker John Halas releases the first volume of World of Animation Cinema and presents it to Shri Sharad Pawar, then Union Minister for Defence V. B. Chandra looks on.

Animation Cinema” catalogue and help organize this sumptuous event having some of the best animation films from as many as thirteen countries including India. Under the consultation of Ram Mohan and Rani D. Burra and with help from Films Division’s own enthusiastic and intelligent animation filmmakers, this international retrospective was a hugely satisfying event that was marked by the presence of eighty-year-old animation film master, John Halas. Halas also contributed a historically interesting article to the catalogue. Many young and aspiring animation filmmakers loved this enlightening confluence.

MIFF was still BIFF and it was making its foundations enduringly strong.

The 1994 BIFF was held under R. Krishna Mohan’s directorship and for the first time it introduced a competitive video section called Video Vista, incidentally the name I had a chance to suggest. This time over, I had the opportunity to edit the main catalogue and also take part in seminars and discussions around films and filmmakers and interview some of them for television. During D. Gautaman’s directorship (1996), I could produce a catalogue RETROSPECTIVES which was highly appreciated for its depth of

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content. Prior to the festival, I happened to be in Denmark on a lecture tour and taking the opportunity I thought of discovering a Danish short filmmaker for MIFF – I presume in India we were until then familiar with only one Danish filmmaker and that was Carl Dreyer. Lars von Trier came to be known later. While at the Danish Film Institute in Copenhagen someone told me about Jorgen Leth, “but you cannot meet him because he is not in Denmark and you cannot reach him because he is in Haiti.”

That was quite interesting and challenging. I phoned Gautaman from Copenhagen and told him about Jørgen Leth and it could be important for us to introduce his work to the MIFF audiences and that somehow I was determined to track him down. In a second, Gautaman asked me to try and his work and if possible also him.

When so many delegates told me that they liked Leth’s films immensely and the RETROSPECTIVES catalogue (many consider it as a book), I told them that the credit for it should actually go to Gautaman, the festival director who had the generosity and the vision. Along with Leth’s, I had the opportunity to organize six other retrospectives viz. Alanis Obomsawin (through Vijaya Mulay’s efforts), Norman McLaren (through Ishu Patel’s

The MacLaren section in the catalogue became like a teaching kit with illustrations and instructions – the festival’s fax machine in its own way helped me a lot and it appeared in my editorial acknowledgements.

There was a perfect tuning between me and the Films Division’s festival staff, which always remained charming and cooperative as also the Tata Press staff. And how can I forget one of my Danish friends’ son Kristian Molhave? Young Animation genius Norman McLaren.

Kristian was section became another enlightening staying with me then and his voluntary space with Lindsay Anderson’s essay. help was immense; he would spend So was Dziga Vertov’s section, which sleepless nights at the printing press to our young filmmakers and students checking proofs after proofs. revealed the power and magic of The Nehru Centre auditorium was cinematography, and what wonders packed with delegates when Donald Dziga Vertov had already achieved presented McLaren’s unique films way back in the 1920s. Among many other important things, I feel, MIFF will also be remembered for the a kind of theorizing and RETROSPECTIVES catalogue in days to come.

What was significant was contextualizing that we were attempting around the documentary debate. efforts), Humphrey Jennings (through British Council, Mumbai), Dziga Vertov, S.N.S. Sastry and B.D. Garga.

What was significant was a kind of theorizing and contextualizing that we were attempting around the documentary debate, in fact it had started from Joris Ivens’ retrospective / catalogue. McLaren’s retrospective turned out almost like a workshop with his colleague Donald McWilliams from the National Film Board of Canada presenting and discussing his films.

some of which made without the camera but with so much passion and artistic dedication. Many would still remember an experimental film such as Loops, in which both sounds and visuals were created entirely by McLaren drawing directly upon the film with ordinary pen and ink. Or the extraordinary film Blinkity Blank, for instance, in which McLaren engraves pictures on black film, with percussive effects added in the same way.

Humphrey Jennings’ retrospective

And then came couple of other memorable events with which I was personally involved as a curator and organizer – retrospectives of Robert Cahen’s films and the “Short Films from the Archive of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen” presented by Angela Haardt. Young video art practitioners particularly liked Robert Cahen’s work and they enjoyed interacting with this French master with concrete music background. Young delegates and students rushed to the Films Divison’s 10 th floor auditorium to see the carefully chosen films from the DOCUMENTARY TODAY 17

Obserhausen’s festival archive. Angela and I had worked long on this programme and it became evident from the catalogue pages. Former director of the Oberhausen film festival, Angela Haardt in a way showed that it required a ‘philosopher’ to be a festival director.

Along with Robert Cahen, the 1998 retrospective section evoked a profoundly evocative ensemble with Patricio Guzman, Mani Kaul and Anand Patwardhan’s films. Those who were present would remember how evocatively Patricio Guzman spoke before the screening of his three-part magnum opus The Battle of Chile among his other significant films.

In retrospect I think my association with BIFF / MIFF from its inception till 1998 was indeed time and energy worth spent. Two other things that I’d cherish remembering were Chris Marker writing to me although in negative that he would not be able to present his films at our festival since he had already committed to some other event. It would have been great had I succeeded in holding the Chris Marker retrospective for MIFF. And how keen was I to hold Jean Rouch retrospective, the French master of ethnographic films.6 Rouch also wrote to me through my Parisian

filmmaker friend Dominique Dubosc indicating his inability. Dominique Dubosc’s documentary Jean Rouch– Premiere film 1947-1991 is very interesting film. In this documentary, Jean Rouch critiques his own work and puts it in perspective in the context of the time. In consultation with the

Bill Viola’s single channel videos have been widely broadcast and presented cinematically, while his writings have been extensively published and translated for international readers.

Viola uses video to explore the phenomena of sense perception as an avenue to self-knowledge. His works

Retrospectives are immensely important for any festival as they provide a comprehensive view of a particular filmmaker’s praxis and philosophy. festival director, I had also toyed with the idea of getting Jean-Luc Godard to Mumbai and again Dominique had tried to put me in touch with him.

Yet another artist I was keen on getting was Bill Viola and I had tried to approach him through my friend Marina Abramovic who knew him very closely. As is well known, Viola is considered a pioneer in the medium of video art and is internationally recognised as one of contemporary leading artists. He has been instrumental in establishing video as a vital form of contemporary art and in doing so he has helped significantly expand its scope in terms of technology, content and historical reach.

Canadian filmmaker Ishue Patel was instrumental in bringing the Norman McLaren package to the festival.

focus on universal human experiences – birth, death, the unfolding of consciousness – and have roots in both Eastern and Western art as well as spiritual traditions, including Zen Buddhism, Islamic Sufism and Christian mysticism.

Almost a decade ago when our young filmmakers and artists were still struggling to explore and obtain the real potential of video art, I thought showing Viola’s work in his presence would help them a lot. 7 Respected highly in Europe and America, Marina Abramovic is a performance artist, active for over three decades and is considered as the “grandmother of performance art”. Her work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind.But unfortunately I could not pursue my dream of getting Viola since I was no longer actively associated with the MIFF. Nevertheless, I do believe that one of the vital functions of MIFF is to expose our young filmmakers and artists to the great works and cutting edge artists from across the world and thereby challenge and provoke young creative minds.

Well, looking back, I feel quite contented in having edited as many as seven main and retrospective-section catalogues and curating / organizing some memorable (so would many endorse) retrospectives. And I feel grateful to the respective BIFF/MIFF director for giving me the opportunities to do so. Personally I believe the

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retrospectives are immensely important for any festival as they provide a comprehensive view of a particular filmmaker’s praxis and philosophy.

They also deepen the sense of history – for future.

In 1998, a reputed and widely read Gujarati monthly Navneet Samarpan published my article on the MIFF, which I wrote in the form of a diary and would like to share some of its excerpted entries with my readers.

25 February 1998 Thakurdwâr, 2:30am In a place located in an old lane of Thakurdwâr, I am busy typesetting and proof checking text for the festival catalogue.10 It is almost finished now.

Thank God! It is exhausting to make this catalogue of about 300 pages covering 600-700 films with pictures – and in a short time. Until the last moment, there are changes to be incorporated. All said and done, the catalogue has to be come before the festival begins.

Just before dawn dawns, owner of the typesetting company tells me that once upon a time, Lokmanya Tilak used to get his daily newspaper “Kesari” published in an old printing press in Thakurdwâr. Even now there is Lakshmi Narayan Printing Press, which is over 100 years old. It is only three days to begin the festival. Lasting for a week from 1st March, this is a festival sans glamour but full of excitement.

Chris Marker could not make it to the festival and hence MIFF missed the opportunity to hold a retrospective of this great filmmaker.

10 hours and divided into 5 sections, the retrospective of the award winning films from Oberhausen film festival will be interesting. For preparing this program I had worked with Angela for many days through faxes.

March 2 At 11:30am, the retrospective section was inaugurated in the presence of leading filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan as guest of honour.

Robert Cahen’s early short films (16mm), On the Platform, Freeze on Forward, Karine and Here Lies were shown in the inauguration programme.

Another film was the late Pramod Pati’s Abid, based on our well-known writer-

In retrospect I think my association with BIFF / MIFF from its inception till 1998 was indeed time and energy worth spent.

Today, we received a fax from Patricio Guzman from Madrid, he is sending a U-matic cassette of his last film Chile: Obstinate Memory for including in his retrospective.

February 27 Spoke with Angela Haardt in Oberhausen over phone. She will arrive in Mumbai tomorrow. Spanning over

artist Abid Surti. In this film Pati very interestingly employs pixilation technique.

The inauguration function was followed by the presentation of Oberhausen films. Before starting the screenings, Angela would speak for 1015 minutes. She would analyse the films and would tell us about notions

prevailing around short films in different parts of world. The 10th floor auditorium (about 150 seats) of the Films Division on Pedder Road is too small. Almost 100 additional people see films standing or finding a foothold somewhere. Most of them are young students, very curious. The post screening-discussions have a high qualitative level.

In the evening, I showed two films of the same name – In the Name of God

by Anand Patwardhan and Patricio Guzman – one after the other. The English title of Ram ke Naam is In the Name of God. Both have different moods but similar kind of dialectical edge. […] Patricio could not speak English very well. Originally Spanish speaking he speaks French well. He asked the audiences whether they knew French but immediately the wellknown Canadian filmmaker Peter Wintonick got up and he translated Patricio’s French into English so well.

March 5 Tomorrow Angela would have left for Calcutta. Today I have organized two of her programmes, morning and evening. Programme IV: The Nineties – Richness of Styles and Subjects. It was Jennifer Reves’s film Chronic (USA 1996) that remained very DOCUMENTARY TODAY 19

including INR 100,000 for the Lifetime Achievement Award given to a leading documentary filmmaker. The Golden Conch Award for Films Division’s 14minute long documentary film Bhiwandi Tragedy directed by V. Packirisamy attracted some debate among delegates. I asked Robert Cahen about the award. He said, “I found the film simple and without any slickness.

There is no attempt to be ‘smart’. It is reportage and it is not. I saw politics between frames that showed innocent labourers dying of food poisoning. And we never knew that this was a Films Division’s film.” In every festival such controversies occur. Festival ended tonight. It was painful to separate after a week’s intimate feeling of togetherness …

Won fair and square... filmmaker V. Packirisamy won the Golden Conch for his Documentary Bhiwandi Tragedy.

Ironically, it was also the end of my decade-long intense involvement and association with BIFF / MIFF that brimmed with so much youthful energy and hope. Amen.

Indians and four foreigners on the international jury. MIFF gives cash awards worth INR 1.7 million,

(Amrit Gangar is a Mumbai-based film theorist, curator, historian and cultural activist.)

touching. […] In the second programme of animation films, there were extremely excellent films. […] In the evening, Robert and Dino could not enter the auditorium because it was over packed. (Robert Cahen and Dino Raymond Hansen – both members of the international jury) March 6 People liked Patricio’s film Chile, Obstinate Memory (1997) so much…

March 7 The final day. Today, Robert Cahen got free from his Jury work and therefore I have organized the screenings of his video films today. Eight of them. Made between 1983 and 1995, these films explore the creative possibilities of video art. People particularly liked his Seven Fleetings Visions made in China.

In this film, Robert explores a new equation between images and sounds. […] The award ceremony in the evening. Every eye is fixed on the glittering golden and silver conches – which films will be qualified to win them? This time there were three 20

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The Golden Conch has become one of the most desirable awards in the world of documentary films.

Reflections of a documentary buff

By Vijaya Mulay The year was 1990. The month was March. After the formal opening of the Bombay International Film Festival the previous night, the serious business of watching shorts and documentaries of the festival was to begin. I had got up earlier than usual so that I would be well in time for the first show at the National Centre for Performing Arts.

As the programme brochure was still in press, I did not know what films were going to be shown and in which theatres.

Why was the brochure not ready?

Because in its enthusiasm for getting identified quality films included, the

documentary and shorts festival. Since the government did not consider documentaries and shorts as glamorous, these attempts were always undertaken by N.G.O.s like the Indian Documentary Producers Association or the Federation of Film Societies of India and were sporadic, depending on what finances could be mustered and the willingness of the current office holders to go that extra mile of hard work with dedication.

When these festivals received some praise and the documentary filmmakers kept persisting, there was a halfhearted attempt of attaching such a

This Bombay Festival was the first proper documentary festival and a lot was riding on it. We all wanted it to succeed but on that morning, it seemed as if it might not. cut off date was set up too close to the opening of the festival; the people who had to do the nitty-gritty of the festival had not attended any prestigious international film festival and had no clear idea about the problems which such festivals always have to face as well as the length of time every process takes. There was no cell specially appointed for the festival work. And to top it all, the Films Division had not only to divert part of its staff but also ensure that its usual activities did not suffer. I knew the difficulties and was satisfied when told that every theatre would be displaying the programs of the day.

festival to the International Film Festival of India. Nobody expected that an adjunct like Documedia, as it was called and was generally tucked away in a small theatre away from the main venue, would succeed and it did not.

This Bombay Festival was the first

proper documentary festival and a lot was riding on it. We all wanted it to succeed but on that morning, it seemed as if it might not.

That the festival survived and has become one of the important world festivals is due to the dedication and dogged persistence and patience of its first director the late Vijay Bahadur Chandra and the support he received both from his FD staff and documentary filmmakers. Mr. Chandra with his ineffable good humour would always describe it as a great learning experience. This fledgling has become quite strong under the care of directors that succeeded Mr. Chandra and despite many handicaps and some disasters, it has not been dented too badly. 2004 was also the year when in protest to its censorship clause which was applied to Indian documentaries only, many withdrew their films from the MIFF and organised an alternative film festival entitled ‘Vikalp’.

I think MIFF survived and grew because it is organised by people who have been in the business of documentary and short films; and

Veteran filmmaker Homi Sethna was one of the most colourful personalities and a constant presence at MIFF. Here is seen with Vijay B. Chandra.

However there was no such display at the Centre. There was no responsible person from the Films Division either to inform us about what to expect – not at least for some time. Feeling depressed, I sat waiting on the steps of the Centre thinking of the attempts undertaken in my country since independence to have a proper DOCUMENTARY TODAY 21

would lower the sound of the French commentary and I spoke the English translation into a mike. The films wee shown to a packed audience and at the end of screenings, Homi Sethna the most colourful personality and a constant presence at MIFF, a filmmaker who never minced words, uttered an expletive and asked me across the aisle, in his usual loud stage whisper the rhetorical question, “Vijaya what the hell was all that stupid fuss about?”

Others too made similar comments.

