I attended the Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) this year. It was the 13th edition of the fest, but 'twas my first tryst with a film festival on this scale. The only other one I've ever attended was the Free State Festival, a couple of years ago; but that was a much smaller affair and not a purely film only deal. So this was all new to me, and pretty excited was I. I even went to the extent of cutting short a trip to be back home in time for the festival, which got postponed by about a month because of the floods in Chennai.
I came back from said trip the morning of the first day of the festival - Jan 6th - and could only go to the festival in time for the inaugural ceremony at Woodlands. First impression was "Film fest? More like sausage fest!" But this not being something new to me (my interests have always taken me to places heavily skewed towards the other sex), I shrugged it off and went about getting my delegate registration done. Turned out that the registration closes at 5pm and it was already 6, so they were turning people away. Here, my being the odd female in the line came in handy, and a nice guy from the registration team fast-tracked my application and got me an ID card. I think he, like the few others who came up and talked to me over the week, assumed I was "in the industry or a media person" and didn't want to get into trouble (could also be simply the being a female thing but sadly that's very rarely bought me any favours so I doubt it was that - more on this topic another time perhaps).
Registration finally done, I walked in to Woodlands where the inaugural ceremony was set to happen. I didn't care much for that ceremony, but I was very keen on watching the opening film Victoria. So it was quite disappointing to find the place completely packed with standing room only. I went and found a spot to stand in the corner and waited. And waited. True to form, the celebrities who were to do the inaugurating were late - fashionably so, perhaps, but in truth I found it annoyingly so. After standing around for a bit, I got fed up and went outside to find a seat. Found one, but then the mosquitoes found me. So back in I went. As I was standing inside again, I saw some guy carry a chair inside for someone. Probably an unexpected special guest. But this was enough of a precedent for me to decide to follow suit and bring in my own chair. I was comfortably ensconced on my plastic throne and the movie was just starting, when a couple of guys who were also standing decided to follow my example. This was all well and good, except they were blocking my view a bit and blocking the door completely. This last resulted in us all having to get up and shift every time someone wanted to go outside (man, people have really tiny bladders if they can't hold it in for the space of an hour and a half!). Still, in spite of all these annoyances, the movie completely drew me in. Loved it and was very glad to have caught it. I stayed back at the end to catch the credits (always do this especially when the music catches my attention) and was very pleasantly surprised to find that the music was by Nils Frahm - one of my favourite discoveries of 2014. Thus ended the first day of my film festival experience.
From day 2 onward, everyday was a mad rush from one venue to the next, one movie to the next, trying to cram as much movie watching as I could into every single day. The absolute maximum number of films one could possibly watch in a day was 4, given the show timings. I averaged about 3 overall, which isn't bad at all, but I could've done better if it weren't for a couple of goof ups on the part of the organizers. I'm making it sound like I did a lot of indiscriminate I-watched-this-too type viewings, but I assure you I chose my 25 movies after careful deliberation (shout-out here to the Twitter people, especially Venkatesh, whose recommendations, sometimes to others, I used a guide) and a lot of agonizing over what to watch and what to leave. I only ended up walking out of two movies out of all of those - a Sanskrit movie that was staged like a TV serial and another movie that wasn't as bad, but simply boring and not worth my time - and either liked or loved most of the rest. If I tried to write long pieces about each movie it would take even longer for me to publish this post, so I'm going to just copy/paste what I wrote to submit to the Film Buff contest thing (which I didn't win despite getting mentioned in their notable contributions list quite a lot..grr) at the end of this post.
