4TH MUMBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

FOREWORD

With its fourth edition in 1996, BIFF becomes MIFF i.e. the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for Documentary, Short and Animation Films. The city of Bombay regains its original name Mumbai after the goddess Mumba Devi, a goddess of the fisherfolk, who brought this deity alongwith them to this island during the prehistoric period. Even today this city has a temple of Mumba at the place known as Mumba Devi.

It was in this city of Mumba, cinema first came on July 7, 1896 when the Lumiere Brothers' emissary presented their moving pictures, the "marvel of the century" at the city's Watson's Hotel. That evening programme included six "living photographic pictures in life-sized reproductions by Messrs. Lumiere Brothers' cinematographe". The "marvel of the century" had come to India just within six months of its first shows in December, 1895 at Salon Indien in Paris. MIFF'96 which marks the centenary of cinema in India actually marks the centenary of the documentary or actuality film.

India's documentary or actually film history dates back to the time of Mumbai - based Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatvadekar (popularly known as Save Dada), who first shot real life-incidents in the city soon after he saw the Lumieres' cinematographe. Around that time Hiralal Sen of Calcutta also shot some natural events on a camera he borrowed from Pathe Company. Way back in December 1901, Bharvadekar filmed the reception given to Sir Wrangler RP Paranjpye, on his return from Cambridge after winning laurels in mathematics there. It was then the "first Indian Newsreel" was born.

In the silent era. many studios in India produced 'topicals' and screened then in cinema halls. According to film historians. between 1920 and 1940 nearly 1500 topicals or short subjects were made in India. Most of the established production houses of the silent era had their own periodical news coverages such as the Calcutta Topical series of Madan Theatres. Aurora Gazettes series of Aurora Cinema Co., Pearl Topical News of Pearl Cinema, Premiere Topicals of Premiere Film Co., Imperial Screen News of Imperial Film C0., Globe Gazette of Globe Theaters Ltd., Congress Topicals and Kohinoor Dance Series of Kohinoor Fil Co. and the Wadia Movietone's variety entertainment series of the thirties. The major national events were covered by several film production houses. For example, one of our early freedom fighters. Lokmanya Tilak's funeral procession in August 1920 was covered by four companies viz. Kohinoor Film Co., Oriental Film Co., Patankar Friends and Co., and by KD Brothers.

In other words, India has a tradition of making documentaries and news reels since very early times. MIFF, I would say, attempts to consolidate that tradition by presenting and contextualising our documentary film history (unfortunately very little of early celluliod material survives today), while expanding its frontiers for future generations of filmmakers in this realm. Within a very short time, BIFF (nay MIFF) has become a darling of documentary, short and animation filmmakers all over the world. This fact is evident in the tremendous response we receive - MIFF'96 is participated by as many as 51 countries and nearly 450 films in non-fiction, fiction and animation categories. What is interesting is the enthusiasm shown by the young filmmaking fraternity. Through them, perhaps MIFF'96 will crystalise the changing trends in perception , in technology.

MIFF also distinguishes itself for its retrospectives. This time we are presenting a very significant filmmaker from Denmark who now lives in Haiti - Jorgen Leth. Poet-writer-filmmaker Leth, in his cinema creates an unusual narrative. And then we have a very strong body of work of Alanis Obomsawin from Canada. Highly regarded as speaker, teacher and filmmaker, Obomsawin's cinema is cinema of robust social activism. Her films constitute an expression for her native people, the First Nations. The cinema of Humphrey Jennings represents the creative peak of British documentary largely of the WWII time which has in its fold such legends as John Grierson, Alberto Cavalcanti, Basil Wright and other. And still going backwards to the roots of cinema verite, we have Dziga Vertov. In the Norman McLaren retro, we have an exquisite package of films that celebrates experimentation and newer ways of expression. From India we have BD Garga and SNS Sastry, whose work would show the creative potential that Indian documentary film possesses.

In tune with the changing times, we acknowledge the importance of video filmmaking in the country and so, we have the Video Vista section competitive from now. The video films in this section plus the films in Spectrum India would showcase the contemporary Indian documentary.

My filmmaker friends will be happy to know that MIFF'96 has inflated its awards bill to 1.7 million. We have added awards for runners-up in all the competitive categories. We have also instituted Dr. V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award, carrying one hundred thousand rupees in cash. Through this prestigious award, we shall be honoring a veteran Indian documentary filmmaker.

Organising a festival of this size is a mammoth task, which has to have a collective endeavor. The Govt. of India has been magnanimous enough to support the cause of documentary , short and animation cinema. I must thank the Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Mr. P.A. Sangma, for his encouragement; the I&B Secretary, Mr. Bhaskar Ghose, who kept our enthusiasm alive, and the Govt. of Maharastra for their valued help.

I also extend my thanks to Prof. Satish Bahadur, Chairman of the main selection committee, and his colleagues who spend many days in selecting films from a big bulk that we received. My thanks are also due to Mr. Jagdish Bannerji, Chairperson of Video Vista selection committee and Mr. Vinod Ganatra, who chaired the selection committee of Spectrum India. On behalf of MIFF, I would sincerely thank all the distinguished members of the MIFF'96 Jury, who have so warmly accepted our invitation.

I also thank the members of the Indian Documentary Producers' Association for their help, I will be failing in my duty if I don't acknowledge the tremendous effort that my colleagues in the Films Division have put in to make MIFF a grand success. I take this opportunity to offer my thanks, in particular, to Mr. Amrit Gangar, for organising restropectives.

Iam sure the delegates who have come from far-away countries of the world and states of India will enjoy their stay in Mumbai. MIFF provides a platform for exchanging views, and for polemics, too. Let enrich the documentary conscience. Welcome once again to MIFF'96, and to this city of Goddess Mumba.

 

(D. GAUTAMAN)

FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

January 22nd, 1996

Mumbai