French filmmaker Louis Malle is best known for his seven Phantom India films, two of which were shown at MIFF.

despite attempts to control it completely by the red tape that is the bane of Indian state, most of its directors have a pretty good idea of what is excellence in cinema and the need to show good documentaries from all over the world. It therefore did not matter if they were films of protests, experimental, animated or just poetical.

If the organisers could not go abroad to see films for selecting, and build up contacts, they would collect information from all possible sources.

Also within the perimeters of freedom that a government department like FD can exercise, the MIFF has tried to accommodate different kinds of films – even those like the Louis Malle films on India that had created a furore in India entirely hearsay.

When I said that no film should be judged without being seen before being marked as anti-Indian, the director (I think it was Mr. Gautaman) readily agreed and asked me to try and get Malle’s India films. Unfortunately, Malle’s firm had copyrights of French versions only and rights for Calcutta film too were given away for five years.

So I selected two of his seven Phantom India films: Looking at Castes and Religious India, about which a lot of adverse comments had appeared in the 22

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press. I then sat with an editor, did the required spotting and translated the French commentary into English.

When the films were being screened, at the spot indicated, the projectionist

Homi’s acceptance speech when he received his well-deserved lifetime achievement award in 2000 is another high mark of MIFF for me. He talked about the step-daughterly treatment that is handed out to shorts and documentaries and how there is a serious danger about sanitised documentaries becoming the norm.

Being Homi, he did not mince his words and Doordarshan did not even dare to carry it in its news bulletin or show the standing ovation and

The Alanis Obomsavin Retrospective was a great hit at the MIFF. She was also the chairperson of one of the MIFF Juries.

thundering applause it got. I miss him terribly and remember fondly his offers of taking me on his motor- bike pillion from one theatre to another. After one such dangerous ride, I thought it prudent to decline politely.

One of my pet obsessions has been screening and providing space for women’s films. I was happy that my suggestions of holding a session of films made by the first studio of women (studio D of the National Film Board of Canada -NFBC) was accepted; later when, at my suggestion, a session of films made by community media service of Pastapur by illiterate and semi-literate women was also held at MIFF 2004. Both were great successes and the peasant women of Pastapur when they came, brought freshness and the whiff of rural India.

The sisterhood concept (described by a wit as women’s mafia) also worked very well in one edition of the MIFF. I had seen an excellent film that had won many awards and had recommended it for inclusion. It was made by Terry Nash of Studio D and was entitled Who is counting? However the NFBC did not want to send it, because according

Peter Wintonick’s Manufacturing Consent won the top prize at MIFF.

She told me that she had a print of it, and could ask Alanis Obomsavin to personally carry it. MIFF was showing a retrospective of Alanis’s films and she was also to chair the main MIFF jury.

When the decision to create a Films Division was taken Pandit Nehru had clearly indicated that he did not want a bureaucrat to be in charge of it and a filmmaker should run it. By and large, a filmmaker has been its head; I consider that as the saving grace of MIFF. to them films sent to MIFF earlier were rough handled or returned late.

K.K.Gupta of Films Division who attended to these matters showed me papers and dates on which their earlier films were returned. The charge did not seem to be true. I was keen on getting the film screened at MIFF because it is an excellent film that shows the farreaching detrimental consequences of the way the world economy is organised. I was asked whether I could do something to get the film for screening. I telephoned Terry Nash.

Alanis, a Cree tribe native who has made some powerful films about the struggle of North American Indians promptly agreed. She threw out some of her clothes from her suitcase, made room for the film reels and brought it over to MIFF for screening and took them back.

Speaking of juries, it is noteworthy that there has never been even a hint of a scandal about unfair awards. The prizes given at MIFF are quite decent and even bigger than the IFFI ones; and not

being considered a glamorous festival is a boon in disguise. The goodwill of the international community of documentary filmmakers is also with MIFF. Peter Wintonick of Canada for example did not keep the high prize he received for his film Manufacturing Consent but donated it in its entirety for providing training to a budding documentary filmmaker. He could do so because it was not a pittance.

When the decision to create a Films Division was taken Pandit Nehru had clearly indicated that he did not want a bureaucrat to be in charge of it and a filmmaker should run it. By and large, (barring two times) a filmmaker has been its head; I consider that as the saving grace of MIFF. I am sure that given a little more freedom the MIFF would achieve even greater heights.

(Vijaya Mulay is an educationist, communicator and a filmmaker. She has scripted, directed and produced several films and video programmes winning national and international honours.)

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It is documentary coming of age

By Jagdish Banerjee How many good things the small tribe of documentary filmmakers in the country have had happening to it since the cinematograph entered India on July 7, 1896 with real life documentaries?

Five … Four … Three … Two … Not even one good thing …? I am not overdoing it. One good thing has definitely come our way in the year 1990 – just a decade short of the new century.

That was the Bombay International Film Festival Documentary and Short Films, organized by the Government of India’s Films Division in active collaboration with other trade bodies like the Indian Documentary Producers Association.

The Open Forum and the Seminar had been planned as a part of the festival to create an opportunity for dialogue among documentarians, cineastes, delegates and film lovers. I still remember the day I walked up to Mr Jaffa, the then Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, to persuade him to let IDPA handle the two crucial events.

“Who else but the filmmakers for the job?” I had hoped to say to him during the course of my convincing him but he took the wind out of my sails by agreeing to the proposal almost immediately.

The Director of the inaugural festival was V.B.Chandra, also Chief Producer

of Films Division. I had first met Chandra when he had landed in Bombay (not yet Mumbai) with a rough cut of his film on the 1962 IndoChinese fracas. I was the tenth smallest of small assistants in Bimal Roy productions while he was the Film Officer of the Uttar Pradesh Government.

Years later Chandra joined the Films Division and steadily made his way up to becoming its Chief Producer. It was he who first dreamt of having a documentary festival of international stature in India. Thus the BIFF was born – later to become the MIFF. And I had no hesitation in tagging him with the title of “Father of BIFF”. Did it MIFF him?

No, but he certainly blushed.

With the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting lending full support and strength, BIFF 1990 had a superb opening at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Nariman Point, Bombay. All the sections were already in place: Competition, Information, Retrospective and Spectrum India.

With 47 countries participating it had 633 entries and a prize money of Rs 7.5 lakhs to be won.

And then there were the Golden and Silver Conches to be won. The award money has since grown from Rs 7.5

Sunil Dutt speaks at the opening of the 1992 spectrum India where a film on his wife, the late actress Nargis, was shown. The film was directed by his daughter Priya Dutt who is seen at extreme right.

lakhs to 11 lakhs to 16.5 lakhs to an astounding Rs 28.5 lakhs. There is also the Dr V.Shantaram Award for Lifetime Achievement which has gone up from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakhs. Does any other documentary film festival disburse such amounts every year? No wonder the MIFF has become the most prestigious festival with the highest award money in the world of film festivals.

Though the festival has gained in stature over the years I still remember its struggling days and the kind of problems it had to face. The great thing about MIFF has been that it has always kept pace with the times. With the advent of digital technology it had become imperative to keep pace with the increasing number of films being made on the video format.

Thus from 1994 the Video Vista section was introduced as part of the festival.

The section was first nurtured by the Indian Documentary Producers Association. Today the format has become so important for documentary filmmakers that it is judged on par with the celluloid films. There is no distinction between film and video and both are part of the mainstream National and International Competition sections. This parity is yet to be accepted by the National Awards which just goes to show how progressive the MIFF is.

Before we go into the 10th MIFF it will be well worth remembering that in the last two decades the MIFF has brought to our doorstep more than 3000 documentaries for our viewing pleasure.

The enormous efforts which have gone into making MIFF such a living entity is another folk poetry. It’s the coming of age of documentary in India. It is us coming of age!

(Jagdish Banerjee is a former president of the Indian Documentary Producers Association.)

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Down Memory Lane

By K. L. Khandpur Although the first Festival was held in 1990, the proposal for holding such a Festival was made by the Films Division way back in late sixties when I was the Chief Producer. The proposal was not accepted on the ground that documentaries and short films were shown during the International Festival of Films held every year. Films Division’s justification was that documentaries and short films did not receive the prominence they deserve in the Festival which was primarily meant for feature films. Year after year, the proposal was turned down. With persistent efforts and personal contacts at the highest level, Films Division finally succeeded and the First Bombay International Film Festival was held in 1990. And I am fortunate that I was able to attend all the nine Festivals of BIFF (now called MIFF) held so far.

On the whole, all the nine Festivals in the series have been fairly well organized. These have established a healthy tradition. In fact, Films Division is ideally suited for holding such Festivals. It has a large staff familiar with the medium of cinema and corresponding infra structure. The Chief Producer of the Films Division is the Director of the Festival. He can use the entire staff and the available infra structure for organizing the Festival. And the results are encouraging.

Over the years, the Directorate has gained a lot of experience in organizing these Festivals. Based on this experience, they have been introducing innovations and improvements in organizing the Festival and in looking after the comfort and convenience of the delegates from India and abroad.

Organizing committees, Selection Committees and the Jury function with professional efficiency and competence. Practically all the countries which produce documentary,

Mr. K. L. Khandpur (extreme right) is seen with Gulzar, a guest, jean Bhownagary and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan.

short and animation films participate in this Festival. The number of Awards is fairly large and the cash amount paid for each award is substantial MIFF has now acquired national and international reputation. It is rated as one of the best Documentary Film Festivals in the world.

Indian Documentary Producers are aware that the best documentaries produced anywhere in the world are shown in MIFF. They plan their schedule months in advance and keep themselves free so that they can attend MIFF and see films. Similarly film buffs and students interested in cinema also make it a point to attend MIFF for seeing films.

Off and on, there is controversy regarding screening of films which have not been censored. The issue is the freedom of speech and expression., In 2004, Anand Patwardhan became the leader of a group called Vikalp.

They had withdrawn their films from MIFF as a protest against the new rule which requires that only films with censor certificates would be included

in MIFF. They held a silent demonstration outside the venue of the Festival (Ravindra Natya Mandir) by displaying placards. They arranged a Festival of their films in a small theatre near MIFF. Next morning, the Indian Express carried the headline: “IN PRABHADEVI, TWO FILM FESTS SLUG IT OUT” There are organizations in New Delhi, Bhubaneshwar, Calcutta, Thiruvanthapuram and other places which hold Festivals of documentary films.

Thus India is able to screen the best of documentary, short and animation films produced in India and abroad during the Festivals. However, the perpetual complaint of short film producers in India is still valid. They cannot find avenues for commercial public distribution of their films except through TV channels. However enterprising film makers find their own solution by distributing and exhibi.ting their films all over the world. They have made a name for themselves and for the country.

(K. L. Khandpur is a former Chief Producer of Films Division) DOCUMENTARY TODAY 25

k o o B h c t e k S l a v i t s A Fe

Adoor Gopalakrishnan Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi

Indian filmmaker

Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting

Peter Wintonick Canadian fimmaker

Sumitra Peries Sri Lankan filmmaker

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N.D.ADAM has been sketching delegates and winning accolades at the last nine festivals and we can be sure that he will be sketching away in many more to come. The face is known even though the name and the person behind the face are unknown. Hailing from a Padamshali family of weavers, Adam is not a trained artist but there is no denying his innate talent. In all he claims to have sketched more than a thousand film personalities – not only at MIFF but also at the IFFI, MAMI and ASIAN film festivals. But he is truly a discovery of the MIFF. As if in affirmation he says that his motto in life is the same as that of the festival: Come Together Speak in Harmony, a line from the Atharva Veda. Reproduced here are a few examples of Adam’s art.

Homi Sethna Indian filmmaker

Alanis Obansawim Canadian filmmaker

Vijay B. Chandra Former Chief Producer, Films Division & First Director of the Bombay International Film Festival

DOCUMENTARY TODAY 27

Anand Patvardhan

N. S. Thapa

Indian fimmaker

Former Chief Producer, Films Division

Goran Radovanovic Yugoslavian fimmaker

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Dr. Ileana Citaristi Dancer and Filmmaker

Jehangir Bhownagary Former Chief Producer, Films Division

Krzysztof Zanussi Polish fimmaker

Fred Marx American fimmaker

John Akomfrah British fimmaker

DOCUMENTARY TODAY 29

They did short films proud!

The tradition of Honouring a Master was started with the very first festival (BIFF 1990) but the award had no name and nor did it carry a cash prize. In 1996 the award was named after Dr. V. Shantaram in recognition of the great Master’s services to the documentary film. A cash award of Rs 1 lakh was also given. In 2002, the cash component was enhanced to Rs 2.5 lakhs.

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1990

Ezra Mir

Ezra Mir was a pioneer of not only Indian documentaries but also Indian feature films. Born Edwin Myers, he adopted the name Ezra Mir because he felt that his real name did not sound Indian. A graduate of the university of Calcutta (1921), he began working for a large commercial company in Calcutta.

Bored with commerce, he joined Madan Theatres and worked in two silent films (1922-23). In 1924 he went to the United States where he worked as an assistant scriptwriter and editor at the Universal Pictures Corporation (1927-29). He then joined United Artists as story editor.

With the advent of sound he returned to India and joined Imperial Film Company (1931), Sagar Film Company (1932-34) and finally Madan Theatres (1935-36). Once again he left for a study tour of Europe, returning to direct a film for Ranjit Film Company (1938). Mir started making documentaries (1941) after being inspired by the March of Time newsreels. He worked for the Film Advisory Board (1940-41), Information Films of India (1942-46), India Film Enterprises (194951) and and Films Division where he was Chief Producer (1956-61). He also worked as Producer-InCharge for the Children’s Film Society of India (196264) From 1941 till his retirement from Films Division in 1961 he was responsible, in various capacities, for over 700 documentaries. He was the first president of the Indian Documentary Producers Association (1956). He was awarded the Padma Shree in 1970.

1992

1994

Jehangir Bhownagary

Harisadhan Dasgupta

A leading Indian magazine described him as a oneman institution. Jehangir Shapurji Bhownagary was a magician, stage actor and producer, writer painter, potter, sculptor, ceramist, filmmaker and, more important, a maker of filmmakers.

When the documentary movement in India led by Paul Zills gathered momentum in the early fifties, Harisadhan Dasgupta (b April 14, 1923) was one of the young talents who joined its ranks. Dasgupta went abroad for highrer studies in mid-Forties to specialise in accountancy but when he returned home he carried with him a diploma in cinema from the University of Southern California.

Born in Bombay in 1921 Jehangir (Jean to his friends) Bhownagary was educated in Bombay and Paris.

During World War II he worked with Reuters, All India Radio and was a Fellow of the University of Bombay.

Post War he began writing scripts and commentaries for the Information Films of India and was later appointed Editor and Assistant Producer for the Indian News Parade. In 1948 he joined UNESCO as Programme Assistant but soon rose in the ranks to become an Executive Officer in the Office of the Director General.

He returned to India in 1954 on the advice of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and joined the Films Division as its Deputy Chief Producer until 1957, in the absence of a Chief Producer. It was during this period that he directed Realm of Sound (1954) and Radha and Krishna (1957), and produced a host of brilliant documentary films, including M.F.Hussain’s first foray into cinema Through The Eyes of A Painter.

He returned to UNESCO and worked with it Programme Specialist in Mass Communication from 1957 to 1965. He returned to India again on the invitation of Mrs Indira Gandhi who was then Minister for information and Broadcasting, and worked as her Chief Advisor (Films) from 1965 to 1967. He returned to UNESCO in 1967 as Director of its Press and AudioVisual Information Division. He was on the jury of the first Bombay International Film Festival held in 1990.

When Dasgupta came back home, the Bengal film scene was not at all congenial. Around that time, Dasgupta joined Renior’s production unit as chief assistant director. Renior’s inspiration recharged the creative batteries of Dasgupta and his film projects got ready for take-off, but none of them actually took off.

