Indian Film Festival (IFFB) Notes

Indian Cinema, as a term, is misleading in the singular, it is to mistake it for a search of a singular, rather than exploring the multitudes that exist in the diversity of the 1.3 billion people. The question is of increased importance today, with increased vehemence since 2014, the imposition of a 'singular' national culture, ema- nating from a very constricted reading of nation and its culture. Every year we have remarkable films made in various Indian languages. They are

As we welcomed the new year, the city experienced a respite from the heat, fleeting, as the heat seems to be back, the world was shaken by the killing of Iranian General Suleimani - an imminent call to destruction, students were attacked by masked goons at JNU, Delhi and we have witnessed young people and women on the streets across India - a Civil Disobedience in the making. As we learn and try to understand the issues, we are wracked by anxieties of lack of public response

The effort in this edition, as has been before, is to showcase contemporary Indian Cinema - films that are primarily made outside the mainstream, in cities and small towns that are non-traditional filmmaking sites, those which in a broader sense represent the diversity of India, there is a persistent focus on debutant filmmakers and narratives that challenge the existing social order, issues of caste, gender, class, and ecology. 2021 was the birth centenary of Satyajit Ray, m

With increased polarisation and a focus on partisan film making, it is a surprise that independent films are being made although the ecosystem is under increased strain. The effort in this edition is to look at films touching on issues from across the sub-continent. The screenings are a mix of interesting debuts and experienced film makers working in the regional film industry, some of them nudging the space to become pandyaa films. The challenges of pandyaa films can be expl

The Film Society team has put together a retrospective of Girish Kasaravalli, a selection of four restored classics in collaboration with the Film Heritage Foundation, a collection of shorts and contemporary feature films that have been screened and discussed around the world. The retrospective emerged after conversations with Girish about prints of films available with him. He did not have rights to all of his films, so we had to start with what was accessible. We managed to