transcurrents

Toronto Festival:Films “Of By And For” The People

October 2nd, 2005

Film festivals are fast becoming annual events in many, many
cities now. The reviewer V.Radhika writing in the “Hindu”
summed it up aptly “In a box-office-propelled movie world, film
festivals are oases of hope. They offer a kaleidoscope of world
visions that are not packaged in a fast-food format: to be
devoured and forgotten. They showcase works that hold a
mirror to the times we live in, often reflecting unflattering but
thought-provoking images”.

Sri Lanka striving hard to establish its own niche in the celluloid
realm should seriously consider the screening of an
international film festival annually in Colombo. If conducted and
continued with consistent perfection the film festival could prove
to be an additional fillip to the tourist industry. More importantly
it could help the country stamp its own distinctive mark on the
film scene.

Venice and Cannes may be the most glamorous but other cities
too have established a name for themselves in this respect.
One such example is Toronto in Canada where I have been
living for the past fifteen years. The Annual Toronto
International Film Festival – rated second in importance to only
Cannes – is the largest of its kind in North America.

September as far as Torontonians are concerned is not only
the month where summers give way to fall/autumn but also the
film festival month. Come mid – September and areas
surrounding participating theatres are dramatically altered with
winding queues of film buffs waiting in line with their tickets.
Films from the four corners of the globe are exhibited to hectic
schedule that ultimately leaves avid film goers exhausted but
exhilarated.

As an ardent movie aficionado I been fortunate indeed to
witness parts of this glorious spectacle as a viewer for thirteen
times in the past except for two years when away from Toronto.
It is indeed a unique event where the elites mingle with the
commoners in viewing films as mere film buffs. Devoid of judges
and juries it is mass participation that determines the festivals
course.

In the words of Festival director Piers Handling ” The philosophy
of the festival was always ‘ this is a festival for the people of
Toronto’ the public is still our most important constituency and
we’ve never lost sight of that”.Handling sees the festival as a
“perfect mix of the pubic and industry, the two intersect, they
jostle with each other, but there is no real friction between both
sides of the festival. The film makers love coming here because
they don’t feel its a market or they don’t feel its a press junket”.

According to Handling many distributors of foreign language
films like to see the movies with a live audience in Toronto
before taking decisions on buying them.” It is the public that
decides what’s good and what’s bad”.The great advantage of
Toronto is not being one of the “more high pressure festivals,
which are competitive and are more of a market or press
situation”.

There is vast opportunity for both the struggling independent
maverick as well as the more established film makers to exhibit
their wares here. Sri Lankan film makers or South Asian
filmwallas for that matter should focus more and more on what is
known generally as the Toronto film fest. This people oriented
public nature of the Toronto fest as opposed to many others
where critics and juries hold sway is a major reason for its
popularity.

This years festival was the one where I saw the most number of
pictures. I managed to cram in twenty – two features, seven
documentaries and one “revived” classical oldie. Though nearly
three months have passed it does not seem too late even now
to write briefly about this years film fest. After all few reviewers in
South Asia give prominence to it.

The 29th Toronto film fest held from Sep 9 -18 showed 328
films from 60 Countries of which 253 were full length features
and documentaries while the other 75 were shorts. 99 of these
celebrated their world premieres while 220 were North American
firsts. 155 films from 55 non -English speaking Countries were in
languages other than English. The final selection of 328 to be
screened was made by the organizers out of a mind boggling
2686 entries.

Each film was screened twice on 19 screens at 8 theatres and
cineplexes in the heart of Toronto. 20 of these were special
“Gala” presentations with high priced tickets. These galas have
parties following screenings attended by filmakers, artistes and
Exhibitors. The rest of the tickets were well within reach of the
average cinephile and more than 250, 000 tickets were lapped
up during the 10 days of film mania. More than 700 journalists
from 80 Countries spangled with fans, filmmakers, actors and
distributors for the peoples film festival.

A distinguishing hallmark of the Toronto fest is the question and
answer session provided at the end in most screenings.
Audience members get a chance to clarify film related issues
from the director, producer and other artistes present. The film
makers are only too happy to field questions and serious
filmfans pose many sensible and sensitive ones. These
sessions are never dull and often transcend constraints of time
until organizers reluctantly wind them up finally.

This year saw an eclectic mix ranging from the 540 minute
marathon “Evolution of a Filipino family” from the Philippines to
the 2 minute short “More Sensitive” from British Columbia in
Canada. The nine hour film in Tagalog by director Lav Diaz took
eight years to make and focused on the fifteen years of martial
law imposed by Ferdinand Marcos.

The 120 second clip in English by Gail Noonan was on a
second rate singer keen to prove he was smarter and more
sensitive than the Viewer. The festival has earned a reputation
over the years for exhibiting the best of current global cinema
and for showcasing the latest works of famed international
directors.