Aside from the movie watching, the week was filled with more walking than I thought was in me. Walked from Woodlands to the Russian Cultural Centre and back, a distance of about 2.5km, quite a few times. Was quite proud of covering that distance in about 20-25 mins. Much quicker than taking the bus would have been given the waiting times and traffic. Still I did wish the venues weren't spread out quite so much. I couldn't make it to one of the venues - RKV Film and Television Institute - even once since that was completely out of the way and not easily accessible by bus even from the other venues. I tried Inox once, but doubt I'll ever go there again, even outside of the festival. Typical multiplex with the most annoying security blocks, overly loud sound system and oh, so cold - both the temperature and the general ambiance. Also, was really annoyed by more than half the people in line for Phoenix at Inox getting turned away due to there being no room, after having waited in line for a good half an hour or more. Is it too much to ask for them to let us know beforehand that there was only room for the first 100 or whatever? By the time they finally told us, it was already too late to change plans and go to a different movie (see previous note about spread-out-edness of the venues). On a more positive note, Casino was my favourite out of all the venues I did go to. Loved the old-school single screen (nice curved screen too) set up. The temperature and sound were just right too. Also helped that every movie I saw there was good and the crowd, being much smaller in number, was less disruptive as well.
Here's a breakdown of all the films I managed to watch, categorized by how much I enjoyed them:
Loved - Victoria, Taxi, The Forbidden Room, Embrace of the Serpent, Kirumi, Masaan, Pisasu, The Marriage of Maria Braun
Liked - RAMS, The Fencer, Radio Petti, Court, Short Skin, Virgin Mountain, Dora or the Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents, Anwar ka Ajab Kissa, Chronic
Meh - Phoenix, Mountains May Depart, Zero Point, Story of my father bike, Maya
Just no - Priyamanasam
Need to watch again (because I was too tired or only walked in partway through, etc.) - Aferim!, Lili Marleen
I was curious to see how the award ceremony would play out. Was wondering if it would be just another pointless popularity contest or if worthy films and filmmakers would actually be recognized. Must say the cynic in me was both very pleasantly surprised and proven right. The jury awards went to Kirumi and Radio Petti - both very deserving. Was also very happy to see the actor who played the old protagonist in Radio Petti getting a special jury award (I actually squealed and got out of my chair to clap as hard as I could!) - his character was hands down the most adorable of all the ones I saw all through the fest. The other awards of the evening, the best actor and actress awards were much more predictable and disappointing, respectively. Arvind Swamy winning the award was almost a given, and I think he was pretty damn good in a slightly above average movie, so no major issues there. But Nayantara winning the best actress award for Maya made me roll my eyes so hard. That movie simply didn't work for me at all - an interesting on paper but completely ruined on screen deal - and her part in it was so blah that I couldn't believe it. Then I heard all the cheering and whistling and remembered that the core audience here were young males who for whatever reason go crazy for her. Still, if they'd stopped with that I wouldn't have been so disappointed. But then they had to go and give her another award - a youth icon award! This made me positively groan out loud. I really don't get the hype around her at all. She's an okay actress but I haven't seen yet what's so amazing about her. I can name half a dozen other women who're her contemporaries who're way way better. Oh well. Still, at least the jury awards were on point, and that's to be appreciated.
Overall, this was a great experience and I can't wait for the next edition!
As promised, here are some of the mini reviews I wrote for that film buff contest. I wanted to share all of them, but after trying a few times, a few different ways to get in touch with the organizers of the fest and get them to give me a copy of all my entries, I gave up. These are the ones that got mentioned in their notable entries facebook posts, which thankfully are still up on their page. I really wish there was a way to get all of them though, because I wrote some pretty nice pieces, if I do say so myself.
Note to self: Next time, save a copy of every entry, or better still, just post them directly on your own blog since that contest is a sham anyway (/sour grapes).
Victoria (Germany, 2015)
A slow burning conversational piece that seamlessly switches gears into a high octane thriller. Much like the titular Victoria herself after that cocaine hit - the girl who was just coasting along turns into the one driving events. The single shot cinematography adds to the experience by making the viewer part of the gang, in a fly-on-the-wall sort of way. Special props for the music by Nils Framn and to the director for making good use of it - the scene in the night club comes to mind. A+
The Fencer (Finland, 2015)
While this movie follows the basic template of a sports film - the coach with baggage of his own, the team of unlikely children he trains, underdogs in a tough competition, etc. - what really made this film was the performances. The children especially were wonderful. This was my first time watching such a movie on a big screen and the experience of spontaneous applause from the audience at crucial moments really brought home the magic of the big screen. A genre film done right.