Now Harisadhan Dasgupta turned to documentary filmmaking primarily for living, but ultimately that developed into a creative passion. He found a sympathetic collaborator in Claude Renior, Jean Renior’s nephew and the cameraman for some of his films. He went on to make documentaries and business films with rapid strides. Soon followed a spate of films.

Among them the most significant ones were Panchthupi and The Story of Steel.

Das Gupta joined the Shell Film Unit and produced a string of excellent documentaries. In the process he also trained a number of young men who were to make their mark later - the talented cameraman K. Vaikunth and the late S. Sukhdev, to name two.

Dasgupta ventured into the relm of feature film s in 1966, when he made a much acclaimed Eki Angey Eto Roop (So Many Faces of Eve), starrring Soumitra Chatterji and Madhabi Mukherjee.

DOCUMENTARY TODAY 31

1996

1998

B. D. Garga

Fali Billimoria

B. D. Garga was a well known documentary filmmaker and film historian whose career spanned half-a-century Born in 1924 at Lahore (now in Pakistan), B. D. Garga was expelled from college for his links with the freedom struggle, Garga came to Mumbai and did a short course in the photogrpahy department of St Xavier’s College.

In 1944 he joined V.Shantaram as a trainee and worked with him till 1946 when he returned to Lahore to direct a feature film. Unable to make a headway in feature films he gravitated towards documentaries, shooting his first short film, Storm Over Kashmir (1948), with a hand-held camera and using leftover newsreel raw stock.

Fali Bilimoria was born and raised in Bombay (“a typical Parsi boy”), a place he has continued to live and work in. He studied medicine at the G.S.Medical College, Mumbai, but gave it up in the last year – just before obtaining his MBBS degree – to enter India’s independence movement during the turbulent period of 1942-47. His family was more than slightly disapproving. By the time India had won back its freedom it was too late to go back to his studies.

In 1953 Garga went to Europe working at a variety of jobs: voicing commentary for the Hindi/Urdu section of BBC, occasional jobs for film units and writing articles for film journals. He was deeply influenced by Henri Langlois and Georges Sadoul and began to study film history. He wrote a book on Indian cinema, Kino Indiski, which was published by a Russian publisher.

In 1957 he was a part of the unit of Pardesi (KAAbbas/ 1958).

Back in India he began to write on the history of Indian cinema and make documentary films with equal passion. He was awarded the V.Shantaram Lifetime Achieve-ment Award in 1996. In the same year he published his magnum opus So Many Cinemas. His last book From Raj To Swaraj was published posthumously in 2007.

Garga’s best-known films include Dance of Shiva Sarojini Naidu, Writing of the Raj and Road to Friendship.

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He studied cinematography and direction under Dr P.V.Pathy. It was at this time that he met the charismatic Paul Zils, formerly of the UFA Studios, West Germany and Warner Brothers, USA., who was interned in India during the War. The two struck up a close and rewarding partnership in the field of documentary films which lasted for over a decade from 1947 to 1959. Together they started the Documentary Unit of India (in 1947) and then the Art Films of Asia Private Limited (in 1952).

Zils left India in 1959 but Fali continued to work as an independent filmmaker, directing and producing advertising, documentary and feature films under the banner of Fali Bilimoria Productions.

Fali had been on the forefront of the Indian documentary movement in its most formative years.

His most important films include A Village in Travancore, The Vanishing Tribe, The Call, Water and, the 1968 Oscar nominee The House That Ananda Built.

Way back in 1948 his Indian Village series of films were invited to the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Since then his films always traveled abroad bringing back laurels to him and India. He won many national and international awards and distinction and served on many committees and festival juries.

2000

2002

Homi Sethna

Vijaya Mulay

He wanted to be a lawyer and even joined the prestigious firm of solicitors Mulla & Mulla & Craige, Blunt & Caroe as an articled clerk soon after his graduation in Arts and Law but after seeing the law in action for nine months he quit and joined the theatrical world as a stage manager, prompter and odds-job man.

When the company folded up Homi joined the Army Film Centre and, without a day’s military training, found himself commissioned as a Lieutenant in the British Army. Soon he was making Public Relations and Training films for the Armed Forces under the renowned Tom Stobbart.

Vijaya Mulay is an educationist, communicator and filmmaker who was born at Badlapur, Maharashtra in 1921. She completed her M.A. in Sanskrit from Patna University (1945) and then completed her M.A. in Education from Leeds University, UK (1948).

Returning to India she taught at Patna University and later worked in the Ministries of Education and Information & Broadcasting as well as at the UNICEF and UNESCO on specific assignments.

At the end of 1946 he left for England where he worked with Ealing Studios where he worked as an unpaid assistant to the famed Thorold Dickinson. He then worked with Denham Laboratories and later under the noted Art Director Edward Carrick at Pinewood Studios. He finally worked with John Grierson at the Crown Film Unit before returning to India in December 1951.

He began his career as a documentary filmmaker in real earnest. In 1957 he jouined hands with Paul Zils, Jagmohan, Clement Baptista, Vijaykar and K.T.John to found the Indian Documentary Producers Association. His best-known films include Creations in Metal, Vishwakarma the Creator, Weaves, A Homage to a Great Sculptor and, of course, his classics on the Parsi community, to which he belonged: Happiness Unto Others and The Voice of Zarathustra.

As the first Chief of the National Centre for Educational Research and Technology (NCERT) she used the then new technology of satellite communications in combination with other media thus creating a multimedia package to train more than 48,000 teachers. She was also responsible for initiating the hour-long daily television telecast of Countrywide Classroom under the INSAT TV Project sponsored by the University Grants Commission.

Her first association with film was when she founded the Patna Film Society in 1950 and later the Delhi Film Society in 1956. In 1959 she was one of the co-founders of the Federation of Film Societies of India. She was closely connected with the Film and Television Institute of India at Pune and then the SITE programme. Her Teaching of Science series made for SITE in 1974-75 was a super success. She has also made innumerable films – the best known of which are: Tidal Bore (1967), Ek Do and Naa (1973), Ek Aur Anek (1974), Gangubai Hangal (1985).

She has been conferred several national and international honours including the Vikram Sarabhai Award in 1997.

DOCUMENTARY TODAY 33

2004

2006

K. L. Khandpur

Ram Mohan

K.L.Khandpur was born on January 20, 1923 at Lahore (now in Pakistan). He completed his Master’s in Physics and then completed his Master’s in Cinema from the University of Southern California. He worked briefly in Hollywood and returned to India to join Films Division as Deputy Director (1949).

Veteran animation filmmaker Ram Mohan is a pioneer and leading beacan in the field of animation. He is bestknown for opening up a virgin and unexplored area of cinema for future generations and also for the innumerable animation masterpieces he has himself produced and directed.

Though he directed innumerable films in the early part of his career he is best-known for his able administration and foresight. He rose steadily and was appointed Chief Producer in 1962 and continued to head the organisation till 1976 during the course of which he supervised the production of more than 1500 films. It was during his tenure as the Chief Producer that the Films Division became the enviable organisation that it is today.

Born in Madras, Tamil Nadu on August 26, 1931, he graduated in Science from the University of Madras.

He abandoned his post-graduate studies to join the newly-created Cartoon Film Unit at Films Division, working under the noted Walt Disney animator Clair Weekes (1956-59). Between 1960 and 1967 he scripted, designed and animated several films for Films Division and participated in the World Retrospective of Animation Cinema in Montreal (1967).

As Officer on Special Duty he supervised the setting up of the Film and Television Institute of India at Pune.

He was then Chairman of the Central Board of Film Censors (1976-81). He has travelled widely partici-pating in seminars and film festivals. As a UNESCO Fellow he has studied media establishments in Europe, UK and USA.

In 1968 he left to join Prasad Productions as chief of its animation division. In 1972 he started his own banner, Ram Mohan Biographics. Between 1972 and 1974 he scripted and directed a series of educational films on population and environment, Down to Earth in four parts. In 1992 he co-directed a feature length animation film the Legend of Prince Rama, based on the Ramayan. Between 1992 and 2002 he directed a series of 13 episodes dealing with the problems of the girl child in South Asia, Meena for UNICEF.

A founder of the Federation of Film Societies of India he has also been member of the Film Advisory Board.

He has been connected with BIFF/MIFF in several capacities.

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His films have won national awards in 1969, 1972 and 1984. In 1992 he was inducted into the IAAFA Hall of Fame. In 1996 he was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Awards by Communication Arts Guild.

In 2001 he was given the Lifetime Achievement ABBY

by Advertising Club. In 2003 he was conferred the Ezra Mir-IDPA Lifetime Achievement Award.

RARE MEETINGS

A festival is a place for rare meetings. A few of them are shown here (clockwise from top): filmmaker Gulzar and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan share a few moments before the showing of the film on the Ustad; veteran filmmaker Fali Billimoria exchanges notes with Malyalam filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan; Kannada filmmaker Girish Kasarvalli decides which film to see next; animator-filmmaker Bhimsain, actor Dr. Mohan Agashe and filmmaker Vinod Ganatra are in deep discussion; archivst P. K. Nair and film critic Derek Malcolm are seen chatting with each other.

DOCUMENTARY TODAY 35

AWARD-WINNING FILMS OF BIFF’1990 Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

1.

Fiction Category : (Film Of 55 Minutes Or Less Including Animation Films)

A)Udel (A Lot) B) In The World Of Legend C) Elhadra D)Tin Toy

Mr. Jaroslava Havettova Esani Souliman Mr. Dhouib Moncep Mr. John Lasseter

Czechoslovakia Syria Tunisia U.s.a.

2.

Non-fiction Category : (Films Upto 40 Minutes Duration)

A)Voices From Baliapal

Ms. Vasudha Joshi/ Ranjan Palit Mr. Jouvin Nicolas / Mr. Loubete Karine Mr. Shashi Anand Mr. Thierry Knauff Mr. Fred Marx

India

Mr. I. Pasternak Shri Anand Patwardhan Connolly & Anderson Mr. M. Goldovskaja Mr. Pat O’neill Mr. Trinh T. Minha

U.s.s.r.

India Australia U.s.s.r.

U.s.a.

U.s.a.

B) Point Zero C) Tomorrow Is Too Late D)Voices E) Dreams From China

3.

Non-fiction Category : (Films More Than 40 Minutes)

A) Black Square B) In Memory Of Friends C) Joe Leahy’s Neighbours D)The Power Of Solovki E) Water And Power F) Surname Viet Given Name Nam

France India Belgium U.s.a.

AWARD-WINNING FILMS OF BIFF’1992 Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

1.

Best Non-fiction Film (Under 40 Minutes Duration) Best Non-fiction Film (Above 40 Minutes Duration)

A)Anima Mundi

Mr. Godfrey Regg-io

U.s.a.

A)Eyes Of Stone B) Christo In Paris

India U.s.a.

Best Fiction Film (Under 60 Minutes Duration) Best Animation Film

A)The Three Magi B) Daddy’s Eyes A)The Cow B) 3 X 1 C) Eternity D)Egoli E) Feeling From Mountain And Water A)The Portrait A)Talk To Me

Ms. Nilita Vachani David Maysles / Alber Maysles Ms. Bela Szobolits Mr. Mohammad Sarhangi Mr. Alexabnder Petrov Mr. H. Mets / H. Emits Mr. Sheryl Sardina Mr. Karen Kelly Mr. Yan San-chun / Ma Ke-xuan Mr. Pavel Koutsky Mr. Ted Steeger

Czechoslovakia Switzerland

A)Kamalabai

Ms. Reena Mohan

India

A)Bhavanatarana B) Children Of Mini Japan

Mr. Kumar Sahani Mr. Chalam Benaurakar

India India

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

36

International Jury A One Minute Animation Contest Theme: “Move With Each Other To Each Other Speak” Award By Indian Documentary Producers Association.

Best First Film Of A Director Award By Indian Documentary Producers Association Critics Award

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Hungary Iran Russia Estonia Canada U.k..

China

AWARD-WINNING FILMS OF BIFF’1994 Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

1.

Best Non-fiction Film (Above 40 Minutes Duration)

A)In The Land Of The Deaf

Mr. Nicolas Philibert

France

2.

Second Best Non-fiction Film (Above 40 Minutes Duration)

A)Manufacturing Contest: Naom Chomsky And The Media B) Moksha (Salvation)

Mr. Peter Wintonick & Mr. Mark Achbar

Canada

Mr. Pankaj Butalia

India

Mr. Kidlat Tahimik

Philippines

3.

Certificate Of Merit (Above 40 Minutes Duration)

D)Why Is Yellow Middle Of Rainbow?

4.

Best Non-ficition Film (40 Minutes Duration Or Less)

5.

Best Fiction Film (60 Minutes Duration Or Less)

A)Home Sweet Home

Mr. Joost Wieman

Holland

6.

Best Animation Film

A)Monalisa Descending A Staircase.

Mr. Joan Gratz

U.s.a.

7.

International Jury Award

A)Tanjuska And The 7 Devils

Mr. Pirjo Honkasalo

Finland

8.

One Minute Animation Contest Theme - Aids

No Award

9.

Trophy For The Best First Film Of A Director Idpa Award

A)Passin’ It On B) Boatman

Mr. John Valadez Mr. Gianfranco Rosi

U.s.a.

U.s.a. /Italy

10.

Film Critics Award

A)Manfacturing Contest: Noam Chomsky And The Media

Mr. Peter Wintonick & Mr. Mark Achbar

Canada

No Award

AWARD-WINNING FILMS OF MIFF’1996 Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

1.

Best Film Of 40 Minutes Duration Or Less In Non-fiction

A)Sonamati - A Very Ordinary Gold.

Ms. Sehjo Singh

India

2.

Second Best Film Of 40 Minutes No Film Was Found Suitable Duration Or Less In Non-fiction

3.

Best Film Of Above 40 Minutes A)Baka Duration In Non-fiction

Thierry Knauff

Belgium/France

4.

Second Best Film Of Above 40 Minutes Duration In Non-fiction

A)Raskols B) Narmada: A Valley Rises C) Amrit Beeia

Sally Browning Mr. Ali Kazimi Ms. Meera Dewan

Australia Canada India

5.

Best Film Of 60 Minutes Duration Or Less In Fiction

A)Thrity Five Aside

Mr. Damien O’donnell

Ireland

DOCUMENTARY TODAY 37

Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

6.

Second Best Film Of 60 Minutes Duration Or Less In Fiction

A)Bideshi

Frances-anne Solomon

U.k.

7.

Best Animation Film

A)Sandburg’s Arithmetic

Lynn Smith

U.s.a./Canada

8.

Second Best Animation Film

A)His Comedy B) Mahagiri

Mr. Paul Bush Mr. Kireet Khurana

U.k.

India

9.

International Jury Award

Father Son & Holly War (Fitra,Futra Aur Dharam Yuddha)

Mr. Anand Patwardhan

India

10. Best Film In Video Vista Section

A)Abak Jaye Here Mr. Ranjan Palit (The Magic Mystic Market)

India

11.

A)Mahila Samakhya Up A Report B) Kahankar : Ahankar (S Torymaker: Storytaker) C) Half Way Home D)In The Shadow Of Depair

Ms. Vasudha Joshi

India

Mr.k.pjayashankar / Anjali Monteiro Ms. Ananya Chatterjee Ms. Nita Zulca

India

12. Idpa Award

A)Thirty Five Aside

Damien O’nennell

Ireland

13. Critics Award Special Mention Animation Film

Narmada: A Valley Rises Mani’s Dying

Mr. Ali Kazimi Ms. Shilpa Ranade

Canada India

Second Best Film In Video Vista Section

India India

AWARD-WINNING FILMS OF MIFF’1998 Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

1.

