Day 4 of the Kolkata International Film Festival 2018

The Nandan promenade was crowded as usual around 4pm on Wednesday on the 4th day of the Kolkata International Film Festival.

At any point, at least five smells hung in the air. Arcane hobby publications, little magazines, festival pamphlets, and food — all vied for the visitors’ attention.

In addition to a stall devoted to promoting Bengali cinema’s 100-year-long heritage, the festival’s background score whirled in the air like an anthem.

Cigarettes went around youngsters freely. A group of three men played the role of festival troubadours with characteristic Bengali elan. While one was tall, long-haired and seemed to be holding a journal in his hands, his short friend sported a long beard and a wooden flute. The third was a jokester, shoving the other two around with a cigarette in hand while they tried to work at their craft in front of Nandan I.

At the Nandan foyer, an Australian documentary film-maker was being interviewed by a news channel. “Spicy food? Yeah, I like it, but I’m not the biggest fan. I can handle it. But really, I’m just floored by the whole festive air here. It’s like a carnival, really great. Can’t wait to see more.”

Used paper plates were laid generously at the feet of a cluster of large garbage bins. This benefited the two or three mutts, who honed in on the area once the stash was substantial.

An eager quizmaster paused onstage at the makeshift but large Ektara Manch abutting Rabindra Sadan and said: “This next question is for biological males only, please.”

Unoffended, winter picknickers at the garden venue giggled, moving around the carpeted audience area for coffee and kobiraji.

The quizmaster’s mystery soundtrack —Sob Khelar Shera by Manna Dey — came and before he could ask a question, many women raised their hands in laughing abandon. “What was the final score in the match at the end of the film?” Some backed down, now laughing meekly.

A group of students seated on the grass were heard saying, “That’s not the message of the film…. I’ve watched it more than once…. You have to perceive it in the spirit of what Vivekananda once said. You will be nearer to Heaven through football than through the study of the Gita.”

An artist seated beside a tea vendor in Nandan I called out to the occasional passer-by, “I’m not begging, you know. If you’d give me five minutes, I could show you. I really have to make a living, too. But I won’t beg. So, don’t ignore me as if I’m a beggar, please.”

On 9th November, at the inaugural ceremony of the 24th edition of the festival, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said: “The status of the festival was on a downslide before we came to power. We showed things could be done if you wanted to.”

At Nandan, the air of legacy was ripe in the air. In addition to the tall banners mounting the Nandan buildings, the rear promenade saw a cultural exhibition commemorating 100 years of Bengali cinema. A rotunda behind Sisir Mancha had a 10-panel retrospective curated by Prosenjit and Suvaprasanna.

The panels documented the dates, personalities and photographs of all those who have made Bengali cinema proud — Satyajit Ray, Manna Dey, Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen to name a few.

The quizmaster, flanked by two 30ft ektaras, ended by reminding the audience to enjoy this “Carnival of Cinema in the City of Joy”.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online Edition / Home> West Bengal / by Aditya Nag in Kolkata / November 16th, 2018

Films like “Kittath Preeti” (in Koda), “Boldu” (Tulu), “Navleri” (Lambani), “Death Certificate” (Kurmi) and “Nabon” (Khasi) are being screened under this section at the festival.

Kolkata :

Giving light to the diversity of India, Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is showcasing a bouquet of rare Indian Language films including Nagasmese, Lambani, Jasari, Kurbi languages for the first time.

“I got many film entries from these languages. Maybe the quality of the films are not that good like that of a ‘Pather Panchali’ or ‘Sholay’ but they are good in their own way,” curator of ‘Unheard India’ Shantanu Ganguly, told the media here.

“Moreover, people need to know about these languages,” he added.

He mentioned that people came to know about the Jasari language cinema only after “Sinjar” directed by Sandeep Pampally won the Best Feature Film in Jasari award at the National Film Awards in April.

“‘Sinjar’ is also India’s first island film as it was entirely shot in Lakshwadeep. Jasari is the colloquial language spoken there,” Ganguly said.

The film stands against terrorism and speaks about two women held as captives by the Islamic State terror group, their ordeal and how they survive a communal situation in capital Kavaratti.

It stars Malayalam actors Srinda Arhaan, Mythili, Musthafa and Sethulaksmi.

“Nana A Tale Of Us” directed by Tiakumzuk Aier is a film in Nagamese language spoken by a section of people in Nagaland.

“There are filmmakers making Nagamese films since the 1990s but it doesn’t make a cut to the film festivals. There are documentary filmmakers but for fiction — there are few,” Aier told IANS.

He said that the Church is supporting ‘clean election campaign’ in his state and they have produced the film as it is based on the specific issue. It talks about the moral sense and how societal evils have affected their lives.

Naganatha N. Joshi, the producer of the film “Saakibaayi” in Banjaara language (also known as Lambani) spoken in Karnataka, had to mortgage his house to make the film. His wife Premalatha N. Joshi is the director.

“We didn’t have any artist, we taught commoners and made them act. My film is based on the life of a woman of Banjaara community,” Naganatha said.

Films like “Kittath Preeti” (in Koda), “Boldu” (Tulu), “Navleri” (Lambani), “Death Certificate” (Kurmi) and “Nabon” (Khasi) are being screened under this section at the festival.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by IANS / November 15th, 2018

In a unique initiative, three graphic novels have been published on three different art forms of the State, both in Bengali and English in 2018.

Pintu, a teenager from Murshidabad is surprised to hear it from Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore that he wanted to introduce Raibenshe, a genre of folk martial dance, at Santinketan, while Tito, a boy from Kolkata is amazed that behind the Chhau masks, there are real people dancing.

These are excerpts from graphic novels published by the West Bengal government, the UNESCO and Banglanatk.com for promotion of traditional crafts of West Bengal. In a unique initiative, three such graphic novels have been published on three different art forms of the State, both in Bengali and English in 2018.

The graphic story on the Purulia’s famous Chhau dance is called Experiencing Chhau (Dekhe Elam Chhau) while the book on Raibenshe, folk martial dance form south Bengal is called Raibenshe Rocks ( Ajo Aache Raibenshe). The third publication is on the little known puppetry from Nadia titled The tale of a lost leg ( Harano Payer Kissa).

“These graphic novels are part of our efforts to promote cultural industries in different parts of the State under the project Rural Crafts & Cultural Hubs, which is supported by Department of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises and UNESCO,” said Ananya Bhattacharya, director of Banglanatak.com, a social enterprise working with artisans across different States of the country.

Ms. Bhattacharya said that the idea behind the publication is to engage young minds so that they become aware about folk tradition of the State.

“These graphic stories or short novels, whatever you call them, are not more than 50 pages and are designed with lots of colourful sketches to engage young readers. While the characters are fictional, it has been our effort to pack as much information about the folk art forms as possible in these stories,” Ranjan Sen, author of these publications said.

These stories also provide a glimpse of efforts taken up to revive these dying folk art form. Mr Sen said, adding that such initiative to encourage awareness about folk art has not been taken anywhere in the country.

These graphic novels are being distributed to children through school outreach programmes and at different fairs and festival.

There are plans to publish more of such graphic novels and one publication on Baul singers of the State is in the offing. Mr. Bhattacharya said that under the Rural Crafts & Cultural Hub initiative, work is going on 15 different crafts of the State and similar publications engaging young minds will be brought on most of these art forms.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books / by Shiv Sahay Singh / Kolkata – November 12th, 2018