Taxi (Iran, 2015)
Sharp, funny, poignant..I could go on listing adjectives but none would do this film any justice. I will say though that watching it made me happy. So so so happy. Smiled my way through the whole movie and couldn't stop smiling even after it ended. In conclusion, here's another adjective - Inspiring!
RAMS (Iceland, 2015)
A heartwarming tale of two estranged brothers from cilly Iceland. Lots of little flourishes of simple humour in this one. Especially loved the scene where he scoops his brother up using a bulldozer and dumps him off at the hospital unceremoniously. Kudos to the director for making me so invested in these characters that I had my heart in my mouth during the final act. I wanted those sheep to survive almost as much as those brothers did. And I hope they did!
-----
These two, I saved to my email because I had trouble connecting to their website:
Maya (India, 2015)
This film had a lot of interesting elements but they just didn't add up to make a cohesive whole. As a horror film it really did not work for me at all and I'm not even a particularly brave person. Way too much reliance on slow-mo shots and loud music and not enough meat. The characters weren't fleshed out well and I simply couldn't bring myself to care for their fates. Overall a big thumbs down from me for this one.
Pisasu (India, 2014)
On the surface this may seem like a horror movie, but it has so many layers and possible readings. Is it an epic love story? A metaphor for marriage? All of the above, and more perhaps. And then there's that song and the choreography in it. Not choreography in the conventional sense because the dancer wasn't in front of the camera, rather the camera itself was the one dancing! Very interesting film that richly rewards repeat viewings.
-------
I simply have to write something about the other two movies that I really loved, so...
The Forbidden Room (Canada, 2015)
This movie made me go from "what the fuck" to "I still have no idea, but I love this!" pretty quickly. It was like being stuck in a Michel Gondry dream or something. Very fascinating, very cool. The credits told me that Venetian Snares did the music - such a perfect fit. Also, the director is also from Winnipeg, like V Snares. Must be something in the air there. Produces the most twistedly creative people. More please!
Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia, 2015)
Gorgeous b&w film shot in a part of the world I am desperately longing to visit - that was enough to sell me on it. But my, what a captivating and haunting movie this was. Loved the structure of it, loved the performances, loved everything. Such a special movie experience this was. So glad I could watch it on the big screen.
I came back from said trip the morning of the first day of the festival - Jan 6th - and could only go to the festival in time for the inaugural ceremony at Woodlands. First impression was "Film fest? More like sausage fest!" But this not being something new to me (my interests have always taken me to places heavily skewed towards the other sex), I shrugged it off and went about getting my delegate registration done. Turned out that the registration closes at 5pm and it was already 6, so they were turning people away. Here, my being the odd female in the line came in handy, and a nice guy from the registration team fast-tracked my application and got me an ID card. I think he, like the few others who came up and talked to me over the week, assumed I was "in the industry or a media person" and didn't want to get into trouble (could also be simply the being a female thing but sadly that's very rarely bought me any favours so I doubt it was that - more on this topic another time perhaps).
Registration finally done, I walked in to Woodlands where the inaugural ceremony was set to happen. I didn't care much for that ceremony, but I was very keen on watching the opening film Victoria. So it was quite disappointing to find the place completely packed with standing room only. I went and found a spot to stand in the corner and waited. And waited. True to form, the celebrities who were to do the inaugurating were late - fashionably so, perhaps, but in truth I found it annoyingly so. After standing around for a bit, I got fed up and went outside to find a seat. Found one, but then the mosquitoes found me. So back in I went. As I was standing inside again, I saw some guy carry a chair inside for someone. Probably an unexpected special guest. But this was enough of a precedent for me to decide to follow suit and bring in my own chair. I was comfortably ensconced on my plastic throne and the movie was just starting, when a couple of guys who were also standing decided to follow my example. This was all well and good, except they were blocking my view a bit and blocking the door completely. This last resulted in us all having to get up and shift every time someone wanted to go outside (man, people have really tiny bladders if they can't hold it in for the space of an hour and a half!). Still, in spite of all these annoyances, the movie completely drew me in. Loved it and was very glad to have caught it. I stayed back at the end to catch the credits (always do this especially when the music catches my attention) and was very pleasantly surprised to find that the music was by Nils Frahm - one of my favourite discoveries of 2014. Thus ended the first day of my film festival experience.