Best Non-fiction Film (Less Than 40 Minutes)

A)Bhiwandi Tragedy (News Magazine No. 309)

Mr. V. Packiriswamy

India

2.

Second Best Non-fiction Film (Less Than 40 Minutes)

A)The Bell’s Breath

Galina Leontieva

Russia

3.

Best Non Fiction Film (Above 40 Minutes)

A)Mumia Abu-jamal: A Case For Reasonable Doubt?

Mr. John Edgnton

U.k.

4.

Second Best Non Fiction Film (Above 40 Minutes)

A)Zakir & His Friends

Mr. Lutz Leonhaardt

Switzerland

5.

Best Fiction Film (Less Than 60 Minutes)

A)Little Preludes

Vangelis Kalambakas

Greece

6.

Second Best Fiction Film (Less Than 60 Minutes)

A)The Film Of Her

Mr. Bill Morrison

U.s.a. / Italy

7.

Best Animation Film

A)I Move, So I Am

Gerrit Van Dijk

Netherlands

8.

Second Best Animation Film

A)Ciderpunks

Mr. Joel Simon

Ireland I U. K.

9.

Best Non-fiction Film In Video Competition

A)A Season Outside

Mr. Amar Kanwar

India

A)Lesser Humans

Mr. Stalin K.

India

10. Second Best Non-fiction Film In Video Competition 38

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Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

11.

A)Donkey Without A Tail

Sergio Block

Brazil

12. Critics Award

A)Mumia Abu-jamal: A Case For Reasonable Doubt

John Edgnton

U.k.

13. International Jury Award

A)Riding The Rails B) Kol Tales C) The Prince & The Magician

Michael Uys & Lexylovell U.s.a.

Sehjo Singh India Mr. Bhirnsain India

14. Spcial Mention By Critic Jury

A)Little Preludes

Vangelis Kalambakas

Greece

15. Certificate Of Merit In Main Competition

A)Chain Smoker B) Gorilla Girls C) The Lift

Maria Von Heland Fiona Cochrane Anurag Jauhari

Germany Australia India

16. Cetbficateof Merit In Video Competition

A)Portrait Of Belonging Bhai Mian.

B) Ycp 1997

Mr. Sameera Jain

India

Dr. K.p.jayasankar & Dr. A. Mon Teiro Saba Dewan

India

Idpa Award

C) Snow (Barf)

India

AWARD-WINNING FILMS OF MIFF’2000 Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

1.

Best Non-fiction Video Film Upto 90 Minutes - National

A)The Shame Is Not Mine

Mr. Arun Chadha

India

2.

Second Best Non-fiction Video Film Upto 90 Minutes

A)Right To Information

Mr. Anurag Singh

India

3.

Best Animation Video Film

No Award

4.

Second Best Animaiton Video Film - National

A)Whose Reality ?

Vaibhav Kumaresh

India

5.

Certificate Of Merit In Non- Fiction Video Film Upto 90 Minutes - National

A)Chaliyar-the Final Struggle B) Voyage To Freedom C) Three Women & A Camera

B.baburaj / S. Chandran

India

Ms. Ananya Banerjee .

Sabeena Gadihoke

India India

A.

INTERNATIONAL VIDEO COMPETITION

1.

Best Non-fiction Video Film Upto 60 Minutes

A)September 11, 1973-the Last Stande Of Salvador Allende

Patricio Henriquez

Canada / France

2.

Second Best Non-fiction Video Film Upto 60 Minutes

A)A Calcutta Christmas

Maree Delofski

Australia

3.

Best Non-fiction Film Above 60 Minutes

A)The Choir Boys

Magnus Isacsson

Canada

DOCUMENTARY TODAY 39

Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

4.

Second Best NonFiction Film Above 60 Mins

A)Medellin Notebooks

Ms. Catalina Villar

Colombia

5.

Best Animation Video Film

No Award

6.

Second Best Animation Video Film International

No Award

B.

INTERNATIONAL FILM COMPETITION

1.

Best Non-fiction Film Upto 50 Minutes

No Award

2.

Second Best NonFiction Film Up To 50 Min Utes.

A)Adoor: A Journey In Frames

Mr. Rajiv Mehrotra

India

3.

Best Non-fiction Film Above 50 Minutes.

No Award

4.

Second Best NonFiction Film Above 50 Minutes.

No Award

5.

Best Fiction Film Upto 75 Min.

A)Throne Of Death

Mr. Murali Nair

India / U.k.

6.

Second Best Fiction Film Upto 75 Minutes

A)The Offering

Mr. Paul Lee

Canada

7.

Best Animation Film

A)The Albatross

Mr. Paul Bush

U.k.

8.

Second Best A Nimation Film

A)3 Misses

Mr. Paul Driessen

Netherlands

9.

International Jury Award)

A)Cube’s Planet

Ursula Helfer / Lutz Garmsen

Germany

10. Idpa Award

A)Blind Folded B) Songs Of The Ancestors

Mr. S. Sriram Ms. Anula Shetty

India India

11.

A)Tales From The Reading Room

Minkie Spiro

U.k.

A)Blook Ink

Ms. Carmen Guarini / Mr. Marcelo Cespedes

Argentina

Critics Award

12. Special Mention By Critic Jury

40

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AWARD-WINNING FILMS OF MIFF’2002 Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

A.

NATIONAL CATEGORY

1.

Best Documentry Film / Video

Tell them, the Tree they had Planted has now Grown

Ajay Raina

India

2.

Second Best Documentary Film / Video

A Few Things I Know A bout Her

Anjali Panjabi

India

3.

Best Fiction Film / Video (upto 75 mins.)

Connected

Sunil Bhatia & Zakir Chinde

India

4.

Second Best Fiction Film / Video (upto 75 mins.)

In the Month of March

Kranti Kanade

India

5.

Best Animation Film/Video

Freedom Song

Narayan Shi

India

6.

Second Best Animation Film/Video

Bhor (The Dawn)

Gunjan Sharma

India

7.

Best Animation Film/Video (Special mention)

1) SOS 2) By Order

Shiv Kumar Vaibhav Piwlatkar

India India

8.

National Jury Award

The Razor’s Edge

Vipin Vijay

India

9.

National Jury Award (Special Mention)

1) The Many Faces of Madness

Amar Kanwar

India

2) Two Assassinations and an Accident

Kabir Khan

India

3) A Memory of the Sea

Lygia Matchews

India

10.

Best First Film/Video of a Director

A Life in Dance

Antara Kak

India

11.

National Critics Jury Award

My Friend Su

Neeraj Bhasin

India

12.

National Critics Jury Award (Special Mention)

1) Freedom Song

Narayan Shi

India

2) Chaitra (In the Month of March)

Kranti Kanade

India

1) Two Assassingations and an Accident

Moving Picture Company (India) Ltd.

India

13.

Best Film/Video of the festival (Producer only)

2) Mechanics of Change B.

INTERNATIONAL CATEGORY

1.

Best Documentry Film / Video (Upto 60 mins.)

A Match Made in Calcutta

Frances Key Phillips

United States

2.

Second Best Documentary Film/Video (upto 60 mins.)

Images of a Dictatorship

Patricio Henriquez

Canada

3.

Best Documentry Film / Video (upto 60 mins.)

(Special Mention)

Tommie

Boudewijn Koole

The Netherlands

4.

Best Documentry Film (above 60 mins.)

The Truth Commission

Andre Van In

France

DOCUMENTARY TODAY 41

AWARD-WINNING FILMS OF MIFF’2002 Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

5.

Second Best Documentary Film/Video (above 60 mins)

Facing the Music

Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson

Austrialia

6.

Best Fiction Film/Video (upto 75 mins.)

The Chinese Dog

Lut Vandekeybus

Belgium

7.

Second Best Fiction Film/ Video (upto 75 mins.)

Aayeeshaa

B. Siva Kumar

India

8.

Best Animation Film/Video

Pum Pum

Yashna Maya Padamsee

USA

9.

Second Best Animation Film/Video

No Award

10. International Jury Award

War and Peace

Anand Patwardhan

India

11.

The Moment of Accepting Life

Robert Maclean

U.K.

12. International FIPRESCI Critics Jury Award

Homi D. Sethna, Filmmaker

Sepideh Farsi

France

13. Best Film/Video of the Festival (Producer only)

War and Peace

Anand Patwardhan

India

Best First Film/Video of a Director

AWARD-WINNING FILMS OF MIFF’2004 Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

A)

NATIONAL CATEGORY

1.

Best Documentary Film/Video

I, Me, Myself (Swayam)

Arun Chadha

India

2.

Second Best Documentary Film / Video

Ladakh-The Land of Mystery

Biyot Projna Tripathy

India

3.

Best FICTION Film/Video (upto 75 mins.)

A seaside Story (Ek Sagar Kinare)

Laxmikant Shetgaonkar

India

4.

Second Best FICTION Film/Video (upto 75 mins.)

Touched (Ullurukkum)

Shyama Prasad

India

5.

Best Animation Film/Video

Raju & I

Gayatri Rao

India

6.

Second Best Animation Film/Video

Drum (Dhak)

Rajesh Chakraborty

India

7.

National Jury Award

Stolen Water

Prasanth Kumar & Daya J. India

8.

Best FIRST Film/Video of a Director

In Search (Khoj)

Tridib Kumar Poddar

India

9.

National CRITICS Award

Dharamveer

Praveen Mishra

India

Survivors

K. V. Mohammed Sageer, Producer of the film

India

10. Best Film/Video of the festival (for Producer only)

42

DOCUMENTARY TODAY

Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

11.

i) Special Mention

Vaidya Ratnam P. S. Varier

Krishnan Unni

India

ii) Special Mention

The Chenchus

P. V. Sathya Mohan

India

B)

INTERNATIONAL CATEGORY

1.

Best Documentary Film/Video (upto 60 mins.)

A Certain Liberation

Yasmin Kabir

Bangladesh

2.

Second Best Documentary Film/Video (upto 60 mins.)

Suicide

Eliane Raheb

Lebanon

3.

Best Documentary Film/Video (Above 60 mins.)

Way Back Home

Supriyo Sen

India

4.

Second Best Documentary Film/Video (Abpve 60 mins.)

Whose is This Song?

Adela Peeva

Bulgaria

5.

Best FICTION Film/Video (upto 75 mins.)

NO AWARD

6.

Second Best FICTION Film/ Video (upto 75 mins.)

NO AWARD

7.

Best ANIMATION Film/Video

NO AWARD

8.

Second Best ANIMATION Film/Video

NO AWARD

9.

International Jury Award

Way Back Home

Supriyo Sen

India

10.

Best FIRST film/video of a Director

Children of Tibet

Melinda Wearne

Australia

11.

International CRITICS Award

Whose is This Song?

Adela Peeva

Bulgaria

12.

Best Film/Video of the festival (for Producer only)

Way Back Home

Rajasri Mukhopadhyay, Producer of the film

India

AWARD-WINNING FILMS OF MIFF’2006 Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

A)

NATIONAL CATEGORY

1.

Best Documentary Film/Video

Riding Solo to the Top of the World

Gaurav A. Jani

India

2.

Second Best Documentary Film / Video

Kora Rajee: Land of the Diggers

Biju Toppo

India

3.

Best FICTION Film/Video (upto 75 mins.)

Nothing Happens on This Turn

Hitesh Kewalya

India

4.

Second Best FICTION Film/Video (upto 75 mins.)

a) Baba Black Beard b) Walking on a Moonbeam

Sanghmitra Karmakar Madhrita Anand

India

5.

Best Animation Film/Video

Printed Rainbow

Gitanjali Rao

India

6.

Second Best Animation Film/Video

a) Dhara b) Swoosh

Ganesh Gothwal Ranvir Singh Sahmbi

India

DOCUMENTARY TODAY 43

Sr. Name of Award No.

Title of the Film

Name of the Director

Country

7.

Best FIRST Film/Video of a Director

Waiting

Atul Gupta

India

8.

National CRITICS Award

Riding Solo to the Top of the World

Gaurav A. Jani

India

9.

National Jury Award

a) Hoon-I b) Shit (PEE)

Amit Babulal Shah R. P. Amudhan

India

10. Best Film/Video of the festival (for Producer only)

The Legend of Fat Mama

Rafeeq Ellias

India

11.

Special Mension

Sallikkattu

Govindaraj

India

B)

INTERNATIONAL CATEGORY

1.

Best Documentary Film/Video (above 60 min.)

Continious Journey

Ali Kazimi

Canada

2.

Second Best Documentary Film / Video (above 60 min.)

Zero Degrees of Separation

Elle Flanders

Canada

3.

Best Documentary Film/Video (upto 60 min.)

The Black Road: On The Frontlines of Ache’s War

William Nessen

Australia

4.

Second Best Documentary Film / Video (upto 60 min.)

Vietnam Symphony

Tom Zubrycki

Australia

5.

Best FICTION Film/Video (upto 75 mins.)

The Elephant Boy

Rene Mohandas

India

6.

Second Best FICTION Film/Video (upto 75 mins.)

The Little Terrorist

Ashwin Kumar

India

7.

Best Animation Film/Video

NO AWARD

8.

Second Best Animation Film/Video

a) Home Delivery b) Boond

Elio Ouiroga Kavita Singh

Spain India

9.

Best FIRST Film/Video of a Director

Keep Not Silent

Ilil Alexander

Israel

10. National CRITICS Award

Riding Solo to the Top of the World

Gaurav A. Jani

India

11.

AFSPA 1958

Haoban Paban Kumar

India

12. International Jury Award

AFSPA 1958

Haoban Paban Kumar

India

13. Best Film/Video of the festival (for Producer only)

The Black Road: On The Frontlines of Ache’s War

William Nessen

Australia

14. Special Mension

I, For India

Sandhya Suri

India

44

International FIPRESCI Critics Jury Award

DOCUMENTARY TODAY

OPINION

Documentary and ‘Uncivil’ Society

By Rajiv Kumar Silence is golden – an old English proverb ‘Silence is the most powerful enemy of social justice’ – Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate When I shifted from Mumbai to Kolkata nine years ago, the thing that struck me most was that the poorer people in Kolkata do not seem as unhappy and worn out as they do in the commercial capital of India. They seemed to have a more secure identity and “a voice”.

A cycle rickshaw puller would, at times, refuse to entertain me because he did not like my manner, tone or look.

A small shopkeeper could refuse to do business with me on similar grounds.

At other times I would receive help from them, beyond their call. Another striking feature was their attachment to the soil and indigenous ways of living.

During successive assignments in Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Arunachal Pradesh, I realized their strong and vocal rootedness. In these nine years the poorer sections of the society seem to have become a little more professional that is, concerned about money. But their attachment to the soil has grown even stronger in the face of the onslaught of industrialization. The unfortunate events of Nandigram prove it. Eastern India is truly different from the Western part of India, known for its enterprise and business skills. Eastern India is more talkative, gregarious and warm.

Everybody is noticed and almost everything is commented on.

this propensity to talk, there is still a vibrant culture of adda, debate and protest in Bengal, which is a blessing for documentarians (as well as other artistes). The life of the mind is no less powerful than the life of matter.

A pleasant reality in Kolkata is the responsive audience for documentary cinema. Films Division organized a festival of national award winning documentary films some time back.

There was full house even for a film on the correct techniques for the preservation of potato. Another film on Vedic Mathematics had a repeat show on public demand.

The computer and digital boom has opened many a vista for aspiring communicators and artistes. Thank God, the elite celluloid has been challenged roundly! In the early nineteen fifties, a group of cinephiles in France led by Alexender Astruc had a fantastic dream – camera stylo, a dream for the day when making a film will become as

simple and inexpensive as writing with pen or paper. The dream has come true.

