IFFI... Down Memory Lane

Siladitya Sen

There is a snaking queue in front of INOX for Payal Kapadia's film, many more people are standing behind me. 'All We Imagine As Light' was screened on the first day of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) at Panaji this year. Mrinal Sen’s ‘Kharij’ had won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1983. And forty years after that, Payal again created history by being the next Indian director who won the important Grand Prix at Cannes this year. People coming from different walks of life have all gathered so early in the morning, at 9 AM to watch the movie. They have travelled to Goa from various parts of India, from youngsters to even those who have stepped into old age. Maybe they have come straight to the theatre after waking up, and haven’t even eaten breakfast properly!

This moment made my memory race back to thirty years ago, to the year 1995 when IFFI was held at the-then Bombay. Films by master film maker Federico Fellini, who had then just passed away, were screened every morning in the festival that year. A retrospective section was dedicated to Fellini's films. I was a young journalist and cinema lover at that time. Driven by a passion for cinema, I used to board crowded local trains from Santa Cruz to Churchgate and then hurriedly catch a bus to Nariman Point to reach NCPA at the far end of Marine Drive.

Though it was not a cinema hall, the projection of NCPA was wonderful. That was the first time I saw electronic sub-title! The mind-blowing scenes of azure sea in Fellini's film,  followed by a spectacular sea-front of Marine Drive at the end of screening, accompanied by cutting chai and pav bhaji…IFFI could only bring down heaven on earth for film-lovers like me! And now, when another coastal city Panaji has become the permanent venue of this film festival, the excitement to watch good films has not become any less!  

That was the first time that I saw films in the festival with PIB's press-card. I still continue to watch films in this festival, courtesy PIB's accreditation card. With exception of a year or two, for personal reasons like my father’s demise and catching COVID-19 infection, I never missed IFFI since then. IFFI opened up a whole world of cinema for me. This festival instilled in me such a craving to watch more good films, that, even now, it makes me travel the world for love of cinema.

The city where I was born, Kolkata has produced two world famous film-makers - Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen. These two luminaries taught us that the art of cinema should always rise above regionalism and carry a national and possibly, a global perspective.

Back then, IFFI would be organized at different cities of our vast country. Every alternative year the venue would be Delhi, while in between, the festival would travel to cities like Bombay, Trivandrum, Hyderabad, Calcutta.. this is how it used to go on. Since 2004, the beautiful state of Goa has been turned into a permanent venue for IFFI. Since then on, cinema aficionados are also greeted with refreshing sea breeze in between screenings. The sea is right behind Kala Academy, where many good films have been screened in the festival through the years. Now that venue has been turned into a seminar hall, where the film professionals and scholars deliver talks on theoretical aspects of cinema. Various public lectures for serious moviegoers are arranged. Cinema does not merely entertainment, but also educates and shapes our moral values. IFFI has made a concerted effort in this direction year after year, for half a century. The festival organizers have also started a new programme for providing mentorship to budding film makers from accomplished directors. This year, a category for awarding Indian debut directors has started. These initiatives can definitely help the cinema culture of the country to bloom.

In the year 2000, at the start of a new millennium, IFFI was organized at Delhi. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister was Late Arun Jaitley back then. Master film maker Mrinal Sen was the Jury Chairman of International Competition section, while renowned Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami was a Jury Member and legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee was the Chief Guest of the festival. I also happened to be a jury member of the Indian Panaroma section that year, and hence was blessed to be in the same hotel as these luminaries of the cinema universe. At the end of a whole day of attending screenings, we used to indulge in adda like true Bengalis. Mrinal Babu, who would spend the whole day with Kiarostami and the other jury members, used to tell us about the nuances of Kiarostami's style of film-making. On the other hand, Soumitra Babu would recount how their cinema craft receives a lot of honour in foreign lands, where he went innumerable times, courtesy being a lead actor in Satyajit Ray films. These conversations had the power to lead me towards an endless starry sky. Days spent at IFFI over the years had opened many news doors of learning about life for me.

There are whole lot of more pleasant experiences that IFFI has gifted me. Coming back to the time the film festival was held at the-then Bombay – that was the first time I went to attend a film festival as a journalist. The closing film that year was Steven Speilberg's 'Schindler's List'.  Spielberg had coloured the last scene of the black & white film...the Jews were advancing upon the horizon after escaping from the hands of torturous Nazis.

While returning back to my hotel in Santa Cruz that day, I felt that only cinema has the power to make us remember our history... and festivals like IFFI has the power to bring the whole world to our doors.   

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(Siladitya Sen is a Senior Journalist, film critic and scholar, Jury Member in various international film festivals and has written books on national & international films, film personalities, and socio-cultural aspects of Popular Cinema)