From day 2 onward, everyday was a mad rush from one venue to the next, one movie to the next, trying to cram as much movie watching as I could into every single day. The absolute maximum number of films one could possibly watch in a day was 4, given the show timings. I averaged about 3 overall, which isn't bad at all, but I could've done better if it weren't for a couple of goof ups on the part of the organizers. I'm making it sound like I did a lot of indiscriminate I-watched-this-too type viewings, but I assure you I chose my 25 movies after careful deliberation (shout-out here to the Twitter people, especially Venkatesh, whose recommendations, sometimes to others, I used a guide) and a lot of agonizing over what to watch and what to leave. I only ended up walking out of two movies out of all of those - a Sanskrit movie that was staged like a TV serial and another movie that wasn't as bad, but simply boring and not worth my time - and either liked or loved most of the rest. If I tried to write long pieces about each movie it would take even longer for me to publish this post, so I'm going to just copy/paste what I wrote to submit to the Film Buff contest thing (which I didn't win despite getting mentioned in their notable contributions list quite a lot..grr) at the end of this post.
Aside from the movie watching, the week was filled with more walking than I thought was in me. Walked from Woodlands to the Russian Cultural Centre and back, a distance of about 2.5km, quite a few times. Was quite proud of covering that distance in about 20-25 mins. Much quicker than taking the bus would have been given the waiting times and traffic. Still I did wish the venues weren't spread out quite so much. I couldn't make it to one of the venues - RKV Film and Television Institute - even once since that was completely out of the way and not easily accessible by bus even from the other venues. I tried Inox once, but doubt I'll ever go there again, even outside of the festival. Typical multiplex with the most annoying security blocks, overly loud sound system and oh, so cold - both the temperature and the general ambiance. Also, was really annoyed by more than half the people in line for Phoenix at Inox getting turned away due to there being no room, after having waited in line for a good half an hour or more. Is it too much to ask for them to let us know beforehand that there was only room for the first 100 or whatever? By the time they finally told us, it was already too late to change plans and go to a different movie (see previous note about spread-out-edness of the venues). On a more positive note, Casino was my favourite out of all the venues I did go to. Loved the old-school single screen (nice curved screen too) set up. The temperature and sound were just right too. Also helped that every movie I saw there was good and the crowd, being much smaller in number, was less disruptive as well.
Here's a breakdown of all the films I managed to watch, categorized by how much I enjoyed them:
Loved - Victoria, Taxi, The Forbidden Room, Embrace of the Serpent, Kirumi, Masaan, Pisasu, The Marriage of Maria Braun
Liked - RAMS, The Fencer, Radio Petti, Court, Short Skin, Virgin Mountain, Dora or the Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents, Anwar ka Ajab Kissa, Chronic
Meh - Phoenix, Mountains May Depart, Zero Point, Story of my father bike, Maya
Just no - Priyamanasam
Need to watch again (because I was too tired or only walked in partway through, etc.) - Aferim!, Lili Marleen
I was curious to see how the award ceremony would play out. Was wondering if it would be just another pointless popularity contest or if worthy films and filmmakers would actually be recognized. Must say the cynic in me was both very pleasantly surprised and proven right. The jury awards went to Kirumi and Radio Petti - both very deserving. Was also very happy to see the actor who played the old protagonist in Radio Petti getting a special jury award (I actually squealed and got out of my chair to clap as hard as I could!) - his character was hands down the most adorable of all the ones I saw all through the fest. The other awards of the evening, the best actor and actress awards were much more predictable and disappointing, respectively. Arvind Swamy winning the award was almost a given, and I think he was pretty damn good in a slightly above average movie, so no major issues there. But Nayantara winning the best actress award for Maya made me roll my eyes so hard. That movie simply didn't work for me at all - an interesting on paper but completely ruined on screen deal - and her part in it was so blah that I couldn't believe it. Then I heard all the cheering and whistling and remembered that the core audience here were young males who for whatever reason go crazy for her. Still, if they'd stopped with that I wouldn't have been so disappointed. But then they had to go and give her another award - a youth icon award! This made me positively groan out loud. I really don't get the hype around her at all. She's an okay actress but I haven't seen yet what's so amazing about her. I can name half a dozen other women who're her contemporaries who're way way better. Oh well. Still, at least the jury awards were on point, and that's to be appreciated.