In the late nineteen fifties, a Latin American cinephile wrote a manifesto for a new kind of cinema: For an Imperfect Cinema by Julio Garcio Espinosa. He dreamt of the day when making films will be just another pastime, like taking a walk in the jungle, mountaineering, fishing or a party with friends — a matter of leisure and pleasure , not a cumbersome commercial activity.

‘Camera stylo’ and, like currents in conjunction with the influences of Italian neo-realism Jean Vigo, Jean Cocteau and Andre Bazin led to the foundation of the famous cinema

Noam Chomsky

Many people joke that the favourite Bengali pastimes seem to be talking and eating. In my opinion, thanks to DOCUMENTARY TODAY 45

mankind is people fighting for their rights themselves”.

In such a scenario, the role of a conscientious communicator cannot be overestimated. My father’s television viewing is limited to news, sports and current affairs. Most adults hardly watch serials and films on the tube. A growing viewership for documentaries in Europe is certainly a similar phenomenon. The staple diet of underdeveloped societies of Asia, Africa and Latin America does not include documentaries

Anand Patwardhan and Shyam Benegal participate in a seminar on Who decide what to see? at MIFF 2006

journal Cahiers du Cinema (Cinema Notebooks) and the French New Wave which, in turn, led to New Wave in Indian Cinema in the glorious sixties.

During the last decade, the digital boom has truly democratized the economic aspect of cinema – though sometimes the abundant splurge of digital image leaves many a discreet viewers cold. The page three culture of popular print media and the ‘good look’ fetish of audiovisual media also leaves little space for worthy documentarians and communicators.

Surely they have other avenues, which need to be strengthened and institutionalized. This journal is one such small effort.

Individual and societal intolerance has grown worldwide. In India, 1984 and the assassination of Indira Gandhi, appears to be the cut-off date in this process of brutalization. Globally the project of democracy and welfare state has undergone a sea change. The vulnerable groups of the population that is, indigenous people, tribals, farmers, unorganized labourers, religious minorities, refugees, political dissenters and poorer women and children encounter greater hardship and suffering in their daily lives.

The trickling down of the benefits of 46

DOCUMENTARY TODAY

the economic boom to poorer sections of the society as envisaged by the gurus of globalization is hardly happening.

Technologically as well as socially the time is ripe for the man with the digital

Fact is immensely stranger than fiction.

Acclaimed scriptwriters agree that basically there are not more than seven stories, which may be presented in various permutations and combinations. New living conditions generate new human situations. These are closer to the scope of a documentarian than a fiction filmwallah. The future of documentary

Documentary cinema could be one of the media for humanizing and civilizing us, in the face of intolerance and hegemonistic aspirations. camera. Travelling teaches tolerance!

So does an exposure to the plight of the underprivileged and marginalized.

Documentary cinema could be one of the media for humanizing and civilizing us, in the face of intolerance and hegemonistic aspirations.

As the famous Shakespearean hero proclaimed, perhaps now, more than ever before, time is out of joint.

Another eminent commentator Jeremy Seabrook says ‘We have split the atom.

We have split the sub continent. And now we have split our minds, so that we see only strategic alliances and not the annihilating power of our political games’. Perhaps things will get worse before they get better. Well-known linguist and thinker Noam Chomsky delivering a lecture in Kolkata, couple of months after 9/11, declared that “the only hope for the future of

cinema holds promises beyond current perceptions. Though we Indians seem to prefer myths over facts, but things are changing.

The present crisis in civilization has parallels with ancient hedonist Rome.

The visionary Hindi poet Jayshankar Prasad had warned us more than sixty years ago.

Apne Men Bhar Sab Kuchh Kaise Vyakti Vikas Karega.

Yeh Ekant Swartha Bheeshan Hai, Sabka Nash Karega.

(How would one develop filling oneself to the hilt; this lone interest is terrible, fatal for all.)

Now that we have a festival and a journal devoted to documentary films, let us strive for an Indian satellite television channel devoted to documentary films.

REPORT

Making Your Documentary Matter Public Engagement Strategies that Work

By Kate Schuler More than 200 representatives of non-profit organizations, media producers, and funders participated in the two-day conference “Making Your Documentary Matter: Public Engagement Strategies that Work,” sponsored by the American University School of Communications Center for Social Media and funded by the Ford Foundation and the Surdna Foundation. The Center’s third annual conference was held January 31 and February 1, 2007 and featured leaders and innovators from non-profits and media speaking about new ideas and best practices to make documentaries for social impact and public engagement. What they said makes a lot of sense and is of great relevance to the situation in India.

Introduction: The trend in social media outreach efforts has been for closer collaboration between media producers and non-profits. As technology evolves to create more platforms for distribution, it’s hard for non-profits and independent filmmakers to be heard above the din. But with broader partnerships and an acknowledgement of the need for flexibility, many media producers and non-profits are finding they can navigate the new terrain with an agility that allows them to spread their message to wider, and more diverse, audiences than ever before.

Conference participants agreed that media producers and non-profits have to partner early on in the production process in order for a film to have the broadest social impact. Working together from the beginning allows filmmakers to tailor their films to highlight the specific issues of concern to their partners. While this close relationship can sometimes cause tension and require compromise on a filmmaker’s artistic vision, media producers have to understand the integral role that non-profits now play in distribution. At the same time, nonprofit organizations must increasingly work with broader coalitions in the

production of a film and join together on outreach efforts.

Advances in technology and wider availability of broadband offer both challenges and opportunities for nonprofits and media producers. Panelists emphasized the need for flexibility in order to make the best use of various outlets such as youtube.com, iTunes, and cell phones. Producers should be ready to repurpose their media into shorter clips and reconfigure it for different audiences.

As non-profits and producers grapple with these technologies as delivery systems, they should also think about how to leverage them to add value to their media projects. Panelists discussed the use of video cell phones and smaller video cameras that allow people to tell their own stories. This audience participation has the potential to both enhance the overarching media project and create communities during the production itself.

early on with non-profit organizations to make a film that both matters and is seen by many people.

Greenwald’s films, which include Uncovered, Outfoxed, and Iraq for Sale, have been effective because of his partnerships with such organizations as the Center for American Progress and MoveOn.org, which have large mailing lists and experience in online outreach.

The individuals and groups who distributed and screened the films were the critical component in creating

Keynote Robert Greenwald, who pioneered alternate forms of distribution by bringing an organizer’s sensibility to film distribution, introduced the theme of the conference by discussing the necessity of film producers partnering DOCUMENTARY TODAY 47

Robert Greenwald has pioneered alternate forms of documentary distribution.

social change. But non-profit partners are not simply distributors.

Partnerships and coalitions must be formed early, before any footage is shot. It is the responsibility of producers, he said, to ask non-profits how a film can help their cause and go from there. Outreach strategies and goals should be coordinated alongside the filmmaking process, with input from non-profits at every step of the way.

Beyond organizational partnerships, involving individuals in the productions and screenings also works to build community while affecting social change.

Greenwald acknowledged that such a working relationship presents challenges, including competing goals of various groups and bureaucracies within organizations. But he also has seen disparate groups come together while working on a film and he believes this kind of cooperation will be more common in the future. He also noted that some partnerships open him up to criticism as some viewers see potential biases.

Greenwald also made an argument – which he conceded could be unpopular 48

DOCUMENTARY TODAY

— that producers must choose b e t w e e n shooting a film intended to win theatrical release and O s c a r nominations, and creating a documentary to spur social change. By partnering w i t h organizations, producers will be required to make very different decisions than if they are targeting the festival circuit.

Ultimately, he said, partnering with organizations and implementing alternative methods of distribution has brought his films a much broader audience than if he had entered them

potential for cell phones as a content delivery tool, but also the possibility that cell phones create for more or a two-way conversation about short videos. Audience members were also urged to think about how cell phones can enhance documentary projects by broadening the idea of how media is produced and who can create content.

Sarah DeWitt of PBS Kids described public television’s foray into digital distribution of educational programs through handheld device. PBS, with a grant from the Department of Education, conducted a study to see if cell phones could be used effectively as a way to deliver educational content to lower-income 3- and 4-year-olds.

PBS distributed cell phones and trained parents on use of the phone and how to help teach literacy skills. For 26 days, content featuring a different letter of the alphabet was sent to the phones, with Elmo giving an introduction to each letter for the children. Threequarters of the parents said it could be an effective learning tool, and threequarters of parents below the poverty line said it improved their child’s knowledge to a good or great extent.

The individuals and groups who distributed and screened the films were the critical component in creating social change. But non-profit partners are not simply distributors. Partnerships and coalitions must be formed early, before any footage is shot. in festivals or attempted distribution in theaters. He pointed to Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, which screened at 1000 churches the week it was released, as an example of how working through communities can result in broader reach for a film.

Mobile Media for Public Life As mobile phone become widespread, even leapfrogging landlines in some countries, they are quickly becoming the “fourth screen” for viewing content (in addition to movies, TV, and computers). Panelists discussed the

Problems, however, arose in load time of the content onto the cell phone, drained batteries, and in parents reporting that PBS should use more varied characters and content.

Sundance has also come to view cell phones as a dynamic new way to distribute short films. As part of a pilot project Sundance has commissioned five filmmakers to make 3 to 5 minute short films for the mobile phone platform to be downloaded by the public. Rahdi Taylor of the Sundance Institute, raised the possibility that not only could cell phones become a

powerful way for people to consume media, but could evolve into a two-way communication tool. She noted that cell phones are a very intimate form of media, a characteristic that could increase the sense of social connection with content producers and other users.

Because of the evolving ways for viewers to see films, Taylor also urged filmmakers to envision their

more of a back-and-forth between media creators and viewers. Panelists also expected the role of curators, such as Sundance, to change and evolve as people pass along content they like on their mobile devices and viral campaigns continue to grow.

Non-profit Media on the Cutting Edge Non-profits have begun to explore

Another effective tool in expanding the reach of a documentary is to target opinion leaders in a community and citizen groups who will raise the issues in informal discussions. productions as multi-modal and multiplatform and create content that can be repurposed for various formats.

Benjamen Walker emphasizes the interplay of cell phones and the internet, the “third and fourth screens” with the American Experience project about Native Americans called We Shall Remain. He urged audience members to think of cell phones not just as a way to deliver content, but also as a way to enhance broader multimedia projects. We Shall Remain has recruited 200 people from around the country and will give them video cell phones (that include basic editing capabilities) and ask them to record short films about their lives. The films will then be shared on the project’s website, primarily by linking them to a Google map to enhance the sense of place in the videos. Additionally, participants will be able to share videos with each other by sending them over the phone.

ways to make effective use of digital media and have begun to learn how to tailor their media for various platforms.

Panelists emphasized the need for organizations to be nimble with their films in order to repurpose them for diverse audiences and delivery systems to have the biggest impact.

Matthew Nisbet, a professor at American University’s School of Communication who researches the impact of strategic communication, addressed the question of how audiences watch documentaries and how organizations can increase the impact of films. Nisbet noted that Americans are increasingly able to

tailor their news and media to their own specific interests, but suggests that community forums and screenings can have some success in bypassing this self-selectivity. Another effective tool in expanding the reach of a documentary is to target opinion leaders in a community and citizen groups who will raise the issues in informal discussions. He also suggests that sometimes movies can drive the press’s coverage of an issue – such as the press interest in conflict diamonds after the release of Blood Diamonds – and that organizations be aware of this to use it to their advantage.

Marissa Brown of the Alliance for Justice discussed her organization’s campaign to expose “the right’s agenda on the law and tactics they are using” in regards to court appointments.

Aimed at a progressive audience, the Alliance for Justice created a 22minute film about conservatives and the courts and set up screenings at law school campuses, house parties, and on the Hill. They broke the film into parts and downloaded it onto youtube, emailed it to activists, asked partner organizations to show it to their members and mailed out 10,000 DVDs. Alliance for Justice also counter-intuitively used right-wing blogs and a screening at the American

We shall remain is a part of the American Experience project about native Americans

The use of cell phones for both content delivery and content production is still in its infancy, and panelists represented the “bleeding edge” of experiment, where financial viability isn’t even at issue. All stressed the challenges of working at a moment before there is industry consensus on standards, or common video platforms for cell phones. Cell phones present a unique opportunity for new ways of distribution, but also open the door for DOCUMENTARY TODAY 49

intended to have a catalyzing role in their communities. Gillian Caldwell, executive director, explained the organization provides equipment and training to partners that apply with proposals for documentaries that have the potential for the greatest impact, what she called a “tipping point moment,” such as documenting human rights abuses that can be used as evidence.

Additionally, the organization works with human rights organizations to teach them how to effectively use media, and have set up a “hub” on their website where groups can upload videos.

Professor Matthew Nisbet addressed the question of how audiences watch documentaries.

Constitution Society to generate buzz.

The best lessons from the campaign: make a shorter clip of the film to show online and partner with others to drive the distribution.

The Sierra Club has been particularly focused on extending the impact of the films by using their productions to drive traffic to their website, which had specific information about how viewers could get involved. Adrienne Bramhall, Sierra Club productions, has tried to use Sierra Club Chronicles to build bridges and highlight partnerships that show the environment is neither a red nor blue cause.

Broadcast on LinkTV, the productions were promoted through Sierra Club partners, who got the word out about programming and airdates.

Michael Hoffman of See3 Communications, which helps nonprofits use film and media effectively, also emphasized the imperative of repurposing media for multiple platforms and audiences. He also cautioned non-profits to be realistic about the numbers of people who will view online video. Because sites such as youtube.com carry such large numbers of videos without efficient indexing, See3 is setting up dogooder.tv, a website devoted to the films and videos of non-profits.

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Non-profit organizations need to think about their use of film and video constantly, documenting their activities and partnering with other groups to distribute their films. They must also, panelists agreed, be flexible with their content and be ready to package it in different ways to get the biggest impact in distribution and viewership.

Participatory Media Filmmakers and non-profits have had great success in turning their audience into co-producers of documentaries.

Panelists discussed the effect of

The Service Employees International Union, SEIU, relies heavily on member-created videos to create unity among workers.

Michelle Miller, a senior producer at SEIU, explained that the documentaries are also effective lobbying tools, but that they are most effective in building solidarity among members of the union. As an example, she told of how the union showed digital stories made by six immigrant members in an SEIU workshop, to show the experiences of immigrants at a meeting where members were to vote on immigration reform. Many members had been resistant to the idea of immigration reform. Playing the

Non-profit organizations need to think about their use of film and video constantly, documenting their activities and partnering with other groups to distribute their films. involving viewers in all aspects of production and outreach – a process that not only helps the filmmakers and organizations, but also brings together communities.

WITNESS, an organization founded 15 years ago to give people the opportunity to use visual media to affect human rights issues, has partnerships with groups around the world that create documentaries

videos throughout the day convinced many of the delegates to change their minds. At the same time, she noted, the digital divide has prevented many of the groups members from seeing their work, so they play the videos at meetings and community screenings and try to release the documentaries in as many formats as possible.

Miller explained that SEIU’s experience shows how individuals can

be the best ambassadors for their own causes and that putting media production in their hands offers them a powerful tool. But, she cautioned that as non-profits embark on these types of projects, it is imperative to have effective facilitators to help with technology and create a safe space for people to open up with their stories. jesikah maria ross, an activist and filmmaker, has also success using

outreach and sponsors the Media that Matters Film Festival.

Putting more of the production in the hands of individuals, an audience member noted, can have a profound impact on quality and production values. Panelists acknowledged this and noted that the more compelling the story, the more viewers are willing to overlook production values. Miller noted that aesthetics do matter when

Non-profit organizations need to think about their use of film and video constantly, documenting their activities and partnering with other groups to distribute their films. “digital stories” to help members of a community connect and understand one another. The project Saving the Sierra: Voices of Conservation in Action, aims to reach across cultural and class divides to unite members of a community to work to preserve a way of life in the Sierras. With the project, she has used three tactics: start with outreach and social engagement before production begins, hold community listening sessions, and use public media to air a radio series.

