JOIN USThe general perception is that documentaries are boring because they tend to be educational in nature. This is the perception that we are trying to change through our efforts,” Rao Narender Yadav, founder and festival director, Woodpecker International Film Festival (WIFF) told Metrolife. “We are trying to promote issue-based cinema that creates awareness as well as has cinematic brilliance,” he added.
Focussing on a variety of issues, 25 films on issues related to gender rights, disability and health and sanitation; around a dozen on environment, wildlife and livelihood issues were screened at the recently-concluded fourth edition of the festival at Siri Fort Auditorium.
While 13 films won Best Film Award in their respective categories including Aakriti Kohli and Sandeep Kumar Singh’s In the Mood for Love (gender) and Pooja Das Sarkar’s Pyaari Meenu (health and sanitation), Meena Longjam’s Autodriver earned a Special Jury Mention at the festival.
In tandem with 100 years of Indian cinema in 2013, Yadav decided to organise an issue-based documentary festival, at a time when film festivals in Delhi were not as much in focus. “We realised that it was just Bollywood cinema that was seen as Indian cinema. We were missing out on short films, documentaries and even non-fiction films despite no dearth of talented filmmakers. That is how this festival celebrating diverse cinematic ways was born,” mentioned Yadav.
With a total of 94 Indian and international documentaries on 13 themes, the festival struck a chord with the city audience.
“Delhi now has a set of dedicated audience for documentaries. And they expect content-driven stories,” pointed out Yadav, a Delhi-based former journalist-turned-social worker.
Sharing details of upcoming smaller travelling packages of the festival, he said, “It’s important to keep the momentum going. So, we will soon have our travelling editions in film clubs across colleges and universities in towns like Indore and Shimla.”