A packed week of watching movies from all over the world, comes to an end today with Lifetime Achievement Awards being presented to Theo Angelopoulos and Amitabh Bachchan (Kamal Haasan, also to be felicitated, could not come)
A packed week of watching movies from all over the world, comes to an end today with Lifetime Achievement Awards being presented to Theo Angelopoulos and Amitabh Bachchan (Kamal Haasan, also to be felicitated, could not come).u00a0 
Among the films screened, the most popular ones seem to be Antichrist, In The Loop, Whiskey with Vodka, Bitter Sweet and Storm. A filmmaker commented that the films were very good, but "nothing mind-blowing." Which is more a statement about the films being made around the world, than the Festival Selection.u00a0
Festival director S Narayanan is happy with the outcome, though he admits that a few things could be better.
"We had a good package of films," he says, "the response was excellent. The hospitality was well looked after, information was always available. There may have been some problems like discordant notes in an orchestra, the conductor's baton indicating the violin and some other instrument playing. We intend to sort it all out next year."
Iranian filmmaker Saman Estereki, created a bit of a stir by coming to the screening of his film Empty Chair with his luggage, claiming when he arrived in Mumbai, there was no one to receive him, and he was "kicked out" of the hotel.u00a0 The Festival hospitality team was outraged apparently he landed up on his own, without informing anyone in advance. The hotel was full, but while arrangements were being made for his stay, he stalked out in a huff. "Nobody has complained about not being looked after," grumbled one of the volunteers.
A very important film screened yesterday was Robert Kenner's Food Inc which a shocking exposu00e9 of the food industry in the US (and naturally trickling down to the rest of the world). Kenner has got some candid interviews u2014 the main 'culprits' obviously refused to comment u2014 a bit of hidden camera footage and many really scary shots of industrial food production, that are likely to put one off food altogether. Not only is there a problem in cattle and poultry breeding, where the animals are fed corn which is not their natural diet, causing harmful bacteria to be passed on to the consumer, big corporations are also leaning on farmers, threatening them with lawsuits if they grow their own seeds instead of using patented genetically modified seeds. The corruption goes right to the top, but the ill effects are felt by the poor. When it is cheaper to buy junk food then healthy organically grown good, it results in major health problems for the consumers of this food.u00a0 The variety of food seen on supermarket shelves, the filmmaker proves, is not really giving the consumer a choice, because it all goes back to a handful of powerful corporations. They harm the environment and exploit workers with impunity.
Kaminey was an odd choice for the Indian Frame section, since it has been released already. Still it attracted quite a few people to the hall, but much to the disappointment of celeb watchers, Vishal Bhardwaj and Shahid Kapoor did not turn up!
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