CULTURE FESTS AND GOAN PUBLIC RESOURCES

The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which concluded a few weeks ago, seems to have traveled a long way since 2004 when it was first held in Panjim. The Festival did not have either a smooth start or a smooth sailing over the years. It does not help matters that the Festival is marked every year by numerous side-shows along with the screening of films. The hectic last-minute preparations and the arguably extraneous events on the side have always caused logistical and organizational problems apart from seriously inconveniencing people living in or traveling to Panjim. It wouldn’t be too much to say that every IFFI sees the city hijacked by the festivities.

The problem with IFFI and Panjim is not unique. In fact the case is symptomatic of the way in which Goan resources are used, or overused, in order to host national and international galas. The success of such events should not be judged by the good or bad press they receive, but rather by how much these festivals can give back to Goans.

One needs to ask if the promotion of extraneous activities like music concerts, food streets, and other amusements right in the middle of the town promotes a ‘film culture’ in any way. If one consults older news reports it becomes evident that while the government of Goa and the organizers of IFFI claimed to be promoting ‘film culture’, the emphasis was rather placed on IFFI’s potential to bring in the tourists and developmental projects. In other words, IFFI was sold to Goans because it would help the tourism industry. The tourism industry and many of the culture fests think of Goa as a veritable carnival-provider. In fact, more often than not, the imagination of the culture fests in Goa gets trapped within the Goa-equals-fun-times clichés they operate in, thereby losing their intellectual and educational value.

Thus, right from the get-go, IFFI was wedded to the goals of the tourism industry. In fact, many argued that local and international members of the film world would be attracted in coming to Goa precisely because of its natural beauty and tourism-related infrastructure. As far as Goa is concerned, this is where the problem lies. Like mining, tourism is also an extractive industry; it puts pressure on public infrastructure if handled badly. One wonders why the Goa government and the organizers of IFFI, like the Entertainment Society of Goa and the Directorate of Film Festivals, prefer to add to the existing chaos.

One doesn’t understand why the organizers want to have more tourists given that the number of delegates is quite high. This year’s IFFI saw about 7500 delegates registering, a staggering number for a small city like Panjim to accommodate. Why can’t the Festival be more about an engagement with good cinema, and the residents as well as the traffic in Panjim spared the inconvenience and imposition of catering to the tourism industry on such a massive scale? The Festival wants to attract a crowd that has very little to do with films; a crying shame considering the 2016 edition had some very thought-provoking films. In fact, the tourist hoopla – food stalls, music programmes, and children’s activities – created such nasty traffic jams that many cinephiles missed the film shows.

Like literature festivals which have writers and artists in attendance, a film festival is also about the people who make films – writers, actors, directors, and technicians. IFFI 2016 was able to rope in many accomplished personalities renowned for their work internationally. These persons often conducted master classes and were available for interaction after their movie was screened. My impression is that most of these persons were willing to interact with anyone who was interested, young as well as old; sadly there were just a few to engage with the visitors.

Thus, the Festival – or any other such festivals – should be primarily a learning experience for all. Many young Goan filmmakers and cinephiles have written about their experiences that allow us to see the value of culture fests. These young Goans have written how being part of IFFI has allowed them to broaden their interests, expand their horizons, and be more engaged and interested in the happenings of the world. In other words, world cinema opened up the world to them! It is precisely because of such value that IFFI adds to the lives of young Goans that it would be worthwhile to have the festival, despite its numerous problems.

Many delegates at IFFI 2016 were of the opinion that this year’s edition was by far the best organized, and in many ways rightly so. However, the continued dependence on Goa’s tourism image to sell the Festival suggests that a lot needs to be done. Considering that the Festival has been around since 2004, 12 years is a lot of time to get one’s priorities right. And it is only by emphasizing on the learning potential of the Festival and its usefulness to the lives of young Goans (rather than the mindless carnival that is offered) that the Festival – indeed other such festivals – would be meaningful to the people, culture, and history of Goa.