In Canada, a group of pregnant teenage girls has been working with filmmaker Katerina Cizek, to record their stories online in a project called Young Parents, No Fixed Address. Cizek says that the process of creating this media has helped the young women, but has also provided a tool for them to use when they lobby the mayor for more services. Giving them space online, Cizek says, also gives them a way to tell their story without having to relive it over and over for each new audience.

trying to get your message taken seriously, so SEIU combines memberproduced video in professionally created packages.

And jessikah maria ross noted that in more traditional media outlets such as NPR and PBS, high production values are essential.

As non-profit organizations increasingly turn to their members as content creators, panelists emphasized that the act of producing itself becomes an organizing and community-building tool. Focusing on personal stories of

individuals goes far to build bridges and create understanding and has enormous potential to bring about change.

Bridging Difference, Building Engagement Filmmakers and nonprofits have to continue to evolve in their thinking about how to best engage audiences as technology continues to alter the landscape. Non-traditional venues and distributions methods are becoming the norm, so non-profits need to continually reevaluate how they are reaching their target audiences and getting their message out and how they work with filmmakers. Moderator Robert West of Working Films, suggested that the question for filmmakers now is, “How can my film help your movement, no how can your movement help my film?”

Joy Thomas Moore of the Annie E. Casey Foundation suggested that outreach efforts are bolstered by allying with unlikely partners and build as many relationships as possible since you never know who will become a champion for the cause. She also emphasized the effectiveness of documentaries in creating change. She pointed to legislative victories resulting from the film about foster care children

Gillian Caldwell is executive director of Witness

To reach even bigger audiences, Jean Seok of Arts Engine, suggests nonprofits “stand on the shoulders of giants.” By relinquishing control of a video and allowing it onto sites such as youtube.com, iTunes, Google Video, and others, organizations can get more bandwidth and a larger audience. Arts Engine also helps organizations with concrete ideas for using media in DOCUMENTARY TODAY 51

“Aging Out” and public service announcements in Providence, which swayed a referendum on giving exconvicts the right to vote.

is important to engage partners early and think about several different approaches to get the message out about a project.

From the documentary filmmaker’s perspective, panelist Aishah Shahidah Simmons discussed the difficulties of fundraising and how she discovered that the process of raising money through speaking engagements about her film actually helped spread her message as well. In addition, showing rough cuts of the film, NO! The Rape Documentary initiated dialogues among women that otherwise may not have occurred.

Even more traditional outlets such as ITVS have begun to change the definition of “documentary film.”

Dennis Palmieri, director of communications, pointed out that the film or television program is no longer the centerpiece of an outreach or educational campaign.

Deciding how best to use films for policy change requires unique approaches for each film.

Ellen Schneider, executive director of Active Voice, pointed to an example of when a filmmaker met early on with researchers from the Brookings Institution to discuss her film and the researchers got so excited about the project that they offered her their latest research.

That kind of synergy – where the filmmaker built up an audience and generated buzz while the audience in turn actively helped improve her documentary – is an example of why it

Filmmakers and social change organizations must work more closely together than ever before to ensure media will be effective and find broad distribution.

Instead, Palmieri says the issues should take center stage. By considering the issues instead of the content of a finished film, producers can more broadly consider their audience and tailor supplemental materials to reach as wide an audience as possible. This approach can often require filmmakers to make changes in the video content and demands flexibility from producers as the campaign evolves. As an example, Palmieri cited the film Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes.

The film, a 54 minute documentary that examines hip hop music with attention

Mamta Murthy’s Colours Black is about child abuse.

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to the themes of masculinity, violence, and media literacy, has been edited, excerpted, and customized many different ways in order to tailor the content to educational campaigns about the different themes and to different age groups. Traditionally, Palmieri noted, ITVS put the film at the center of its outreach activities. Now, ITVS conceives of its publicity, promotion and outreach work synthetically, with content—not the film, but core content

of which the film is one piece—at the core of its efforts. Filmmakers need to work with ITVS to produce work that flexibly can connect with publics in face-to-face, online, television and small-screen environments; that content needs to be appropriate to the environment.

Conclusion Non-profits and media producers can no longer adhere to traditional ideas about documentaries and outreach.

Filmmakers and social change organizations must work more closely together than ever before to ensure media will be effective and find broad distribution. This requires flexibility on the part of filmmakers and a willingness to form broad partnerships on the part of non-profits. At the same time, producers and non-profits can use technology to engage their audience and members in the production itself — an innovation that allows for a richer product and strengthens communities in the process. While non-profits and media producers have found success at outreach using alternate distribution methods, the landscape is constantly changing and they will continue to experiment and work to find the most effective ways to leverage new technologies to increase the impact of social media.

NEW FILMS SHIFTING PROPHECY (Merajur Rahman Baruah/30 minutes) The film explores the emergence of a rural Muslim women movement in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The essence their staggering struggle engaging with the questions of gender violence, linking with the issues of poverty, survival, and women’s rights thus locating Muslim women’s concerns within a larger civic and political discourse. The film delves into the prophecy of the Muslim women, who believe in freedom, justice, humanity and democratic principles. They have formed the world’s first women Jamat and are constructing a women’s mosque to counter against the gender biases and patriarchal social order.

THE TAI PHAKEYS (Mridul Gupta/21 minutes) The Tai Phakeys, a tiny tribe of less than 3,000 people residing in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts of Assam, have withstood the histories of fragile socio-political scenario and managed to keep their identity intact.

The film talks about the migration of this tribe to Thailand from the Hunan province of China in the 18th century and their entry into Arunachal Pradesh in 1838.

Caught in the outrage of the warrior tribe Khamtis and the Ahom rulers, they finally relocated to Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district mainly on the banks of the Dihing river, as well as adjacent parts of Lohit and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh.

The film is a sincere effort to depict the way in which Tai Phakeys lead their lives. In the process, it also gives us an insight into the tribe’s food habits, its patriarchal system and the manner in which funerals and marriage ceremonies are conducted.

The film mainly focuses on three major aspects of their day-to-day life: their agricultural life, their religious beliefs and their intimate bond with the river Dihing.

pilgrimage by the side of a pond. The Buddha took a pilgrimage by the side of a tree and journeyed into the back recesses of his mind, where he came upon a path that leads to happiness.

The enchanting cinematography, which is director Gupta’s handiwork, deserves special mention. Gupta bagged this year’s Assam State Award for best direction in documentary section for this film and the film reinstates the fact that Gupta, who has three feature films to his credit, truly deserves the award.

On an extended pilgrimage throughout Southeast Asia, John Bush traveled with a Sony digital video camera recording his impressions of the iconic Buddhist centers in Laos, Thailand, Burma (now Myanmar), Bali, Cambodia, Java and Central Tibet. He calls the resulting three films he made Journey into Buddhism: The Yatra Trilogy. For John, the six years it took to create The Yatra Trilogy was the “realization of a long deferred dream.”

FLOWERING OF THE MIND (30 minutes) Flowering of the Mind is an exploration of J.Krishnamurti’s philosophy of education in the backdrop of Krishnamurti foundation schools where children are encouraged to discover the finer nuances of life along with academic excellence. The film is an effort to explore how a child blossoms in an atmosphere of freedom – freedom from mindsets and preconcieved notions allowing her to think freely and clearly. It is woven together through experiences and views of former and present students, parents and educationist-how they look at life at school where education is fun.

With unblinking patience, John draws the viewer into his journey. His slow pans across a landscape such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia test our own patience, conditioned as we are to fast Journey Into Buddhism

JOURNEY INTO BUDDHISM: The Yatra Trilogy (John Bush/a set of three films) Pilgrimage is the time-honored journey to places sacred. Of course, the earnest pilgrim who wisely follows his or her intuitive spiritual compass always arrives at the most sacred of places: one’s self. The ultimate pilgrimage, for those willing to leave their personal baggage behind as they travel, is a rite of passage as much as a passage through time and space.

Pilgrimages take many forms and many faces. Going home for the holidays is a pilgrimage. Thoreau took a DOCUMENTARY TODAY 53

needs as we do. And even then, we cannot be sure that decency and magnanimity on our part as employers will necessarily result in a comfort level where our domestic help feels at ease sitting at the same table as us. For, the divisions in our society, the place that each presumes they have in it, are so deep that it will take much more than such gestures to change things. But they could be a beginning and they could set a trend where we recognise and acknowledge those who provide us with such vital support.

Laxmi and Me

cuts and instant gratification. His use of ambient sounds throughout all the films give a sense of presence, of immediacy, and in such a subtle manner as to go almost unnoticed.

Almost. At Borobudur Temple, the 9th century mandala monument in Java, the sounds of birds and flies and chanting in your ears bring to life ancient rumblings of spirituality. I knew this was where a vibrant spiritual community existed. John’s film reminded me this is where it’s still happening for those still enough — or for a camera quiet enough — to witness it.

LAKSHMI AND ME (Nishtha Jain/) They flit in and out of our homes like ghosts in the night. They sweep and swab, wash and cook, look after our children, care for the elderly. Yet we know little about them. Most of us just about know their first names. We don’t know where they are from, where they live, whether they are married, how many children they have, how many other homes they work in, what they earn — how they survive. They are virtually invisible.

Lakshmi and Me is a remarkably honest documentary about 21-year-old Lakshmi and the filmmaker, Nishtha.

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homes, takes us to her own home, introduces us to her family and her perennially drunk father. We watch her fall in love and ultimately marry a young man from a lower caste. Her family disowns her. We feel Lakshmi’s sorrow when this happens as well as her happiness with the man she loves.

And then illness strikes. We see her getting weaker and thinner. And yet she continues working. We witness the first months of her pregnancy. And yet she works. And we watch her struggle with illness and pregnancy in hospital.

What is most interesting about this film is the relationship between the two women, Lakshmi and Nishtha. The latter tries hard to overcome the class divide and the employer-employee relationship. She invites Lakshmi to join the crew for lunch and sit at the table. Lakshmi is embarrassed and amused. Later she tells Nishtha that she laughed because she thought it so funny that a “black” woman like her should be sitting with “white” people! And we claim colour is not an issue.

So, can gestures like asking our domestic help to sit at the table with us really bridge the chasm that exists between classes? Such gestures can have meaning only if they are backed with a genuine interest and concern in the person and recognition that they are human and have the same rights and

Another important aspect of domestic work that the film brings out is the crisis that befalls these women when they fall ill. Most of them continue to work until it is virtually impossible for them to do so. By then, their sickness has advanced to a point where they need urgent care. Yet the reason they don’t take even a day off to deal with health problems is because they fear that someone else will take their place.

The reason they don’t demand a higher wage, or some additional amount for medical contingencies, is the same. Ask for more money, and you are guaranteed to lose your job. And there are plenty of others waiting to take your place.

LOHA GARAM HAI (IRON IS HOT) (Biju Toppo and Meghnath/) The film tells the story of how people survive India’s fastest polluting industry: Sponge Iron Industry. The industry is relatively new. Staring with just three plants in 1985, it has rapidly multiplied to 206 plants in 2005 and very soon the number will be 430. The unofficial figures are even higher.

These industries are mostly in Orissa, Chattisgarh , Jharkhand and W.Bengal and in small numbers in Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The major problem lies in the production process. While in the rest of the world sponge iron is manufactured using a gas-based plant, which is cleaner and most resourceefficient, in India 80% of the sponge

iron is produced using coal-based plants which is extremely polluting.

That is why the industry is graded as a ‘Red category’ industry which can cause serious health hazards.

A 100 TPD plant produces 250 tones of garbage every day. No pollution control board keeps an account of where this garbage is disposed. They are dumped near agriculture field, by the side of highway or at the bank of rivers which then ultimately flows in the stream.

The plants emit poisonous gas and heavy metals like cadmium, nickel, manganese which are harmful for human being.

Due to soil and water pollution agricultural activities within the 5 km radius of sponge iron plants is seriously effect and there is drastic reduction of the agricultural yield.

Cattle are eating the grasses and leaves cover with black dust get ill and die, and there is reduction in the milk production.

The film captures how governmental machinery is tilted towards the industry. The administration organizes “Public hearing” where although over wellbeing majority oppose the construction of the plant, the government report shows “people have agreed”.

There are some rays of hope. Peoples protest in Chouranga village near Raipur ( Chatisgarh ) has successfully stopped production in a plant, same is the story of Malampuzha sponge iron company in Palakad district of Kerala where a local panchayat objects and the Kerala government stood up with the panchayat Goa High Court in November 2006 passes stay order for some sponge iron plants.

Silent Hues

actors/workers through an unstated yet dense rendering of scenes that dissolve from one to the other. “The film has been in the making for 33 years,” says the director, who herself entered the film world as a child artiste at the age of five. The film takes a serious and sensitive look at six child actors from India.

Moving through conversations and silences, the film delineates the spoken and unarticulated thoughts and emotions of the children, who vary from a confident stars in the making to an unknowing infants. The mindset and ambitions of the makers of these child actors, the fathers and mothers is unraveled through many interviews.

Special mention and Andhra Pradesh State Award for Best Female Actor in the year 1996 for the film “Sthree”. She received lot of critical acclaim for her excellent acting in films like ‘Virumandi’, ‘Thamirabharani’ and ‘Onbathu Rubai Note’.

Apart from acting in mainstream cinema, Rohini has made a foray into television. She started writing scripts for TV series way back in 1996, and has adapted the Sahithya Academy Award winning novel ‘Verukku Neer’ for a tele film in 2005.

Rohini also hosted a live talk show based on social issues “Kelvigal Aayiram” in 2003 in Vijay TV for a year.

SILENT HUES (R.Rohini/52 minutes)

R. Rohini produces the film under the banner Raadha Swami Enterprises.

Both as a child artist and a leading actor, she has over -130 South Indian films to her credit.

Being an activist for AIDS awareness, Rohini has also directed short films for M.G.R. Medical University and Tamil Nadu Aids Control Society.

Silent Hues reveals the politics of child

She received National Award of

‘Silent hues’ is Rohini’s first

The film documents the people effort to save their land and livelihood.

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wild dog family told in the forest of Southern Western Ghats. The film shows a deep respect not only for the wild dogs it portrays but also the local tribal community who has lived “cheek by jaw” with wildlife over many centuries. The director had to spend months befriending no0t only the tribals but also the wild dog families so that he could cover them from up close. A special mention must be made about the smooth editing which adds to the narrative strength of the film.

LIQUID CITY (Matthew Gandy/30 minutes/EnglishHindi-Marathi)

Our Family

documentary film. The film is expected to be screened in an event that could take place in Chennai later this month.

OUR FAMILY (KP Jayasankar and Anjali Monteiro/ 56 minutes/Tamil with English subtitles) What does it mean to cross that line which sharply divides us on the basis of gender? To free oneself of the socially constructed onus of being male? Is there life beyond a heteronormative family?

Set in Tamilnadu, India, Our Family brings together excerpts from Nirvanam, a one person performance,

by Pritham K. Chakravarthy and a family of three generations of transgendered female subjects. Aasha, Seetha and Dhana, who are bound together by ties of adoption, belong to the community called Aravanis (aka Hijras, in some parts of India). Aasha Bharathi, the grandmother, is the president of the Tamilnadu Aravanigal Association, Chennai. Seetha, the daughter lives with her male partner Selvam in Coimbatore. Dhana, Seetha’s adopted daughter, also lives with her and shuttles between her adopted and her natal families.

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The film juxtaposes the ‘normality’ of their existence with the dark and powerful narrative by Pritham, a wellknown dramatist in Tamil Nadu.

