So many films, such few venues

FEBRUARY 7: When there are 542 films being screened at five halls and three venues over a seven-day period, chances are, you will miss mos...

FEBRUARY 7: When there are 542 films being screened at five halls and three venues over a seven-day period, chances are, you will miss most of them. Case in point: the ongoing Mumbai International Film Festival, MIFF 2000. No wonder then, that nearly every film-maker who has addressed the daily press conferences, had to explain his or her film8217;s theme and content, and organise repeat screenings, in the hope that the audience will be more than a handful.

As if the resultant confusion were not enough, the screenings are punctuated by technical glitches, including lapses in the audio, unscheduled interruptions and some rather hazy prints. For instance, a five-minute Dutch film Jazzimation was screened twice 8212; the first time without sound 8212; at the Nehru Centre main auditorium, while viewers were treated to a 10-minute break during the screening of the Women Make Movies-distributed Divorce Iranian Style.

8220;We will not use the facilities of the Nehru Centre next time. We had no idea there wouldbe such problems during screenings,8221; declared Bankim, Director of MIFF. Officials at the Nehru Centre, meanwhile, discredit the quality of prints given by the festival organisers. Perhaps a large part of 8216;organisation8217; comes with checking all equipment and prints before the festival, considering the screenings at the Films Division theatre are only marginally better. Otherwise, Festival Coordinator Kirti Gupta8217;s claim, that 8220;MIFF is a model festival8221; sounds rather hollow.

A gay tale from straight men

Pink Moon, the 24-minute docu-drama by Prabal Baruah which focuses on the social, political and legal marginalisation of Mumbai8217;s homosexual community, is by no means an ambitious film. But it serves as an elementary introduction to homosexuality, which, Baruah, 28, informs, was the film8217;s purpose. 8220;Initially, there was a lot of skepticism from gay activists, especially since I was the first straight man trying to do a gay film, but we were surprised how easily people were willing to talk,8221;says Baruah, who has directed several television programmes for Doordarshan.

Using his camera to prise open the communal, yet lonely world of gay men, Baruah uses a narrative voice that borders on the sympathetic, though Pink Moon8217;s narrator and co-producer Satyakam Chowdhury, prefers to call it 8220;gay-friendly8221;.