The 50th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) that began on Wednesday in Goa has a retrospective section on the movies of Ken Loach. The British filmmaker, who is known for his socially critical directing style and passing on socialist ideas on poverty, labour rights and other issues plaguing the society through his films, could not come to Goa to be a part of the festival. But he recorded a video for the delegates of the festival that was played at the inaugural ceremony.
His two-minute video on cinema and its importance seemed to be one of the highlights of the inaugural ceremony. “It’s extraordinary that stories that we tell about our world and our society manage to make contact with people across the world. It clearly shows the things that concern us— finding lives of dignity, bringing new generations into happy lives, and working together in solidarity—all these things we share,” he said, remarking that although the details of our lives may be different, “the concerns are universal.”
We now have particular problems, that he thinks, we share as [a world]. “The rise of the political far right concerns so many. We are divided by the countries we come from, divided by the class we belong to, the economic class, and divided by interests. But by writing sensitive films, the reason that unites us is far bigger than what divides us, and that way we all fight together for a better world,” he said.
It was not a surprise then that the opening film, Despite The Fog, directed by Goran Paskaljevic, that had its Asia premiere at IFFI, also spoke about a burning issue of the current times. The film that charts the story of a young Muslim boy, a refugee in Italy, is about the refugee crisis as much as it is about the emotional trauma of people who are affected and those who want to help. The Serbian film director said that in Europe, there are more than 10,000 kids abandoned, of which, half of them were in Italy at some time and they led a tough life. He did not want to make a political film, rather focus on the humanitarian aspect of the issue. And well, he does that really well in the heart-wrenching drama that though is not outright political, it touches finer nuances that shake you up.
The message of these two filmmakers was not lost. Soon after when Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar took to the stage, he described films as the “soft power” of the country and promised to work in favour of making filmmaking easier. He spoke about how currently to shoot a film, filmmakers have to go through many approvals. “India has lots of scenic and beautiful shooting sites for national and international films but shooting at these locations requires around 15-20 permissions. Government is now preparing for single-window arrangement which will take care of all the permissions and it will benefit places like Goa, Leh-Ladakh and Andaman & Nicobar,” he said.
The highlight of the inaugural day, however, was the mutual admiration that superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikant, who were felicitated with a retrospective section and the Icon of the Golden Jubilee respectively, showed each other on the stage. If Rajinikant said that Bachchan has been his inspiration, the latter spoke about the camaraderie they both share. While addressing the audience at different timelines of the event, they were almost united in their opinion that it is the love of the people that have made them what they are, and they are full of gratitude for that.
