Highlights of Day-4:

• The day embarks the penultimate chapter of our cinematic odyssey by offering diverse films across genres.
• In the memory of Mrinal Sen; Shekhar Das, a well known director, writer and actor who is also the Jury for Indian Cinema(Chitrabharati)Competition of 15^th Biffes’24 spoke about contribution of Mrinal Sen for Indian Cinema and his life achievement.
• He specifically mentioned about Mrinal Sen’s five best films ‘Interview’, ‘Akaler Sandhane’, ‘Bhuvan Shome’, ‘Kharij’, ‘Oka Oori Katha’. He emphasized on how film by Mrinal Sen portrayed about major political and societal changes back then related to contemporary politics.
• The session was attended by other renowned jury Meghachandra Kongbam, Viera Langerova as well as the film director of ‘Kherwal’ Uttam Kamati.
• Later that day, Mr. Sounak Kar, Director of the film Bird Thief, Mr. Aneesh Anwar Director of Raastha, Mr. Selvakumar director of Bumper, Mr. Malay Kumar Roy Director of the Missing Boy, Mr. Ganesh Raj, Director of Pookakaalam and Ms. Rajni Basumathy director of Gorai Phakhri interacted with media along with Mr. Seshadri, Artistic Director. The Panel of Directors spoke briefly about their movies and its financial sectors.
• Ganesh Raj gave a brief of his movie Pookaalam, which is about emotional trauma and generational differences. Whereas the Film Mithya explores the grief of the main character Mithun and his journey of overcoming that grief.
• Ganesh Roy discusses the Malayalam film industry’s background, emphasizing the importance of local language films to the people of Kerala. He suggests that increased support from OTT platforms and the government would benefit the Malayalam film industry.
• Rajni Basumatary addressed the issue of tribal films being made in tribal languages by film directors to promote those languages, communities, and cultures. She emphasized the importance of preserving even languages spoken by a few people. Mr. Sounak further mentioned that he made the film at the request of his students.
• The press conference concluded with a sensational question about the political and social problems faced by non-tribal filmmakers making films in tribal languages that are not their own. Mr. Sounak Kar answered that it should be open for non-tribal filmmakers to make films in tribal languages, emphasizing equality for all.
• Girish Kasaravalli, one of the pioneer for the Parallel Cinema and a well known director emphasized on the fact that vision and dedication for the movie is more important than advanced technology along with other panelist Ramachandra; a well known producer and cinematographer, ShashidharAdapa; Production Designer, G.S Bhaskar; Cinematographer at ‘VK Murthy Memorial Masterclass’ moderated by P.Sheshadhari; Joint Artistic Director for 15^th Biffes’24.
• They emphasized on the fact that visual styling adds on value to the movies.
• An interactive session was held on the topic “Contribution of the Film Critics in Understanding Films as an Academic Discipline” with VK Joseph, N Vidyashankar, MK Raghavendra, Prof. Manu Chakravarty, Ashok Rane, Dr.Rwita Dutta, Prof.Piyush Roy.

The main takeaway from the session was about how the term “FILM CRITIQUE” is often misunderstood, especially in India where there isn’t much awareness about Film/Media studies. Mr Ashok and Vidhyashankar discussed about collaborations with universities to promote filmmaking and increase awareness. According to Mr. Manu, it’s better to watch a movie first before reading any critiques or analysis. We shouldn’t limit ourselves to just one interpretation of a film, but instead embrace its many facets.

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Ajay KR