(First published in O Heraldo, dt: 21 December, 2016)

ART AND FORGERY

Stories about art heists or art forgeries make good material for movies and books. IFFI 2016 featured ‘A Real Vermeer’ (2016), a Dutch film on the life of an obscure artist Han van Meegeren (1889-1947). Van Meegeren, a struggling artist who forged the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, the Dutch master who painted ‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring’. Van Meegeren is put on trial for fraud and treason, and finally sentenced to a year in prison only for fraud. The leading actors of the film, Jeroen Spitzenberger and Lize Feryn were in attendance at the screening. They extensively spoke to The Peacock about their engagement with Dutch art and cinema.

Spitzenberger, who lives in Rotterdam, The Netherlands is best known for his supporting role in the Dutch film ‘Twin Sister’ (2002) which was nominated for the Oscars 2003. Feryn, made her debut film with ‘A Real Vermeer’, and lives in Antwerp, Belgium. Before, she acted in ‘In Vlaamse Velden’ (2014, In Flemish Fields).

While the film draws on the biographical details of Van Meegeren, the filmmakers have also used fiction to weave the narrative of the film. “My wild guess is…60 to 65 percent,” says Spitzenberger. “I would say exactly the same,” Feryn concurs.

Was the film inspired by the story of Vincent van Gogh: a struggling artist with his fair share of eccentricities (to put it mildly)? “To be honest, no,” feels Spitzenberger. “But when you put it that ways…yeah I understand the association. I have been talking about the 60 percent truth in the movies…the writers, Rudolph van den Berg and Jan Eilander may have been inspired by frustrated, struggling artists.”

Spitzenberger explains, “The film is about the development of a young artist, who in the end becomes a forger – in a way he imitates his idol in painting. He is unable, unfortunately, to find his own voice, his own style of painting.” Spitzenberger also reflects on the rather fuzzy boundaries between forgery and art. With some caveats, he tells the audience that he personally does consider some forgery to be art. He explains further to this reporter, “What’s the difference between forgery and art? When are you a true artist? Does it depend on your perception? Does it depend on money? Does it depend on the approval of an audience? It’s a weird relationship that the artists share with the audience.”

Who are their favorite Dutch artists? While Spitzenberger prefers “magisch realisme” or magic realism for art (though he says he likes Vermeer when Feryn prods him), Feryn on the other hand prefers Vermeer: “He puts emotion in his work. I remember as a kid I went to see ‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring’… and I was impressed by the colors, and the depth, the light, the serenity, and the perfect beauty. Even if you enlarge a small part of the painting and observe the detail in it, it will still be beautiful,” she says.

‘A Real Vermeer’ was set in the background of the Second World War. It seems like the World Wars provide a setting for many Dutch and Belgian movies. “I think in Belgium the First World War has a huge impact. But the Second…I don’t know…” she says. The Second World War provides a setting for more movies in the Netherlands. Spitzenberger feels that using the Second World War might be a bit overdone, though he is not entirely against it. “As an actor I hope to be on a very long journey of different films. You don’t want to be the guy who only wears a uniform,” he feels.

“In Belgium we make different movies that in Holland,” Feryn informs, “they choose the safe commercial approach – like romantic comedy, and we (in Belgium) go more with art house.”

Spitzenberger further elaborates, “There is a lack of good story-telling in the Netherlands. The big complaint is that there is not much attention, money, and training giving to script-writers…Young writers need to be given a chance,” he strongly feels.

Both Spitzenberger and Feryn were happy to be in Goa. “A cinema festival can bind people,” Spitzenberger stresses. “It is a very hopeful thing, right? There should be more of such festivals – of poetry, of music, or of food, or anything…it doesn’t matter.”

(A version of this article was first published in The Peacock, 28 November, 2016) 

GHANA THROUGH AMERICAN EYES

‘Nakom’ (2016) was filmed in the Ghanaian village of the same name. There is no running water or electricity, and the subjects are steeped in tribal tradition. This deeply rustic setting both attracts and repulses the lead character, Idrissu (superbly played byJacob Ayanaba), a talented scholarship student on the cusp of medical school who is drawn back home by the death of his father. The film directors, Kelly Daniela Norris and T. W. Pittman were present at the IFFI 2016 screening of their film.