Nirvanam quotes an incident from the Mahabharat where Lord Krishna marries and sacrifices an Aravani on the eve of the battle with the Kauravas.

This ensures the Pandavas’ success on the battlefield: a symbol of the violence and exploitation faced by Aravanis.

Nirvanam (Liberation) refers to the act of liberating oneself from the male body and transforming oneself to a female. This narrative bears witness to the tumultuous journey towards a reinvented selfhood, a journey fraught with violence, exploitation, affection and courage. The pains, pleasures and dilemmas of becoming the ‘other’ is the motif of the film. Weaving together performance, life histories and everyday life, it problematises the divides between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The film documents the journey of the three women as they discover their sexual identities and progressively blur the lines between themselves and what’s seen as normal social behaviour.

WILD DOG DIARIES (Senani Hedge) The film sensitively charts the life of a

The tortuous flow of water through Mumbai presents one of the most striking indicators of persistent social inequalities within the globalizing metropolis. The documentary film Liquid City explores the complexity of water politics in Mumbai ranging from the engineering challenge of transferring nearly 3,000 million litres of water a day to the city from the jungles, lakes and mountains of the state of Maharashtra to debates over flooding, privatization and social conflict. The film, directed by Matthew Gandy, a Professor of Geography, is based on a unique collaboration between academics and film makers based in London and Mumbai and combines in-depth interviews with activists, engineers, local residents and other voices to paint a unique picture of this vibrant and fast changing city.

The film was developed in collaboration with PUKAR and was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

A JIHAD FOR LOVE (Parvez Sharma) A Jihad for Love is the world’s first feature documentary to explore the complex global intersections between Islam and homosexuality. Parvez enters the many worlds of Islam by illuminating multiple stories as diverse as Islam itself. The film travels a wide

geographic arc presenting us lives from India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France. Always filming in secret and as a Muslim, Parvez makes the film from within the faith, depicting Islam with the same respect that the film’s characters show for it.

In Western media, the concept of ‘jihad’ is often narrowly equated with holy war. But Jihad also has a deeper meaning, its literal Arabic being ‘struggle’ or ‘to strive in the path of God’. In this film we meet several characters engaged in their personal Jihad’s for love. The people in this film have a lot to teach us about love. Their pursuit of love has brought them into conflicts with their countries, families, and even themselves. Such is the quandary of being both homosexual and Muslim, a combination so taboo that very little about it has been documented.

As a result, the majority of gay and lesbian Muslims must travel a twisting, lonely and often dangerous road. Many gay and lesbian Muslims end up renouncing their religion completely.

But the real-life characters of A Jihad for Love aren’t willing to abandon a faith they cherish and that sustains them. Instead, they struggle to reconcile their ardent belief with the innate reality of their being.

A Jihad for Love’s characters each have vastly different personal takes on Islam, some observing a rigorously orthodox regimen, others leading highly secular lifestyles while remaining spiritually devout. As the camera attentively captures their stories, the film’s gay and lesbian characters emerge in all their human complexity, giving the viewer an honest rendering of their lives while complicating our assumptions about a monolithic Muslim community.

Crucially, this film speaks with a Muslim voice, unlike other documentaries about sexual politics in Islam made by Western directors. In the hope of opening a dialogue that has been mostly non-existent in Islam’s

recent history, and defining jihad as a “struggle” rather than a “war,” the film presents the struggle for love.

GURU GREG (Australian Broadcasting Corporation/ 60 minutes) “To be quite honest, if there is not an intention of change there’s not much point myself, or any of the other coaches for that matter, getting involved. It’s very difficult to keep putting wallpaper over the cracks. The cracks have got big and the structure needs to be dealt with,” says Chappell in one of the many candid conversations featured in this hour-long documentary which provides a rare insight, tracing Chappell’s journey as the Indian coach, which begins with a dream, but ends in tragedy.

In the documentary Chappell bares his heart on his tumultuous spell as the Indian coach. The enormous pressures he faced from all quarters the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the players, media corporations, the fans and from his own expectations, especially prior to the World Cup. Chappell says he could not understand cricketers, who were more interested in personal success than team triumph. For the Australian cricket icon, the team as a unit was more important than any individual.

Among the m a n y frustrations, Chappell talks of how he was

informed of Saurav Ganguly’s inclusion in the Test team by a journalist, and while they were preparing for the South Africa series, he was separated from his coaching staff with the office moving to Lands End. During this tough tenure, Chappell’s family was encouraging and supportive of this great challenge he took to try something little bit different. They did think that he was “sometimes little bit mad” to take it on. His wife Judy who has also been extensively interviewed in the documentary says, “Greg is consumed with cricket. He is dreaming cricket, his mind is always away on the job. He loves it and finds it an exciting challenge, but I have to admit, it doesn’t give much time to us.”

Chappell agrees that it is a physically and mentally demanding job and there is not much time for personal life. “In the last 12 months, I have spent 322 days in hotel rooms.”

Guru Greg

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NEWS REEL

BBC plans ‘thriller’ documentary on Satanic Verses The BBC is set to produce a documentary on Salman Rushdie’s controversial novel Satanic Verses and it will be “a thriller”, said Gurdip Bhangoo, who heads the BBC Asian Programmes Unit and is best known for having directed BBC’s landmark docudrama The Day India Burnt – Partition. The documentary, Words that Shook the World, will capture the cultural and religious turmoil that Satanic Verses created in the late 1980s. It may be recalled that the 1988 novel had angered many Muslims for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet and forced Rushdie into hiding after Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death. The novel was banned in several countries including India. “The proposed 90-minute drama-documentary will tell how, in just six months – from September 1988 to February 1989 – a book was published and quickly became the most controversial work in literature in Salman Rushdie

modern times,” said Bhangoo. “We will dig through archives and collections to cast fresh light on the controversy which, in a way, continues to this day as the Ayatollah’s fatwa against Rushdie stays. We will feature seven to eight key figures of that period who were on either side of the divide.

Like my docudrama on the Partition, we will use personal testimonies of various players of that period.”Asked whether the BBC had broached the subject with Rushdie, he said: “We will speak to him when production begins.

Of course, he is the central character of the story. But we want to have a balanced and fresh look at the controversy.” Bhangoo also conceived the hit South Asian arts and cultural series Desi DNA for BBC-2. “The series has been a primetime hit. Though we had planned just 10 episodes, it became so popular with the mainstream audience that we are now increasing the number of its episodes to 16,” he said.

Since programmes about South Asians are a big hit now, the BBC has started its own production in Mumbai. As the BBC launches more channels to cater to the sub-continent, Bhangoo said the Asian Unit under him was being expanded to produce more documentaries, arts and culture programmes and food shows.

Sanskriti Award for Vipin Vijay The Kerala-based documentary filmmaker Vipin Vijay was conferred the 2007 Sanskriti Award for Cultural Achievement 2007. Vipin’s latest film Video Game was awarded the prestigious Tiger award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, 2007. Other 2007 winners included: Jyotshna Kalita for Literature; K. A. Shaji for Journalism; K. P. Reji for Art; Bijayini Satpathy for Dance. Each award carries a cash prize of Rs.25,000. The awards were presented

by Magsaysay Award winner P. Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu, on November 2 at the India International Centre.

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Siba Thakur passes away Noted Assamese documentary and feature filmmaker Siba Prasad Thakur died at a Guwahati hospital in the early morning of January 5 following a cerebral stroke that he suffered earlier.

He was 71. He leaves behind one son and two daughters, besides his wife.

Born at Nazira on September 22, 1937, Thakur had obtained his M Sc degree in Botany from Gauhati University and joined the Golaghat DR College as a teacher. But after the astounding success of his second film Bowari (1982), he gave up teaching in the early 1980s to join the film industry. His feature films include Faguni, Bowari, Ghar-sangsar, Sonmoina, Manmandir, Mayuri, Aeidesh Mordesh, Sewali, Ashanta Prahar, Astaraag and Ahir Bhairav. Ahir Bhairav was his last film and was released in January 2007.

He also made 19 documentary films for the big screen. These include: Pragatir Pathat Karbi Anglong, Karbi Samaj Aru Sanskriti, Akou Natun Prabhat Habo (on Jayanta Hazarika), Lead Kindly Light (on prisons and prisoners of Assam), Industrial Development of Assam (for the State Government), On Muga Culture of Assam (for the State Government), Golden Muga Silk, the Cultural Heritage of Assam (sponsored by the Central Silk Board), five documentaries on five tribes of the State and two documentaries on Dr Bhupen Hazarika and the Late Dr Maheswar Neog, among others. His documentaries for television include the Garos of Meghalaya and the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi.

First Indian in the National Geographic Delhi-based art historian Benoy K. Behl, known for his work in documenting the vast art heritage of India, has now accomplished the singular achievement of featuring in the renowned magazine National Geographic in its January 2008 issue.

“For 15 years the National Geographic team followed my work and, all through 2007, their photographer and writer accompanied me and my team in our travels across India. They interviewed me about Indian art and history and realised that ancient Indian art was one of the most sublime in the world,” said Behl.

Known for his prolific output over the past 25 years, Behl has taken over 30,000 photographs of Indian monuments and art heritage and shot over 100 documentaries on art history.

Exhibitions of his photographs on the Ajanta caves, various Buddhist sites, the churches of Old Goa and other subjects have been organised in 24 countries around the world.

His exhibitions are on a permanent display at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Jade Buddha temple in Shanghai, Dun Huang Research Institute in Dun Huang, and at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar.

An authority on Buddhist and Indian art history, Behl has been invited to lecture at various universities and museums while his book on the Ajanta caves is studied around the world. He has delivered illustrated lectures on the ‘Art of Ajanta’ and ‘The Murals of India’ at several universities and museums and made major breakthroughs in photographing important and ancient paintings in the dark confines of caves and temples.

“In 2008, from April 5 to June 6, I have been invited to deliver lectures at 24 major universities in Europe, the United States and Asia. I am grateful for the warmth and interest with which my work has been greeted,” he said.

Benoy K. Behl

His feature film Sonmoina bagged the Rajat Kamal in 1995, while his documentary Golden Muga Silk, the Cultural Heritage of Assam received the best industrial documentary award in 1988. He was presented the Assam Tribune Award for Lifetime Achievement and contributions towards Assamese film industry in 2002.

He served on the National Jury member in the 37th and 42nd National Film Festivals in 1990 and 1995.

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A documentary on B Saroja Devi To commemorate the fifty years of completion of the State Government of Karnataka has decided to make a series of documentaries on personalities who have contributed to the political, social, cultural and sports segments of the state to commemorate fifty years of the state of Karnataka.The first in this series of documentaries is on Padmashri Dr B Saroja Devi who not only ruled the South Indian film industry for many years but also made a mark in Hindi films like Sasural, Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, and many others.The documentary has been directed by veteran director K S L Swamee who has directed Saroja Devi in more than thirty films, including Krishna Rukmini Sathyabhaama. Swamee completed the documentary in just seven days – which included a day’s shoot at St Theresa School in Chamarajpet where the actress did her initial schooling.

Swamee shot a young Saroja Devi going to school and taking keen interest in school dramas. Kumari Hithaishini, granddaughter of actress BV Radha, acted as the young B Saroja Devi.”The documentary showcases her achievements and how she became the top actress in South India from a humble beginning,” says Swamee.Since the film is made for the

Government of Karnataka, the main focus is on the contribution of the actress to Kannada films. Thish does not mean that the other aspects are ignored. “Saroja Devi has acted in more than two hundred films in various languages including Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. She also starred with legendary actors like MGR, Sivaji Ganeshan, NTR, Akkineni Nageshwar Rao, Dr Raj Kumar, Kalyan Kumar, Gemini Ganesan, and countless others.

Saroja Devi will recount her experiences of working with these legends in the documentary,” said Swamee.B Saroja Devi continues to act even today.

There is no denying that the cinema is a creative medium. Indeed unending streams of spoken words and reams of paper have been expended in the last hundred years to bring home the fact.

Probably no other medium has been dissected so threadbare by thinkers, critics, intelligentsia and common man, as the cinema. Every aspect of cinema – from commercial cinema to art cinema, avant-garde and surrealistic cinema – has been lapped up the world over from film festivals to retrospectives, seminars to open forums, books to glossies – sometimes with a pinch of sugary saccharine and more often, with a pinch (or is a sackful?) of salt. But how many of us have actually given the medium a thought beyond the “love and marriage” angle of cinema? How many of us have thought about the technology – the camera, the light, the lens, the Nagra, the Avid, the mixer, the light and many more such equipments – that has made this magical world possible?. How many of us have a dekko at these mechanical wonders without which cinema could not exist.

It took many years to give a thought to this aspect of filmmaking, especially in India. And the prize for bridging this gap goes to the Minister for Information &Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi for thinking up the idea and to Kuldeep Sinha, Chief Producer, Films Division and his able team for executing it. The first ever exposition of film equipments, both old and new, related to film making, Behind The Frames, was held as part of the International Film Festival of India 2007 at Goa. The xhibition was inaugurated by the Minister himself and was held at the Dr V J Pinto Hall of the old GMC Building in Panaji from November 24 to December 2, 2007.

Behind The Frames was meant to transport the cineaste and cinegoer together through a journey wherein the equipments tell the story of the technical evolution of cinema that has taken place in filmmaking, over the years – from the silent era to the digital

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FD makes its presence felt at IFFI, Goa

By Anil Kumar N age. It was a nostalgic and informative journey – a success beyond imagination for all of us. The Bombspotting camera, Mitchell, Bolex, Eyemo, Metal blimp, Convas, Arricord, Arri 435, Arri 16 BL, 800 mm tele-lens, fish eye lens, Uher Location Recorder, Nagra 3 and 4.2, Fostex Digital Recorder, Denon Tape recorder, Westrex Triple Reproducer, Siemens Audio Mixer, 16 & 35 mm projectors, Moviola and Steebeck Editing machines, Sound Readers, Splicers, Umbrellas, 10kw, 5 kw lights, Inkie Dinkie, HMI and Flood lights, Camera arm, Reflectors…. the list is huge – were displayed for public viewing for the first time in India by the Films Division during the exhibition. These equipments, dating back to 1930s to the latest ones, reflected the technological treasure preserved and used meticulously by the FD from time to time.

This exhibition had been conceived as a beginning, which will culminate in a world-class permanent museum, tentatively titled the Museum of Moving Images, elaborating the chronological growth and historicity of cinema, to be set up by the Films Division in the heritage building, Gulshan Mahal in the FD compound very soon.

More than 15000 visitors including film personalities, film students, delegates, invitees, scribes and other dignitaries were wowed by the expo and the organisers were overwhelmed by the requests from festival representatives from different parts (even from Germany!) for repeating the exhibition in their forthcoming film festivals. It would only be worthwhile to recall some of the comments offered by the visitors to the cine expo, along with few photographs here which speak volumes in terms of the reception it received, turning the exhibition a the cynosure at the IFFI. Tailpiece: Those who have missed BEHIND THE FRAMES in Goa can catch up by visiting the expo being set up in the Gulshan Mahal, Films Division complex for the benefit of the delegates and guests of the 10th M.I.F.F., from February 03 to 09, 2008.

Shri Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, inaugurated behind the frames organised by films division behind him can be seen Shri Kuldeep Sinha.

The equipments which were on display can be seen in the photographs below.

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First Prize for Indian film at TriContinental Fest Parvez Sharma’s sensitively made short film A Jihad For Love bagged the first prize at the recently concluded Tri Continental Human Rights Festival from a total of 23 documentaries. The second prize went to the Iranian director Mehrdad Oskouei whose film It’s Always Late For Freedom had inaugurated the festival on January 18 in New Delhi.

A Jihad for Love explores the complex global intersections between Islam and homosexuality. Filmed in secret and shot in nine languages, the film travels a wide geographic arc presenting us lives from India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France. It’s Always Late for Freedom tells the story of three teenage boys interned at the Teheran House of Correction and their hope for freedom.