Overall, this was a great experience and I can't wait for the next edition!
As promised, here are some of the mini reviews I wrote for that film buff contest. I wanted to share all of them, but after trying a few times, a few different ways to get in touch with the organizers of the fest and get them to give me a copy of all my entries, I gave up. These are the ones that got mentioned in their notable entries facebook posts, which thankfully are still up on their page. I really wish there was a way to get all of them though, because I wrote some pretty nice pieces, if I do say so myself.
Note to self: Next time, save a copy of every entry, or better still, just post them directly on your own blog since that contest is a sham anyway (/sour grapes).
Victoria (Germany, 2015)
A slow burning conversational piece that seamlessly switches gears into a high octane thriller. Much like the titular Victoria herself after that cocaine hit - the girl who was just coasting along turns into the one driving events. The single shot cinematography adds to the experience by making the viewer part of the gang, in a fly-on-the-wall sort of way. Special props for the music by Nils Framn and to the director for making good use of it - the scene in the night club comes to mind. A+
The Fencer (Finland, 2015)
While this movie follows the basic template of a sports film - the coach with baggage of his own, the team of unlikely children he trains, underdogs in a tough competition, etc. - what really made this film was the performances. The children especially were wonderful. This was my first time watching such a movie on a big screen and the experience of spontaneous applause from the audience at crucial moments really brought home the magic of the big screen. A genre film done right.
Taxi (Iran, 2015)
Sharp, funny, poignant..I could go on listing adjectives but none would do this film any justice. I will say though that watching it made me happy. So so so happy. Smiled my way through the whole movie and couldn't stop smiling even after it ended. In conclusion, here's another adjective - Inspiring!
RAMS (Iceland, 2015)
A heartwarming tale of two estranged brothers from cilly Iceland. Lots of little flourishes of simple humour in this one. Especially loved the scene where he scoops his brother up using a bulldozer and dumps him off at the hospital unceremoniously. Kudos to the director for making me so invested in these characters that I had my heart in my mouth during the final act. I wanted those sheep to survive almost as much as those brothers did. And I hope they did!
-----
These two, I saved to my email because I had trouble connecting to their website:
Maya (India, 2015)
This film had a lot of interesting elements but they just didn't add up to make a cohesive whole. As a horror film it really did not work for me at all and I'm not even a particularly brave person. Way too much reliance on slow-mo shots and loud music and not enough meat. The characters weren't fleshed out well and I simply couldn't bring myself to care for their fates. Overall a big thumbs down from me for this one.
Pisasu (India, 2014)
On the surface this may seem like a horror movie, but it has so many layers and possible readings. Is it an epic love story? A metaphor for marriage? All of the above, and more perhaps. And then there's that song and the choreography in it. Not choreography in the conventional sense because the dancer wasn't in front of the camera, rather the camera itself was the one dancing! Very interesting film that richly rewards repeat viewings.
-------
I simply have to write something about the other two movies that I really loved, so...
The Forbidden Room (Canada, 2015)
This movie made me go from "what the fuck" to "I still have no idea, but I love this!" pretty quickly. It was like being stuck in a Michel Gondry dream or something. Very fascinating, very cool. The credits told me that Venetian Snares did the music - such a perfect fit. Also, the director is also from Winnipeg, like V Snares. Must be something in the air there. Produces the most twistedly creative people. More please!
Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia, 2015)
Gorgeous b&w film shot in a part of the world I am desperately longing to visit - that was enough to sell me on it. But my, what a captivating and haunting movie this was. Loved the structure of it, loved the performances, loved everything. Such a special movie experience this was. So glad I could watch it on the big screen.
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