There is no denying that Puneites love all forms of art — from music to cinema. That’s the reason why Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) has seen a steady growth in the last 18 years.
The festival will be held this year from January 9 to 16 at different venues in the city including Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), National Film Archive of India, Inox and PVR.
Dr Jabbar Patel, festival director and chairman says that they are focusing on two things — giving importance to the cultural contribution of Maharashtra and FTII completing 60 years. “I believe Maharashtra and West Bengal are very rich as far as their culture including cinema, theatre and music is concerned,” he says, adding, “Also, because it’s the 60th year of FTII, we are celebrating film education.”
The festival will felicitate producer B P Singh, actor Vikram Gokhale and singer Usha Khanna.
THE CHANGING VISION
When asked how has the vision for the festival has changed in last 18 years, Patel says, “Pune has great importance for academics. In the 18 chapters so far, we have done many workshops, keeping in mind that Pune is a very young city thanks to its student population.”
He adds that the students who are attending the film festivals learn how to use different techniques in cinema. “Content changes according to the country but young filmmakers apply their mind to the techniques like the use of camera, sounds, storytelling. When they make their own films, subconsciously they are aware about the methodology they want to use.”
Citing an example, he says that in 1954, the organisers of Delhi Film Festival screened Bicycle Thieves and it changed the whole vision for young filmmakers. “Because European and many other international films have been screened in India, it has helped in changing the way we make cinema here,” he adds.
THE SOCIAL POLITICAL SITUATION
The socio-political situation is changing in the country and so is cinema. Has that affected the selection of films for the fest? Patel says, “Definitely. In the last 15 years or so, if you look at the films selected for PIFF, they are very modern. The selection committee chooses films reflecting the changing socio-political situation, man-woman relationship and so on. We do not select rotten-old kind of formula films. We select films with great content, concentrating on the construction of cinema, genre and presentation.”
WORKSHOPS ON NEW TECHNIQUES
Patel says that whatever new technique comes in, they try to study it and prepare for it for over six months. “For example, National Award-winning sound designer Biswajit Chatterjee is coming this year and he will conduct a workshop on new devices in sound and how it is changing cinema. Every year, we have some or the other workshop on camera, writing etc,” he adds.
HELPING THE AUDIENCE EVOLVE
Today, the number of film festivals have gone up in the country. Several cities are hosting such fests. Apart from International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI), PIFF, there is Ladakh International Film Festival, Dharamshala International Film Festival, VIBGYOR Film Festival, Kolkata International Film Festival and others.
Has this contributed to people understanding cinema better? Patel says, ‘I think so. Watch Marathi cinema, technically it’s so different from what it was before. Look how an Afghani film can beautifully capture the movement there or Latin American cinema which has a different angle to socio-political situation. These films inspire budding filmmakers to understand the different ways to make cinema or people to appreciate the different styles of filmmaking.
THE WAY FORWARD...
PIFF will complete two decades in two years. What is the way forward for the festival?
Patel says that money is always a constraint and they are working on it. “There are two ways to look at it. One, if we look at festivals like Berlin, Venice or Cannes, they have lot of glamour but they retain the quality of cinema. What we can do in our country is remove the glamour part but have good quality cinema. In the future, I want to get talented international technicians, actors, writers, jury members who can conduct workshops. I hope in next two-three chapters, if I get the finance, we can take the festival to that academic level.”
