Film festivals offer an invaluable opportunity to not only view great films but also to get a glimpse into unknown worlds and the second annual Bengalooru International Film Festival (BIFFes) was a worthy experience in terms of both. Organised by Suchitra Film Society and the state government, BIFFes presented over a 100 films from all over the world in their Films of the World section. The usual suspects like Germany, Poland, France, Norway and Finland were there, of course, but more surprising entries from Kazhakistan, Thailand and Cambodia also found place on screen.
The inaugural film was ‘Swopnodanay’ (On the Wings of Dreams) from Bangladesh, which won the Best Director Asian film at the Shanghai International Film Festival last year. Director Golam Rabbany Biplob's movie examines the desires and dreams of village people in northern Bangladesh through a story of Fazlu, a peddler of herbal medicines, who unexpectedly finds foreign currency notes and dreams of exchanging them to make a huge amount of money.
The much acclaimed German film ‘The Lives of Others’ which also closed the festival, was a highlight. Set in East Berlin, the movie centres around Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe), an officer in the Stasi, a huge network of informers established by the East-German government to know everything about “the lives of others”. Wiesler is assigned to monitor a famous playwright, Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his girlfriend, Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). As he watches their lives, he finds himself drawn into them, and from this springs an engrossing tale of repression, disillusionment and moral dilemma. It is hard to believe that this is director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's debut film.
French director Bruno Dumont's ‘Flanders’, a wrenching depiction of the dehumanisation and loneliness of war, was also notable. A group of young men from a small village in France are sent to an unnamed Middle Eastern nation where the stark realities of war slowly erode all human sensibilities. Back home, Barbe (Adelaide Leroux), a young girl who loves two of the men, mourns their going and overcome by insecurity and the discovery that she is pregnant, slides into a nervous breakdown. The biting edge of conflict – both internal (as represented by Barbe) and external – is drawn against deathly calm farmlands on the one hand and dusty villages on the other. ‘The Wall’, directed by Lin Chih Ju from Taiwan, also examines lives trapped and shaped by conflict.
While many world films focused on war, politics or poverty, films on personal relationships also found some space. The Thai film ‘Ploy’ explores a strained marital relationship and its disastrous consequences and the Malay film ‘Goalposts’ and ‘Lipsticks’ with its story of teenage love, heartbreak and redemption played out on the ‘Futsal' (football) field was reminiscent of Yash Chopra blockbusters.
Indian panorama
The Chitrabharathi (Indian Panorama) section comprised over a dozen films including Kannada films such as PR Ramdas Naidu's ‘Moggina Jade’, BS Lingadevaru's ‘Kaada Beladingalu’ and K Shivarudraiah’s ‘Daatu’. Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s ‘Naalu Pennungal’ (Four Women), which opened the section, brings together four short stories on classic archetypes of womanhood – The Prostitute, The Virgin, The Housewife, and The Spinster – by Malayalam writer Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. The segment on the prostitute is a poignant reminder that the poor are denied all rights. Even when they try to rise above their dismal surroundings to find meaning, their efforts are thwarted or nullified. The interplay of food and sexuality in ‘The Virgin’ is darkly humourous. A man, unable to consummate his marriage, expends all his desire on food instead. The virgin’s quiet discontent is constantly juxtaposed with his grotesque gluttony to create a sense of irony. In the final scene of the last segment, ‘The Spinster’, the movie raises questions about whether a woman really needs a man and while the answer seems to be ‘yes’, the tone is as fraught with fear as with determination. The Malayalam film ‘Ore Kadal’ was also interesting for its non-judgmental treatment of a delicate subject.
Homage to the doyens
The festival had Country Focus sections featuring films from Hungary and South Africa. Shown here was Hungarian director Peter Gardos’s ‘The Porcelain Doll’, which weaves together three absurdist stories with the common theme of resurrection. Though a tad self-indulgent, the movie is visually appealing with its vivid colours and striking imagery. Playful magic realist elements add to the fun. One can’t help feeling though that in this case, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. More satisfying was Istvaan Gaal’s ‘The Falcons’ presented in the Homage section, which also featured other greats like Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antoniono and K K Mahajan. Deep silences, grey skies and vast tracts of uninhabited land form the minimalist backdrop to Gaal’s explorations on survival, patience and the strange, haunting fear of the misfit.
The Vivre Ensemble! (Living Together) section served up a splendid package of French movies including the superb ‘When You Come Down From Heaven’ by Eric Guirado. The film follows Jerome, a young man who travels from his farm to the city in search of work, only to find himself embroiled in the greed, cynicism and despair of those who live with their noses to the ground.
‘Zim & Co’ traces the struggle of four youths from a ghetto on the outskirts of Paris trying to find employment against the odds. Director Pierre Jolivet skillfully combines the zest of youth (accentuated by rap music in the background), the headiness of romance and a sense of doom. As the protagonists's measures to get a job become more desperate, there is a sense of mounting tension and when there are small victories, the relief is palpable.
The festival also featured a section on contemporary Russian cinema; an outstanding Retrospective section with films by Mizoguchi Kenji, Julio Medem and Suresh Urs; a Study of a Director featuring Sri Lankan director Ashok Handagama; a Tribute to MR Vittal; and selected films from the Fonds Sud Cinéma trust. There was an impressive line-up of documentary films too.
If one had a complaint it would probably be that the festival was like a feast with so many courses, that it was impossible to fully enjoy any of them. The most one could hope for was a sampling. Repeat shows of the more celebrated films may have been useful and there were minor technical glitches during some of the films. But these are small specks on an otherwise rewarding experience.