These categorised under three sections “Masters”,
“Contemporary World Cinema” , and “Special Presentations”
have proved time and again to be the most popular attractions
of the festival. Movies under these banners provide high profile
sneak previews by world renowned film makers as well as other
creative talents.

Jean – Luc Godard, Michelangelo Antonioni, Pedro Almodovar,
Wim Wenders, Ousmane Sembene, Volker Schlondorff, Steven
Soderbergh, Agnes Varda, Spike Lee, Istvan Sabo, Zhang
Yimou,Tom Hooper and India’s Buddhadeb Dasgupta etc were
some of the maestros whose works were on display in Toronto.

South Africa: Ten years later – was the theme of the National
Cinema Spotlight focus. A decade after apartheid being
abolished South Africa has a flourishing film industry reflecting
the voice of a united nation. The highlights of this spotlight were
the feature “Drum”. Short film ” Mozart – Music of the violin” and
the documentary “A South African Love Story -Walter and
Albertina” about legendary apartheid fighter Walter Sisulu and
wife.

There were other South African films in the special presentation
category like Hotel Rwanda and Yesterday. Hotel Rwanda
directed by Terry George had a powerful storyline based on
actual events of the Rwanda genocide. The film with
Hollywood’s Nick Nolte in the cast was voted the most popular
film of the festival and given the Peoples choice award.

“Yesterday” an elegiac movie about an HIV positive Zulu woman
was a moving experience. Directed by Darrel James Roodt and
co – produced by Anant Singh the film had a superlative
performance by Leleti Khumalo. It has been selected for
nomination to the Oscar competition in the best foreign film
category.

Another remarkable SA based film was “Red Dust” directed by
Tom Hooper and based on the novel by Gillian Slovo. An
intense movie with a thrilling narrative “Red Dust” is set against
the background of South Africa’s Truth and reconciliation
commission hearings.

In addition to these were many other films made by or relating to
Black issues and themes featured under the regular “Planet
Africa” category.

The only ones from South Asia were four “India” films.
Dasguptas “Swapner Din” (chased by dreams) had Prosenjit
and Rimi Sen and a fresh face Rajesh Sharma in the main
roles. Though set in West Bengal ” the trio of characters and
their aspiring dreams were typical of persons in any part of
India” explained the director at the screening.

A delightful road movie was ” Hari Om” by Bharatbala of “Vande
Mataram” fame. A visually stunning film that brought out the
beauty of rural Rajasthan “Hari OM” has scintillating
performances by Vijay Raaz and Camille Natta. Interestingly
Bala relied on the fusion music of Nitin Sawney instead of his
AR Rahman as many would have expected him to do.

“Schatten der Zeit” or “Shadows of Time” was a Bengali
language movie set in colonial Calcutta. This German
production had director Florian Gellenberger writing the
screenplay. The movie with Prashant Narayanan and Tannishta
Chatterjee in the lead roles evoked shades of Satyajit Ray. Irfan
Khan and Soumitra Chatterjee also made their presence felt.

“Zero” a feature documentary by Elida Shogt probed the
mysteries of zero as a mathematical concept and as a state of
being. Th search for the origins and cultural roots of zero
brings the filmmaker to Varanasi where she maps her inner
world onto the powerful mix of Hindu ritual and spirituality.

There was a time when the Toronto festival featured a large
number of Indian films. Once four films of Maniratnam were
featured. The advent of a separate Toronto South Asia film
festival in recent times has made an impact leading to a
reduction in Indian movies.

Other screening categories include “Real to Reel ”
(documentaries) “Discovery” ( new directors) “Wavelengths”
(avant – garde artistes),” Midnight madness “(late night movies)
and “Dialogues” (viewing and discussing films).

Traditionally Pride of place is given to Canadian films through
the “Perspectives Canada” category to help nurture the
fledgling Canadian industry. This year it has been dropped and
Canadian movies are being screened in the general categories
instead of enjoying a special place.

This time however two new Canadian sections. One is”
Canada first ” for first time Canuck directors and another “Short
Cuts Canada” for Canadian short films. There are also the
regular ” Canadian Retrospective” and “Canadian Open Vault”
sections.

Several Canadian film makers made their mark at the festival
showing signs of holding their own against Hollywood. Canadian
cinema seems to have come of age. Much excitement was
generated by the Canadian documentary ” Casuistry: The art
of killing a cat” by Zev Asher. The film showed the killing,
skinning, cooking and eating of a cat as a “protest” against the
killing and eating of other animals and birds. The animal rights
activists were out in full force picketing against the film and the
riot squad was called. Asher himself was placed under
protective custody for a few hours.

I managed to see 30 out of the 328 shown in 10 days. My pick
for best feature was “Der Untergang” (Downfall)about the last
days of Hitler by Oliver Hirschbiegel. Patricio Guzmans
“Salvador Allende” was the choice as best Documentary.
Hopefully if time and the editor permit I do hope to write about
these and a few other “good” ones I saw in the coming weeks.

Entry Filed under: MinorMatters