San Francisco natives Norris and Pittman previously made ‘Sinnerman’ (2009) and ‘Sombras de Azul’ (2013). Their seamless partnership drives ‘Nokam’ as well. On their first day in India, still a bit dazed from their flight to Goa, Norris and Pittman came all the way to the “pistachio-painted” The Peacock newsroom to discuss their latest movie.

Pittman spent two years in Ghana as a Peace Corps volunteer, in the same village as the film setting. She says, “it struck me that it was a view of a part of the world that is not understood by Western culture. It was totally eye-opening to experience a lifestyle that literally scratches an existence out of the earth. I was taken in as a child of that community and I still feel that way.”

Thus, “I think the most important thing for us was to tell the story of the village of Nakom – to show its uniqueness, its warmth, its struggle, its beauty, its humor.”

There is lots of negative stereotyping about Ghana and Africa around the world. Norris says, “in times when there are films that we associate with trauma or political violence – these big headline sensational stories – our goal was to tell a more nuanced humanistic story. The more specific you are the more universally the story speaks, and that holds true with every project that we have tackled.”

Considering the fact that the ‘going to Africa’ trope is done to death in Hollywood movies, is there an irony that filmmakers from America are trying to do away with stereotypes while traveling to Africa? Pittman explains, “this is a place that I and Isaac (Adakudugu, co-writer) know intimately. We knew that we had to be honest and faithful to what the village was. Of course this is a film that has a multi-national and global perspective – and I think it benefits it.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to commit to a project like this had I not lived in Ghana,” Norris adds, “we have trust and I know that Trav has a special bond with the village of Nakom.”

(A version of this article was first published in The Peacock, 27 November, 2016) 

MESSAGE FROM MANIPUR

“Today is a very special day for me. This is my first debut feature film. My mom is also here,” said Haoban Paban Kumar, director of ‘Loktak Lairembee’ (2016), before the IFFI 2016 screening of his debut feature. His comments were received with exuberant applause from the large Manipuri contingent which had turned out to cheer their friend.

“I always talk about contemporary issues in Manipur,” Kumar told The Peacock. An experienced documentary maker, his work includes ‘Phum Shang – Floating Life’ (2015) and ‘AFSPA, 1958’ (2016). ‘Loktak Lairembee’ (The Lady of the Lake) draws from his previous work with the unique fishing community that lives on islands of floating biomass called ‘phumdis’ on the Loktak lake. The director’s long association with his subjects helped. Kumar says, “I did the documentary first, spending ten years building a relationship with these people. Now my actors are from the same community.”

A graduate of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Calcutta, but now based in Imphal, Kumar still hopes for a “European premiere.” On prodded for the reason, he says, “for the career. Nowadays it is necessary. Otherwise how will people know about it [the plight of the people in his film]?” The world premiere of ‘Loktai Lairembee’ was in South Korea, at Busan International Film Festival. “That was really an opening, and besides that the film was also well received at MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Image).” Also, “Kolkata was crazy man! There was no place to stand. I had to watch the film from the projection room.”

Going it alone is not easy. Kumar says “my mother, aunt, wife, I and my friends fund my films. My family supports me. Independent cinema is difficult. A documentary is a bit different, it doesn’t need a lot of money. But when you make an independent fiction film everyone expects quality – in sound, for instance – and that needs money.”

About social tensions in strife-torn Manipur, the young director thinks things have deteriorated, “individualism is creating a problem. Now it is like, ‘I want my space’. It has to do with modernization, I think, and I am trying to address this in my next project.” The director used to believe the assertion of tribal identities was a positive factor, but now it is proving problematic. These are the issues he will address in his next project, which Kumar says may be the first film in India to talk about ethnic identity and conflict.

(A version of this article was first published in The Peacock, 27 November, 2016)