Cinemascope

Year of conception: 2010

Motto: Filmi Chashma,a project of Comet Media Foundation,an NGO,is a collaborative effort with the Childrens Film Society of India CFSI. It operates on three levels. Firstly,it encourages children to look at films critically and helps them develop their analytical skills through a travelling Filmi Chashma film festival held in July at various venues. Secondly,it introduces teachers to the idea of bringing films into the classroom and motivates them to make films with kids. Thirdly,it helps young filmmakers to make movies for children and conducts regional workshops to facilitate this process.

Kind of films screened: Filmi Chashma screens films which are entertaining,not preachy. Sushovan Banerjee,the Chief Executive Officer,CFSI says,CFSI looks for films meant for children,not about them. Interestingly,most of the films,which were screened,were based on filmmakers interactions with kids and their own childhood experiences. Some of the movies that were screened included Shikha Guptas Metamorphosis that is about a boy,his mother and their puppy,Manish Sainis Gullak that revolves around a brother-sister duo who are threatened by a bully to pay their debt and Tathagata Singhas A Coincidental Tale that also won the National Award for the Best Debut Director Non Feature Film.

Venue: Mumbai,Pune,Delhi,Akola and Kolkata.

Target Audience: Children,teachers and emerging filmmakers.

Future plans: Enthused by the response this year,the organisers are now planning to take this festival to various metropolitan cities.

Flashpoint Film Festival

Year of conception: 2010

Motto: The festival aims to create an awareness about global human rights issues and initiate dialogue in the mainstream society. Filmmaker Sridhar Rangayan thought about organising this event after he was deeply influenced by various movies on human rights that he saw as a jury member at the Netherlands film festival. For me,it was a simple human response. I was so moved by these movies,that I was determined to bring them to India to share with audiences here. I want the festival to urge us to reflect,react,revolutionalise and act as flashpointers to usher in change, he says.

Flashpoint Film Festival: Apart from 10 documentaries on prominent human rights activists across the world,the three-day festival also showcased eight films set in Algeria,Cambodia,China,Cuba,Iran,Italy and Nepal that showed how human rights defenders campaign for justice and human rights. There were also panel discussions on human trafficking,violence against women and religious intolerance. Filmmakers like Kalpana Lajmi,Bishakha Datta,Vinta Nanda and activist Flavia Agnes were some of the panelists.

Venue: The first edition of the festival was held last year in New Delhi,Mumbai and coincided with Human Rights Day on December 10.

Target audience: Though the event doesnt have a specific target audience,Rangayan was happy with the response last year. He says,We were interested in reaching out to the younger generation and people who were concerned about issues. It was fantastic to see a large turnout of students from nearby colleges and universities who came for all the three days.

Future plans: After travelling to Mumbai and Delhi,Rangayan now plans to take the festival to more cities across the country and create an awareness about it. Plans are also afoot to screen it in collaboration with cultural and arts festivals. He explains,Last year,we screened films from Flashpoint at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai. This was an interesting way to collaborate and take the films to a wider audience. We are hoping to do more such collaborations this year too.

Gorakhpur Film Festival

Year of conception: 2006

Motto: The purpose of Jan Sanskriti Manch,a cultural group which organises this film festival in collaboration with different groups like Delhi Film Archive,Sutradhar in Indore and Zindabaad Trust,is to prove that such an event can be held without the backing of any NGO or corporate companies. It is probably the only peoples film festival in North India which does not take sponsorship and is the first-of-its-kind event in Gorakhpur,Nainital and Bhilai, says Sanjay Joshi,convenor of the film group of Jan Sanskriti Manch. Writers,poets and filmmakers like Arundhati Roy,Gisir Kassarvali and Saeed Mirza as well as audience members have contributed by giving donations,curating the three-day event and popularising it by blogging.

Kind of films screened: Most films deal with issues of development and also create awareness about Indias culture and heritage. Joshi says to maintain the viewers interest short films and feature films are also screened. Some of the movies screened included Majid Majidis Baran and Children of Heaven,M S Sathyus Garam Hawa,Anand Patwardhans War and Peace,Yusuf Sayeeds Khayal Darpan and Naye Bharat Ki Khoj and Haobam Paban Kumars AFSPA,1958.

