MIFF 8217;98: A documentary treat

MUMBAI, February 28: As curtain falls on the dust and smoke of the potboiler of all potboilers - the referendum for the 12th Lok Sabha - the...

MUMBAI, February 28: As curtain falls on the dust and smoke of the potboiler of all potboilers 8211; the referendum for the 12th Lok Sabha 8211; the purdah will go up quietly on the 5th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Film, MIFF 8217;98 in the city on Sunday. The week-long festival, a bi-annual event, will be thrown open by veteran film maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan and film buffs will have the inaugural view of Venu Arora8217;s, Nirankush, a short feature on female infanticide in Rajasthan.

Distinguished documentary film maker, Fali Bilimoria, the recipient of the Dr V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award, will be felicitated at the opening ceremony. In a career spanning forty long years 8211; between 1947 and 1987 8211; Bilimoria8217;s oeuvre includes acclaimed films like A Village In Travancore, The Vanishing Light, The Call and Water.

But the film that brought him world limelight, much critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination in 1968 8211; the only Indian documentary to have won this honour -was The House that Ananda Built. Beyond doubt a landmark in the history of documentary films in India.

The festival will have two competitive sections wherein 75 films in the main section will contend for the prestigious Golden and Silver Conch; while 45 entries have been selected for the Video section. These films have been short-listed from nearly 600 entries from over 30 countries. But as always, all eyes will be on the retrospectives and special screenings. The city8217;s buffs have much to look forward to 8211; retrospectives of Patricio Guzman whose The Battle of Chile has been nominated by New York8217;s Cineaste as one of the ten best political films of the world8217;; and, Robert Cahen, one of the most important and internationally renowned artists in the realm of experimental video.

In a tribute to two path breaking film makers, Bert Haanstra from Holland and Kathleen Shannon from Canada, who passed away recently, MIFF 8217;98 has special screenings of their films. Haanstra8217;s Oscar winning Glass 1958 8211; one mostcelebrated of short films 8211; is also being screened in this section.Shannon, who established Studio D, the first publicly funded feminist film production unit in the world rose to prominence in 1974 with the ground-breaking 11-film series, Working Mothers. One of these films, The Spring and Fall of Nina Polanski is part of the eight-film package from Studio D. As is the Oscar winning, I8217;ll Find A Way about a nine-year-old girl suffering from spina bifida who surmounts her physical disability and makes it clear that she is not looking for sympathy. Retrospectives of three Indian documentary film makers, Mani Kaul, Pramod Pati and Anand Patwardhan complete the package.

Another attraction is an exquisite collection of short films from the Archive of the International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen. Award winning films from this leading short and documentary film festival will be presented by its ex-director, Angela Haardt. Besides, the festival also promises film freaks a peek at recent diploma films from theSam Spiegel Film amp; Television School, Jerusalem and the FTII, Pune.