This year 23 documentaries are selected to be screened at this event including 3 from India. The other two documentaries from India included Thousand Days and A Dream by P Baburaj and C Saratchandran and a short animation film by Aditi Chitre The Mall on Top of My House a film on development at the cost of human resources.

The festival had been inaugurated in New Delhi by Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi, at India Habitat Centre on January 18. The festival further traveled to Mumbai (25th January to 27th) and will go on at Bangalore (February 1 to 3rd) and Kolkata (February 8 to 10).

This is the fourth edition of the festival, which is organised by the international human rights organisation Breakthrough.

The festival was started in India in 2004 to display movies from Latin America, Africa and Asia in all four metropolitan cities of India including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore.

Associate Director of Breakthrough Alika Khosla says, “Through this film 62

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Filmmaker Parvez Sharma speaks at the try continental Human Rights Festival where his film A Jihad for Love one the top prize.

festival we want the Indian audience to get exposed to the human rights violations and issues like exploitation and social injustice which are happening in the other countries. Our aim is to develop a culture of human rights and the film festival attempts to bring the awareness among the youths because they are the change makers of the society.

Some of the award winning documentaries from the other countries are: China Blue which depicts the exploitation of sweatshop workers in China through a pair of jeans; Pirinop, The First Contact which tells the story of the Ikpeng tribe in Brazil and their

first contact with the white men: In The Tall Grass which throws light on Rwanda’s search for redemption after the genocide and The Devil came on a Horseback which touches on the genocide issue in Darfur.

Breakthrough believes that such film will certainly increase the awareness among people regarding various problems and issue related to human right and will help developing a strong culture of human rights. That is why the organisation also plans to take these documentaries to various colleges and universities across the country and hold discussion with the students on the topic of human rights violations.

FTII releases ‘Lensight Diploma Films: 2005-06’ A set of two DVDs of films made by FTII students during 2005-2007 was released by popular filmmaker and FTII alumnus Rajkumar Hirani of Munnabhai fame, during the second Lensight Film Festival presented by the FTII and Adlabs. The festival, held at Ravindra Natya Mandir in Mumbai, showcased the 23 FTII student films contained in the DVD set. FTII had, in 2006, released a similar set of two DVDs, Master Strokes, comprising the best first short films of FTII alumni.

“With the advance of technology, first in the era of videotapes and subsequently in the present era of CD/DVD revolution, it is taken for granted that all claims of quality that an institute may make will be supported by handing out the students’ work on such output formats. We have been proven right by the enthusiastic response that the first edition of the Lensight DVDs received,” says Tripurari Sharan, Director, FTII in an introductory note in the brochure, which was also released on the occasion.

VIDEO PRIMER

Elements Of DV Technology (This is a continuation of a our series on understanding the world of video.)

What is DV? One of the most exciting changes in the world of video has been the arrival of the DV camcorder. What is DV and why is it so important? The term “DV” is commonly applied to a variety of different things.

DV Tape: First, the DV designation is used for a special type of tape cartridge used in DV camcorders and DV tape decks. A DV tape is about the size of a typical audio cassette. Most of us are actually more familiar with the miniDV tape, which is smaller than the basic DV tape — about half the size of an audio cassette.

DV Compression: DV also connotes the type of compression used by DV systems. Video that has been compressed into the DV format can actually be stored on any digital storage device, such as a hard drive or a CDROM. The most common form of DV compression uses a fixed data rate of 25 megabits/sec for video. This compression is called “DV25.”

DV Camcorders (Cameras): Finally, DV is applied to camcorders that employ the DV format. When someone refers to a “standard” DV camcorder, they are talking about a video camcorder that uses mini-DV tape, compresses the video using the DV25 standard, and has a port for connecting to a desktop computer. Today, such DV camcorders are in use by both consumers and professionals.

Benefits of DV There are many benefits to DV, particularly when compared to analog devices like VHS decks or Hi-8 cameras.

Superior images and sound: A DV camcorder can capture much higher quality video than other consumer video devices. DV video provides 500 lines of vertical resolution (compared to about 250 for VHS), resulting in a much crisper and more attractive image. Not only is the video resolution better, but so is the color accuracy of the DV image. DV sound, too, is of much higher quality. Instead of analog audio, DV provides CD-quality sound recorded at 48Khz with a resolution of 16 bits.

No generation loss: Since the connection to your computer is digital, there is no generation loss when transferring DV. You can make a copy of a copy of a copy of a DV tape and it will still be as good as the original.

No need for a video capture card: Because digitization occurs in the camera, there is no need for an analogto-digital video capture card in your computer.

Better engineering: The quality of the DV videotape is better than for analog devices. Plus, the smaller size and smoother transport mechanism of the tape means DV cameras can be smaller and have more battery life than their analog counterparts.

IEEE 1394 You can directly transfer digital information back and forth between a DV camcorder and your computer. The ports and cables that enable this direct transfer use the IEEE 1394 standard.

Originally developed by Apple Computer, this standard is also known by the trade names FireWire® (Apple Computer) and i.LINK (Sony Corporation). This high-speed serial interface currently allows up to 400 million bits per second to be transferred

(and higher speeds are coming soon).

If your computer does not come with this interface built in, then you will need to purchase an inexpensive card that provides the correct port.

The single IEEE 1394 cable transmits all of the information including video, audio, time code, and device control (allowing you to control the camera from the computer). IEEE 1394 is not exclusively used for video transfer; it is a general purpose digital interface that can also be used for other connections, such as to hard drives or networks.

DV25 Compression As previously mentioned, the DV25 codec provides 25 million bits per second of video data. DV25 is compressed at a fixed rate of 5:1. There is also audio and control information being transmitted, so that the total data rate is about 3.6 million bytes (MB) per second. This means that one hour of DV compressed footage will require about 13 billion bytes (gigabytes = GB) of storage. It is impressive to realize that each 60-minute mini-DV cassette is actually 13 GB of offline storage!

DV25 compression uses a reduced color sampling method known as 4:1:1 color, which is explained in the next section. The audio is uncompressed, and there are two stereo audio pairs.

The audio can be digitized at either 12 bits at a sampling rate of 32kHz or 16 bits at a sampling rate of 44kHz or 48kHz. You should generally use the highest quality (16 bit, 48kHz) setting.

4:1:1 Color Sampling When working with RGB images, we use exactly the same number of bits to store the three color components.

When working with YCC video, DOCUMENTARY TODAY 63

Figure 4 : Color Sampling

= Luminance = Chrominance

4:4:4 uncompressed

4:2:2 color sampling professional

4:1:1 color sampling professional

however, we take advantage of the peculiarity of human perception previously mentioned—the eye is much more sensitive to changes in the luminance of an image than to the color (known as chrominance).

So, instead of storing the same amount of information for each of the YCC components, professional video only needs to store half as much color information as it does luminance information. This is also known as 4:2:2 color, which means that for every four samples of luminance values, there are only 2 samples of each color signal.

(Figure 4) This helps save bandwidth during analog transmission, as well as storage space in the digital realm. YCC can be reduced even further to what is known as 4:1:1 color. DV cameras save video in the 4:1:1 space in order to reduce storage needs. This is not a problem for most applications, but it can cause issues during sophisticated operations such as compositing a person shot against a blue background into a new scene. The reduced color information may cause some visual artifacts around the composited image.

DV Variations There are a number of variations to the DV format: 64

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Digital8: A prosumer-targeted variation on the DV25 theme is called Digital8. It offers the same data rate and color sampling as DV25, but a slightly lower resolution. The Digital8 camcorder is designed to accommodate those customers who want to move up to digital video, but who might have a significant investment in analog Hi-8 movies. The Digital8 camcorder records digitally, but it can also play back analog Hi-8 tapes.

DVCAM and DVPRO: The basic DV format was designed for the consumer marketplace. Sony has introduced a professional variant known as DVCAM, which uses the same compression and tape as DV, but records less video on each tape.

Recording is accomplished by magnetizing very small sections of videotape with differing polarities. The closer these small areas are to each other, the more likely there can be some interference. Remember, even though

DV Format DV25 (MiniDV) DVCAM, DVPRO DV50, DV100, DigiBeta

the data being recorded is digital, the medium itself is analog and subject to noise. Putting less data on the tape makes the recording more durable and facilitates better interchange between devices. Both the DVCAM and DVCPRO systems are designed with the professional in mind and each offers distinct benefits for a particular customer type.

DV50 and DV100: In addition to the DV25 standard, there are also emerging standards known as DV50 and DV100. Since DV25 indicates 25 Mbits/sec of video, DV50 indicates 50 Mbits/sec and DV100 represents 100 Mbits/sec. The DV50 standard uses 4:2:2 color sampling and a lower compression of 3:3:1. The video quality of this standard is extremely high, and is suitable for the most demanding professional broadcast purposes. The DV100 format will be used for HDTV (high definition television) recording.

Digital Betacam: Also known as DigiBeta, Digital Betacam is the highend broadcast professional’s choice. It provides superior image quality, and the high-end equipment required to work in this format is commensurately costly. Analog Betacam SP tapes can also be played back in DigiBeta decks.

MPEG-2 MPEG stands for the Motion Pictures Expert Group, an organization of film and video professionals involved in establishing industry standards; -2 refers to “compression standard version 2.” This standard has gained wide acceptance in the marketplace. It is the format recorded onto DVD disks, and the format currently received by

Digital video formats Quality Appropriate Applications Good home/prosumer video, Web, CD-ROM, DVD Better prosumer, industrial video, DVD Best industrial video, DVD, broadcast

home satellite dishes. The principal feature of the MPEG-2 format is that it can provide extremely high-quality video with a data rate of around 1 MB/sec.

That’s almost one quarter of the data rate needed for DV video. So why isn’t everything in MPEG-2? While MPEG2 is an excellent distribution format, it is less useful for direct recording and editing of video because, from a video editing standpoint, it can be difficult to work with MPEG-2. The MPEG-2 compression scheme performs both intra-frame (spatial) and inter-frame (temporal) compression. The type of inter-frame compression that MPEG2 employs involves estimating the motion of different parts of the image and then recording that motion rather than the actual pixels.

MPEG-2 sequence might look something like: I-P-P-P-P-B-B-B-B-P-B-B-B-P-I-PP-P-P-B-B-B-B-P-I-P-P-P-B-B MPEG-2 is a very flexible format, making it possible to capture and edit video using only I frame encoding.

Once editing is completed, the video can be recompressed to IPB format in order to reduce the overall size for distribution.

Other Forms of MPEG MPEG-1, limited to a frame size of 352x240 pixels, was the first MPEG standard established and is still used for CD-ROMs, video CD (VCD), and some Web video. The specifications for MPEG-3 were abandoned, as the industry moved on to complete MPEG4. (Note that MP3—which stands for MPEG-1, Layer 3—is an audio-only compression format and should not be confused with MPEG video formats).

Is DV Perfect?

The image quality of the DV format has been tested by both human and mechanical means. This testing ranks DV quality on par with Beta-SP, which has been the mainstay for professional video production for decades. But DV is not perfect.

Because the video is compressed, it is possible for there to be visible degradations —known as compression artifacts. These artifacts result from the color compression, and will be most noticeable around sharp color boundaries like white text on a black background. The 4:1:1 reduced color sampling in DV compression can also cause issues when performing professional compositing.

Additionally, compression does add noise to the picture. If DV is repeatedly decompressed and then recompressed, it will begin to degrade. This is different from just transmitting DV

This is both sophisticated and timeconsuming. Most MPEG-2 schemes take much longer to compress video than they do to decompress it.

Additionally, an MPEG-2 codec must have many frames of video to work with at once in order to perform the calculations. So, For example, say that you wanted to edit frame number 128 of your video. Instead of just reading frame 128 from a disk, the editing system might have to read frames 124, 125, 126, and 127 in order to compute what frame 128 actually looks like.

While DV isn’t perfect, it is certainly the highest-quality, most cost-effective video format ever made available to the average consumer and to many professionals. The entire video industry is being transformed by the low cost and high quality of the DV solution.

There are three different frame types in MPEG-2. These are known as the I, P, and B frames. I stands for “intraframe” encoding and works just like a DV frame of video. The P frame is a “predicted” frame. It is computed from the frames previous to it. B is for “bidirectional” frame. This means that not only is the B frame computed from previous frames, it can also use frames that come after it. More data must be preserved to describe I frames, making them the “largest,” whereas P frames can be less than a tenth of that size. B frames are the smallest. Because the P and B frames are calculated from the I frames, you can’t just have one I frame and the rest P’s and B’s. There must be I frames interspersed or else the accumulated error becomes too great and the image quality suffers. A typical

Currently in use in the latest releases of the QuickTime and Windows Media architectures, MPEG-4 facilitates streaming video on the Web and over wireless networks, as well as providing mechanisms for multimedia interactivity. The names MPEG-5 and MPEG-6 will not be used; the next release is expected to be MPEG-7, which will not advance compression but will focus on the incorporation of “metadata,” enabling sophisticated indexing and retrieval of multimedia content. MPEG-21, also in the planning stages, is an iteration that is expected to create a complete structure for the management and use of digital assets, incorporating e-commerce capabilities that will make sharing creative products more commercially viable.

from generation to generation, which is lossless. Technology is advancing rapidly, and even now there are video boards available that make it possible to edit and composite uncompressed video on the desktop. But, for most editing uses, you won’t do many compression/decompression cycles and so any degradation that may result from DV compression will be unnoticeable.

While DV isn’t perfect, it is certainly the highest-quality, most cost-effective video format ever made available to the average consumer and to many professionals. The entire video industry is being transformed by the low cost and high quality of the DV solution.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR earth to acquire the first issue but I finally managed it (a little disappointed since it did not have too much documentary news but enjoyed the articles none the less). Now I shudder to think of how I will get the thirds issue. Why don’t you just have a proper subscription so that readers like me who have nothing to do with films – but do enjoy watching some sensible stuff – can acquire your magazine without having to beg for a copy? Will you think about it?

Srividya Srinivasan, Chennai WANTED: A THEATRE FOR DOCUMENTARIES SECOND ISSUE The second issue of Documentary Today is looking better than the first issue – primarily because it is entirely devoted to the documentary movement.

64 pages on the documentary is indeed a rare achievement and all that one needs to see is if you can keep it up quarter after quarter. In any case, I intend to enjoy the issues as long as they keep coming in. I just loved the article by Phillip Adams about documentary filmmakers being treated as second-class citizens. What he says is entirely true but I did not that the same situation existed in the U.S. of A. I would have thought that a developed country would have gtreater respect for documentary films and its makers. Apparently this is not so!

Vasudev Kamath, Mumbai WHAT IS THE SUBSCRIPTION? I am a media student from Chennai. I managed to get the second issue of your magazine from a friend who is connected with films. That is when I became aware that there is such a magazine. I had to move heaven and 66

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Two articles in your magazine have caught my attention. I was amazed to read The Evolution of Experimental Documentary. It shows the myriad ways in which filmmakers have used the medium to experiment with new ideas and thoughts. I wonder where we can get to see these films. My interest in experimental documentary films has been considerably whetted after reading about them. The other article which caught my attention was on the evolution of the use of video in documentary filmmaking. It was another eye-opening article which made me want to see some of the films the author has mentioned. Isn’t there any place where one can see the films mentioned in your journal? And isn’t it about time we had a theatre which showed us documentary films? Your journal should tell us where such films can be made available on DVD. Keep up the good work.

Pratibha Saxena, Chandigarh

A review of Documentary Today appeared in the Mumbai-based Marathi Newspaper Loksatta dated December 17, 2007. It is reproduced here

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