Venue: Gorakhpur,Bareilly,Allahabad,Bhilai Chattisgarh,Nainital,Lucknow,Patna and Indore. Though initially the festival was held only at Gorakhpur,now the organisers have expanded to seven more centres. But getting a venue has been the most difficult part. Rather than getting fancy venues like cultural centres or multiplexes,the organisers have to suffice with university campuses or banquet halls. We started out in a university campus in Gorakhpur where there was no air conditioning and ventilation. This year,we booked a banquet hall during the lean season when there are no marriages to suit our budget, he added.

Target audience: A large part of the audience consists of different communities from small towns. We strive to appeal to different classes like trade union activists,teachers,housewives,students etc, said Joshi. But it hasnt been an easy task. Most of the documentaries are in English and since a majority of the audience does not understand the language,a projector is set up and one of the organisers translates the dialogues in Hindi.

Future plans: Ever since they started in Gorakhpur,their reach has been expanding. We are receiving proposals of starting new festivals from several small towns of Uttar Pradesh,Bihar,Jharkhand,Punjab,Rajasthan,Chattisgarh,Madhya Pradesh,Uttarakhand,Orissa and Bengal, said Joshi. JSM has ventured into distribution and production of documentaries as well as publishing. Last year we shot four documentaries through peoples contribution and we also published a book on world cinema in Hindi. We are also planning to conduct film workshops and publish a magazine on cinema. So far we have distributed 15 Indian documentaries and last year we sold around 100 documentaries for just Rs 100. With their interests growing widely,distribution has become the major source of revenue. Small advertisements in brochures and donations are the other sources of revenue.

India Habitat Film Festival

Year of conception: 2006

Motto: There are several festivals that showcase international movies,but hardly any feature award-winning Indian films. So we decided to have one such event where we will screen such movies on a regular basis, said U. Radhakrishnan,director of India Habitat Film Festival.

Kind of films screened: Award-winning regional movies made by Indian filmmakers are screened as part of the 10-day festival that is held in May. Besides this,a retrospective of well-known film personalities is also held. Some of the retrospectives that were held earlier were tributes to filmmakers like Rituparno Ghosh,Girish Kasarvally and Sudhir Mishra. I short-list the films but the final selection is made by the festival committee. As far as the retrospective is concerned,the filmmaker or actor selects his/her best works. But despite that,we might have to drop some films as the producer may not agree or a sub-titled print is not available, says Radhakrishnan. At times the organisers dont get a positive response from filmmakers. Sometimes directors do not give a confirmation till the last day. So we have to change the itinerary at the last minute and eventually lose a huge amount of money, says Radhakrishnan. This makes it difficult for the organisers who raise money for the festival from their funds.

Venue: India Habitat Centre,New Delhi.

Target audience: Delhi film lovers,filmmakers and the press.

Future Plans: We plan to have the retrospective region wise. Every year we add a new feature like this year a section of short films was added. We also plan to conduct a seminar during the festival. This year we also had an exhibition of posters of Dada Saheb Phalke Award winners in association with the National Film Archive of India,Pune, says the festival director.

Kashish Film Festival

Year of conception: 2010

Motto: Organised by filmmaker Sridhar Rangayans company Solaris Pictures in association with non-governmental organisations like Bombay Dost and The Humsafar Trust,the Kashish Film Festival aims to help the mainstream audience to understand queer culture. Rangayan conceptualised this festival after he realised that there is no event in India that creates an awareness about the lesbian,gay,bisexual and transgender LGBT community. He says,It has always been my dream to host an LGBT festival of international scale in Mumbai so that our audiences too can watch queer films on the big screen. In 2009, after the Delhi High Court struck down the provision of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalised consensual sexual acts of adults in private, Rangayan thought that he could organise a film festival in a mainstream space. It took him four months to convince a multiplex to provide its space for the festival.

Kind of films screened: The festival showcases a balanced mix of gay,lesbian and transgender films. The movies are selected by five preview committees comprising filmmakers,writers,doctors,social activists,movie buffs. Some of the panelists hail from the LGBT community. We look at the theme,the style,the treatment,the social message,if any,the sensibility and sensitivity of the filmmaker. We do not screen movies with violent or pornographic content and are careful about programming films with adolescent sexuality, says Rangayan.

Venue: PVR Cinema,Cinemax Versova and Alliance Francaise in Mumbai.

Target audience: Apart from the community,Kashish also caters to the mainstream audience to enable them to understand more about LGBT issues.

