Local to International Flavors all available at the 11th Mumbai Film Festival

Mumbai, November 3, 2009: 5 days and 150 film screenings… the 11th Mumbai Film Festival continued to engage movie buffs with some interesting line up of Local and International films on its fifth day. While films were screened and open forums held, the 5th day witnessed a series of press conferences and interactions with filmmakers and actors from ‘The Man Beyond The Bridge’, ‘Vihir’, the first ever Marathi film Produced by Amitabh Bachchan’s AB Corp and Thai-American film ‘Bitter Sweet’ that had its Asian premiere at the festival today present were the lead Thai lead-actress Mamee Nakprasite, and Bangkok-based Swiss producer Urs Brunner. MFF is a Reliance Big Entertainment initiative and has the distinction of being the only international film festival in India to be organized by an independent body of practicing film professionals.

The day began with the Konkani film that won acclaim at the recent Toronto Film festival Paltadacho Munis (meaning ‘The Man Beyond The Bridge’) director Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, interacting with the press and sharing some interesting insights about his film. The film, a gentle romance set against the lovely ghats of Goa was first drafted in 2004 at NFDC and finally got made in 2009. Produced by NDFC, the film revolves round the central character Vinayak, a widower who empathizes, shelters a woman who is mentally unstable and a wanderer; leading to an intimate relationship between the two.

Lakshmikant appreciated the efforts put by the cast Chitranjan Giri and Veena Jomkar who in real life do not speak Konkani; they learnt the dialogues by heart to perfect their role. He mentioned, “The treatment I wanted to give my film is unique in terms of the film-making. It involves long shots and still scenes with a lot of camera movement. I have experimented with the way I wanted to showcase the characters in the movie as well. There are scenes shown against the huge backdrop of the bridge, signifying the lead actor’s isolation”.

Present at the festival also was the director of Vihir (The well), the first Marathi film produced under the AB Corp banner, Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni. Kulkarni has previously directed Vallu and also has many documentaries to his credit; like Darshan, Fed Satyakam, Save the Children and many more. The cast of the movie include Renuka Daptardar, Madan Deodhar and Alok Rajwade.

The film is a tale of two adolescent boys Sameer and his cousin Nachiket who share an inseparable relation. The later keeps enlightening Sameer about the realities of the world and suddenly Sameer’s youthful life comes to a sudden halt when he witnesses his female Cousin being forced into marriage for petty families’ gains.

The moderator for today’s Open Forum, festival curator and writer Meenakshi Sherde in her introduction to the subject, Emerging Asia, referred to the resurgence of Asian cinema taking place in the last 20 years, which in turn has served as an impetus to creativity in filmmaking in the region; she also posed the question to the panel comprising of Aruna Vasudev, Brillante Mendozaa and Kyoka Dan, as to whether this growth would be sustained in the years to come.

Brillante Mendoza, whose Kinatay, a part of the festival, and a winner at Cannes, said that the advent of digital technology has made it possible for filmmakers with passion but little access to finance, to emerge on the scene. Kyoko Dan who has been distributing Indian films in Japan for over 20 years, saw a growing interest in Indian films in this period, but concedes that the market is bad at the moment.

Writer and a reputed professor of Film Appreciation, Anil Zankar referred to the experience of ‘art-house’ Indian cinema of the 70s and 80s, which failed to make an impact due to lack of distribution facilities and noted, “Times are better now for films where the story connects and is backed by technology, though bad programming and ill-timed release work against even a good film as was the case with Sankat City.”

Shahram Alidi a Kurd director of Iran whose first feature, Whisper with the Wind, is part of the Festival, depicted the grim realities of filmmaking in the region, leading to an exodus of filmmakers.

The open forum that was presented by WWI, Institute for Film, Television and Media Arts in association with Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) ended with a spirited question and answer session on the popular and much-talked-about film Kinatay. Brillante its director, content with “reaching even a fraction of the audience, advised,” Keep working on the concept, be realistic…we are not Hollywood.”

As the day came to an end, the director of ‘Bitter Sweet’, Jeff Hare, known for his reporting for ABC Channel based in Lincoln met and interacted with media. He spoke about his film ‘A Perfect Little Man’, starring Mamee Nakprasit, Kip Pardue and James Brolin, that has won many accolades. These include the Best Director and Best Actor at the Atlantic City Film Festival and prestigious Dramatic Award at The World fest Film Festival.

The film is about an acclaimed American Coffee expert Brian Chandler who has everything going for him. He is just the man with a perfect life and equally perfect wife. Until he is sent to Thailand to inspect an extra- special crop of coffee beans by his renegade mogul boss and becomes embroiled in the local industry and one grower’s daughter in particular.

Brand alliances for the festival include BIG FM 92.7, bollywoodhungama.com, Bigoye.com, Bigflix.com, BIG Cinemas, Fun Cinemas, BIG Events, BIGAdda.com, Reliance MediaWorks, Kingfisher Premium, Block Dog, Reliance Tech Services, Reliance Broadband, Jet airways, Sun-N Sand Hotel, Carzonrent, Bright Outdoor.

film ‘A Perfect Little Man’, starring Mamee Nakprasit, Kip Pardue and James Brolin, that has won many accolades. These include the Best Director and Best Actor at the Atlantic City Film Festival and prestigious Dramatic Award at The World fest Film Festival.

The film is about an acclaimed American Coffee expert Brian Chandler who has everything going for him. He is just the man with a perfect life and equally perfect wife. Until he is sent to Thailand to inspect an extra- special crop of coffee beans by his renegade mogul boss and becomes embroiled in the local industry and one grower’s daughter in particular.

Brand alliances for the festival include BIG FM 92.7, bollywoodhungama.com, Bigoye.com, Bigflix.com, BIG Cinemas, Fun Cinemas, BIG Events, BIGAdda.com, Reliance MediaWorks, Kingfisher Premium, Block Dog, Reliance Tech Services, Reliance Broadband, Jet airways, Sun-N Sand Hotel, Carzonrent, Bright Outdoor.