Regarded as a pioneer of New Wave cinema in Australia,filmmaker Bruce Beresford is best known for his feature film Driving Miss Daisy (1989),which won the Academy Award for Best Film. In 2009,he completed Maos Last Dancer,based on the life of Chinese ballet dancer Li Cuixin,which broke records at the Australian box-office. Beresford assumes a new role on his current visit to India of Jury President for the International Competition section at Mumbai Film Festival and tells us about the process of choosing a winning film: What has been your impression of the films in the international competition this year? When you are seeing first-time films,the quality always tends to be variable. There has been a high standard of films this time. At least half of the films are first class. In a festival,you never get the situation that they are all great films. Some of the films we have been judging here have been very fresh,spontaneous and exciting. I have been really impressed. How does a jury president go about his role? You just have to lead the discussions. I had a little meeting yesterday (with other panelists) when I said that in my opinion these are the best films so far and these are the ones worth discussing. We all tended to agree. What everybody is really looking for in the films is an originality of theme and content. Some of the films that have been well made are fairly formulaic. But the films that everybody seems to like more are the ones where they have something to say that is somewhat personal. Have you been a jury president before? Twice before,once in Thailand and once in Kerala for the feature film festival. But this festival is bigger and more impressive. Working with British Film Institute in the late 90s with their production unit,you have seen many emerging filmmakers. What is your impression of todays talent? When I was there at the BFI we made the first films of Ridley Scott,Tony Scott,Stephen Frears and Mike Lee. They made all their first films with us. There are many talented filmmakers out there and there is somebody who comes along who is very talented. It is just a feeling we have about a filmmaker. It is important when a film has something to say and it is being said in an individual voice. Are you familiar with Indian new-age cinema? I saw some when I was at Trivandrum,but I cannot remember the name of the films. They have it in them to have a larger international appeal but at the same time with so many films being made,only the top two per cent get celebrated across the world. The only Indian film I saw in Sydney was Lagaan. That was shown in Sydney for one night and it was phenomenal. Are there any tips you would share with new filmmakers? The best films are the ones where the filmmaker has a point of view of the world and something to say,rather than just retread someone elses films.