Future Plans: Next year the organisers aim to screen well-known contemporary LGBT films and ensure a greater participation of visiting filmmakers from India and abroad. Both the years we have got a good response. While in 2010,we had 70 per cent housefull shows,this year,we had 67.51 per cent turnout. We have many requests from other cities in India to bring Kashish there,but we need more resources and funding, explains Rangayan. But it has not been an easy task for the organisers to conduct such an event independently. He says,We scrape every resource to put the festival together. Corporates are not coming forward to sponsor alternate events like Kashish. Another major problem is that we cannot charge ticket price,we can only charge a nominal registration fee. This situation has to change only then the film festival can evolve.

Taj Enlighten Society

Year of conception: 2007

Motto: The purpose is to promote lesser-known films and ensure that movie buffs watch them. Ronak Dixit,Marketing Head,Taj Enlighten Film Society says,Every month we organise a film festival on different themes depending on the availability of DVDs. There are many good films made by new directors that never reach the audiences as their DVDs are not available. Our objective is to familiarise people with these movies so that they can appreciate them.

Kind of films screened: Last month we had an European film festival in collaboration with the Swiss embassy where European movies were screened. We have had a Japanese festival,Italian festival and also a comedy film festival. We are now planning to organise a 9/11 film festival in which movies on the terrorist attack in th US will be screened, says Dixit. This month,the society is organising Naya Cinema festival where movies made by young directors in the last five years will be shown. Some of the well-known films that will be screened include Ashvin Kumars Inshallah,Football and Little Terrorist for which he was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Live Action Short Film category in 2004,Rajesh Sheras Ocean Of An Old man,Umesh Kulkarnis Girni that won the National Award for the Best Short Film in 2005 and Thiagarajan Kumararajas Aaranya Kaandam.

Venue: From the oldest single screen theatre in Mumbai like Edward Theatre to multiplexes and college auditoriums like the World college- School of Media Studies and independent venues like Mumbai Times Cafe and NFDC Auditorium,the film festival has been organised at diverse venues. We have diverse venues as we want the audience to have a different experience each time they watch a film, says Dixit.

Target audience: We cater to people who love watching different kinds of movies and who are keen to understand such films, he says.

Future Plans: We are planning to encourage young filmmakers and provide them with a platform to showcase their work. We get a lot of DVDs from short filmmakers. A panel comprising members from the society will watch these movies and send the most impressive works to international film festivals like Berlin and Cannes. We are ready to bear the cost as well, adds Dixit.

Persistence Resistance

Year of conception: 2008

Motto: Organised by Magic Lantern Foundation,a group that distributes independent films, Persistance Resistance is a platform for the foundation to showcase documentaries. We wanted to reach out to the audiences to show the catalogue of films that we have, says Ranjan De,co-founder of MLF. The title of the festival aptly surmises the motto a sequence of moving images that tells the stories of people who resist oppression and fight against justice.

Kind of films screened: Persistance Resistance aspires to show films that can compel people to think about issues around them. It might be easy to assume that this five-day festival,usually held in May,showcases movies that focus only on political themes but the founders say patrons are free to interpret the films. A movie on shadow puppeteers in Tamil Nadu who are losing their craft can be interpreted either as political or apolitical cinema, says De. So the movies that are screened cover a wide range of topics right from oppression of women to how they get empowered,environmental issues,movies based on human rights,a filmmakers search for his or her own voice etc. Some of the movies that have been showcased as part of this festival include Vinoo Choliparambils Vitthal that won the National Award in 2009 and revolves around a young boy who has to shave his head after the death of his grandfather; The Battle For Johannesburg that tells the story of the citizens of Johannesburg when they had to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup and Marathi filmmaker Arun Khopkars Lokpriya/Rasikpriya that follows the evolution of Hindi film music.

Venue: India International Centre,New Delhi.

Target audience: Anybody who loves films.

Future plans: What makes Persistance Resistance unique is its collaboration with international organisations. Though we started off in 2008,it was only from 2010 that we started getting contributions from within India like National Institute of Design,Film and Television Institute Of India and from international bodies like the Zellic School in Italy and Talk Alliance 8211; an European film festival, says De. In fact,this year UN Women,Goldsmith University of London,Human Rights Film Network,London International Film Festival and Sheffield Doc festival were the partners of Persistence Resistance. The most visible change for this festival over the years has been the increase in the number and composition of the audience. This year, the audience largely comprised students. We are now planning to tie up with international bodies and cater more to students, he says.