MIFF Diaries: Day 7 Wrap Up

The 11th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation films, ended yesterday, with a promise from I&B Minister Ambika Soni to make it an annual event.u00a0u00a0

However, to make it a success, better films in competition have to be ensured. If there is hardly any international participation, then why not just have an Indian competition and be done with it. Some great films in the retrospective and special packages only managed to highlight the inadequacy of the main section.

Whoever thought of the idea of a red carpet and band for celebrities? It didn't work and made MIFF look like a Bollywood wannabe, and a very tattered one at that.

MIFF, this year, had about 2000 registrations, which is excellent for a documentary festival, and the shows in the smaller auditoriums were packed -- it is admittedly hard to pack the huge Tata Theatre. The NCPA Complex does not seem to be an ideal venue, however, and both Films Division staff and audiences thought the Maharashtra Kala Academy or even Nehru Centre, were better.

"Creating a documentary culture" was an oft-repeated phrase. Jahnu Barua, president of IDPA is of theu00a0 opinion that today's youngsters are not even aware of the documentary,u00a0 because they are seldom screened at schools and colleges, and it is no longer mandatory for movie theatre to screen documentaries before the main feature. Hardly any TV channel has managed to create a dedicated slot for documentary films, and the ones that do show them, pay either a pittance or nothing to the filmmaker.

For documentaries commissioned by a funding agency, recovery is not big problem, but for the independent filmmaker, it is.u00a0 Exhibition, however, remains an obstacle. Festivalsu00a0 reach a small section of a potential audience base -- through there are 3600 film festivals in the world, according to Rada Sesic from the Rotterdam Film Festival.u00a0u00a0

If technology has made it easier and cheaper to make films, it has also made it simpler to disseminate films.u00a0 Films are now sold in the DVD format by Gargi Sen's Magic Lantern Foundation and also FD, as well as streamed on the net. Ram Seshan's nautanki.tv and Rajat Barjatya's rajshri.com have found ways to monetise the screenings either through a pay-per-view model or sharing of ad revenues with the filmmakers.u00a0u00a0

Film lovers complain though, of the high prices of these DVDs -- Rs 200 upwards. When it is so cheap to produce DVDs now, these prices do sound exorbitant.
Greek delegate Nikos Nikolaidis, commented that a lot more Indian films could reach festivals if filmmakers improved their communication skills, "Answer your mails and return phone calls," he said. Touche!

--u00a0Deepa Gahlot
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