Brighter sparks at the fest

Screen India, March 31, 2007
by Shoma A Chatterji
A report of the Sixth International Social Communications Cinema Conference in Calcutta

Shazia, a short film by Arvind Sinha, is about a young Muslim girl who lives in a shanty in Calcutta. She is the sole breadwinner of a family with a widowed mother, a sister-in-law whose mentally ill husband has gone away, and younger siblings. She teaches small girls and boys of a slum, gives private tutions, runs her business in readymade garments and studies for her board examinations at night. Her singular aim is to educate herself for a better life. The film is a wonderful tribute to the spirit of the economically disadvantaged.

Harvesting Hunger, by Krishnendu Bose, explores the lives of India’s 300 million hungry people, whose human tragedy is escalating rapidly with the growth of market economy and the increasing corporatisation of agriculture. It journeys into specially affected areas of Kalahandi, Warangal and Bellary. The film shocks the viewer with its encyclopaedic volume of information sent across vividly through the language of cinema.

Fight for Survival by Dakxin Nandlal Bajarange underscores the lopsided policies of activists concerned with the laws on prevention of cruelty to animals that has endangered the lives of three lakh members of the Madari community who earn their living as snake charmers in different pockets of Gujarat. The film graphically unfolds the varied layers of cruelty, direct and indirect, inflicted on them, snatching away their snakes, beating them up, caging them with dogs and robbing them of their only source of livelihood. The film raises a very significant question - is prevention of cruelty to animals justified at the cost of cruelty to human beings?

The Bishnois of West Rajasthan lead a lifestyle based on a religion of kindness, generosity and worship of Nature. They follow 29 principles (bish meaning twenty and noi meaning nine) and so the name Bishnoi. This includes a completely vegetarian way of life, worship of nature in all its forms and colours, animals and so on.

Eco-Dharma, directed by Malgorzata Skiba, also focuses on the brazen violation of the laws indulged in by some actors of Hindi films. The use, abuse and misuse of water right across the country while masses of people find it difficult to access plain drinking water comes across beautifully in Sanjay Barnela’s Village of Dust, City of Water.

These were some of the brighter sparks in an otherwise badly put together programme of screenings at the Sixth International Social Communications Cinema Conference organized by Roopkala Kendro at Nandan. They formed part of the screenings in the Narrowcast section of the film festival which chooses to call itself a “conference.” But how many people actually watched these narrowcast screenings? I counted the heads everyday and it averaged a head-count of 25. Of these 25, most viewers were guests invited from 12 of the 18 districts in West Bengal. They were given feedback forms to choose the films they would like to screen in their respective districts.

Narrowcast is defined by RKK as participatory social communication cinema and television. The near-empty auditorium at Nandan II spelt out how ‘participatory’ it really was. The worst batch were home productions of RKK dealing ad infinitum about the Village Panchayat system using raw stock for brazen advertisement and propaganda for the State Government which owns, manages and controls RKK! One could actually see stock clippings from one film used in another. In all fairness though, the fictionalised versions rated much better than the documentary versions.

There was a flurry for coupons during lunch hour and after that, the number declined. It rose again for the evening screenings that featured films like Nagesh Kukunoor’s Iqbal, TV Chandran’s Kathavaseshan, Manju Borah’s Laaz, Mohan Krisnha Indraganti’s Grahanam, Pradip Nair’s Oridam and Albert’s Kanne Madanguka, among others. How these got clubbed with narrowcast screenings defies comprehension. But the audience grew slightly in numbers for these screenings.

The second segment, labeled `broadcast’ and screened at Nandan III, mainly comprised of some terrible serials and soaps from Pakistan, Vietnam and South Africa. Sabuj Chhaya, a popular soap from Bangladesh, based on rural health issues ranging from planned parenthood to crusading against child marriage, was comparatively better. But this too, was offset by the avoid-watching-at-all-costs episodes from Sisimpur, adapted from the popular American soap Sesame Street. For some unfathomable reason, the Bangladeshi serials were slotted at Nandan II though they should have been in the ‘broadcast’ category. Poor storyline, shoddy acting and low production values marked these serials. ‘Aesthetics’ is a word that probably does not exist in their dictionary. Never mind, because few were watching these in any case. Most viewers in this section used Nandan III for a quiet chat session while others were cinema students of Roopkala Kendro.

Nandan I, the biggest theatre in this three-theatre complex, was the most popular section, but only for the evening screenings. The mornings showed retrospectives of films from New Theatres, screenings from INPUT, films of Miguel Littin and so on. Afternoon screenings showcased the diploma films of the first batch of diploma holders from RKK, offering a mixed but promising fare. Evening screenings at this theatre drew a packed house. Why? The answer is simple. One does not have to shell out a single naya paisa to watch the screenings at this ‘Conference.’ So who will ever offer cineastes a chance to watch for free, Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, Federico Fellini’s La Strada, Antonioni’s La Notte and La Aventura, Ken Loach’s Land of Freedom, two landmark films of Robert Bresson and three films of Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura. Another highlight of the ‘conference’ was two films from one of the best filmmakers of Bangladesh, Tareque Masud. His The Clay Bird was the closingfilm while his new film Ontorjatra was part of the screening programme.

Roopkala Kendro was founded as a registered society under the Government of West Bengal in 1995 with the objective of (a) producing social communication cinema on video, and (b) training aspirants to this kind of cinema. In collaboration with Nandan, the state-owned culture complex, RKK organised the country’s first ever-international festival of social communication cinema in 2001. This year marked its sixth birthday. Kumar Shahani was specially invited to inaugurate the Conference. For those who are regulars, this year’s ‘conference’ was a major disappointment. This was one film festival where volunteers and staff far outstripped the audience.