Phillipe Jalladeau, along with his brother Alain, was at the helm of the Festival of 3 Continents in Nantes, France, for 29 years  as artistic director, making it one of the most sought-after film festivals in the world. The festival focuses on cinema from Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The festival has, over the years, unearthed many unknown talents from the three continents, apart from showcasing work by established names, including from India.

The festival will host its 30th edition later this year, and Phillipe Jalladeau looks back into the past – and future – of the festival in this conversation with with Utpal Borpujari of Deccan Herald.

DH: In the 29th edition last November, Nantes became the first festival in the world to have a Pakistan focus. Why was it important to have this package at this point in time?

Phillipe Jalladeau: We had been thinking about it for several years. Three years ago, the first co-production of Pakistan with Europe, Khamosh Pani, was screened in my festival. At that time, I met the director Sabiha Sumar, and told her it would be a good idea to have a Pakistani retrospective. In our festival, we are used to having such interesting retrospectives of the world. It is our speciality – we have had retrospectives of films from Afghanistan, Mongolia, Latin American countries, Central America, Nicaragua…

I contacted Pakistani filmmakers during Karafilm festival in Karachi, where incidentally I saw Vishal Bhardwaj’s brilliant Omkara. It was very difficult to form the Pakistani retrospectives, and we had 20 films - it is not a big package as we are not a big festival.

DH: There were only two films from India this time, despite it being the maker of so many films…

PJ: Yes, we had only Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Naalu Pennungal and Murali Nair’s Unni. But we have had many programmes on India. In the second edition in 1988, we had a South Indian cinema programme for which Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasaravalli and Smita Patil came. We have had a programme of Ritwick Ghatak. We were the first festival to do so, and last year screened all the films of Satyajit Ray, again the first festival to do so.

DH: What is your outlook about Indian films vis-à-vis your festival?

PJ: In the 1980s, there was a big support from NFDC to art films, but now in many festivals the presence of Indian cinema is less and less, because there is less and less production of art films. We have no big choice to make from. I wanted to promote Omkara because I think it was a marvelous film, but it was too late as it was released two years ago. 

DH: When it comes to referring to Indian cinema in recent years outside, it is more in terms of Bollywood. How do you see this change in perspective towards Bollywood?

PJ: I think good Bollywood films like Omkara are as good as good art films. It is a pity that there are not too many art films. Maybe such films are too difficult to produce, maybe there is no audience. I think the government should have supported the production of more art films, as you cannot make art films without government support. You may support them by having special plans for them.

DH: In recent years, there has been a lot of interaction between Indian and French governments to work towards more cinematic collaborations. How do you see this development?

PJ: It is very important. In many countries, you don’t have the support to make auteur films, which otherwise are very difficult to make. If you have co-productions, you can make it. How many Bollywood producers would take the risk to make an art film – not too many. Many films in Pakistan, Sri Lanka are beautiful.
I am sure such films cannot be made technically beautiful without co-production money. But you need a local co-producer as these films are meant for exhibition in your own country. You cannot make a film just for festivals, it is not done.

It is very important that we are developing strong producers for such films. You need movie theatres to show such films. In Pakistan not too many halls screen art films, and it is the same story in India, as multiplexes want to make immediate money. It’s a vicious circle, if you don’t screen such films, how can you develop audiences for them?

In Africa, they used to make art films, but these films were never screened there and there was no audience. Now they make films for the French market - it is stupid if you don’t show films to local people.

DH: In 2008, your festival completes 30 years. What are the special plans to celebrate it?

PJ: It would be a festival that would look at the past – what we have done, which directors we discovered – so there will be a special package on them. But we still have to look at the present and think about the future, because the festival cannot be just looking at the past. We are in a position to think about new directors.

This is one festival, besides Cannes, to have promoted young directors. But Cannes competition is under pressure, we are not. They have to invite names like Coppola, Spielberg, even if their films are failures, because the media want it.

They have to invite some American stars. This is the problem created by media. We have not succumbed to it.