Firstly the event itself. One thing I have to commend the organisers on is the location. The main locations are set along the waterfront just before the Mandovi river meets the Arabian sea. The main buildings of the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) are quite magnificent examples of the colonial style of architecture and decked out in a red carpet and illuminated by thousands of lights it made for an extremely glamourous location. Quite how the ESG managed to procure such a prime piece of heritage waterfront real estate is amazing. Behind this area was an Inox multiplex which is where most of the films were screened. Sandwiched between the cinema and the ESG building was a pleasant area for the delegates to relax and grab ridiculously cheap beer from the Kingfisher stall (20Rs a glass!)
As I said the films were a mixed bag but I will mainly just talk about the Indian films I saw as I am interested in how films from this country can potentially reach a non NRI international market
The first film I saw was the Bengali film Aiinaate. Having seen a few Bengali films from the likes of Satyajit Ray and the other noted film makers from the state I had reasonably high expectations and whilst the film had decent intentions some many parts of the story were difficult to give to give credence to and some of the plot relied on too many ridiculous coincidences and overplayed melodrama.
Second was Wheat, a Chinese film, about two deserters from a battle long back into to Chinese history who land up in a village of their defeated enemy. This was one of the best films I saw at the festival. The story line was interesting and did not tread the usual formula. Cinematography and production design were outstanding as is to be expected from this kind of a Chinese film. This kind of stylised rendering of Chinese history has received much success in the west in recent times with films like Crouching Tiger, Hero etc... so while this did not have the same kind of gravity defying fighting the stylised production of the world in Wheat gives the audience a similarly absorbing visual feat to take in. I have always thought that this kind of rendering of Chinese history/mythology is similar to what Indian filmmakers should be doing if they want to target the western market. India has such an incredible history and mythology and there is probably more of an interest in this compared with the Chinese equivalent that a well made film in this genre would seem a very possible way in for an Indian film to become a global success.
I watched two Indian films which from the synopsis seemed like they could be the kind of subject matter that could appeal to a global audience. Firstly Shahrukh Bola Kabsurat Hai Tu which was about a street girl who is told by the superstar Shahrukh Khan at a traffic signal where she is selling flowers that she is beautiful and what happens to her afterwards. From the title and tagline I had envisaged this would be a quirky story based on her subsequent conceited adventures, however despite a few bright moments the film was fairly heavy and featured too much violence and melodrama to escape the Indian market. I had similar hope for God Lives in the Himalayas which seemed to be on a similar lilt to a number of Iranian films which have managed to be overseas successes. The story is fundamentally about a group of kids searching for God in order to explain the troubles in their life against the backdrop of the Himalayas. Now this seems like a great combination and the first half of the film was excellent with the Himalayas looking unsurprisingly magnificent on the big screen and the story-line was believable and entertaining. However the film leapt into the ridiculous with the appearance of a rather cliched apparition of God and from then on the actions of the protagonists became questionable which rather spoilt the direction of the film. So in my opinion it was another great opportunity wasted.
The best Indian film that I saw was a Tamil film called Pasanga (Kids) directed by Pandiraj. This was the last film I saw and I had not attributed great hopes to it but it was a really entertaining and honest movie about the lives of a classroom of kids in a small town when a new student joins, ruffling the feathers of some of the original classroom incumbents. The film was funny, original, believable and totally brought you into the kids world. Obviously it will never happen and it is a little rough around the edges but with a little re-editing especially at the beginning and the end I believe this could be a film that could appeal to an audience outside of India. The story line and humour is pretty much universal but I think equally importantly is that from an non-Indian's viewpoint it is a window into the milieu of an Indian small town childhood. Whilst it is not perfect I would recommend everyone should catch it if they can as it is far superior to most of the crud that Bollywood is intent in producing.
Other films of note were the interesting but bleak She, a Chinese and perhaps the most pretentious feature film I have seen The Middle Mystery of Kristo Negro which basically featured a man dragging a dead cow around for 90 minutes which we are meant to relate to Christ bearing the cross.
