1ST BOMBAY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

FOREWORD

Indians are inveterate cinema goers. For the first time they crowded 'Watson's Hotel' in Bombay in 1896 to see 'The Marvel of the Century'. 'The Spectacle of the Moving Photographs'. And ever since crowds have mobbed the 'Bioscope' theatres all over the country. India's own stalwarts and pioneers such as Sawe Dada (H.S. Bhatwadekar), Hiralal Sen, R.G. Torne, Dadasaheb Phalke, J.F. Madan, Chandulal Shah, R. Nataraja Mudaliar, Baburao Painter and many others lost no time in learning the art and craft of making films. There was never a full moment in the film movement. Documentaries and feature films continued to be made. Mythological themes took predominance in the early stages followed by social themes.

In the post-Independence period, the prduction of feature films and documentaries grew in number. It was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who realised the potential of the film medium to communicate to the masses not only the programmes and projects of his Government, but also to bring about social change. He himself inaugurated the first International Film Festival of India, in Delhi, in 1955.

India is one of the largest documentary film-producing countries of the world. While Indian documentary film-markers were winning awards and were being invited to be on the Jury of International film festivals, we had to wait for more than 40 years to organise an international film festival exclusively for documentary and short films here in india.

At last, the long-felt need has been fulfilled and the Bombay International Film Festival for Documentary and Short Films is being organised from March 1st to 7th, 1990. Films Division has been privileged to organise this Festival on behalf of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. For this very first festival we have received a remarkable number of entries - over 600 films from 40 countries. Well-known film-makers such as Howard Reid (U.K.), Florence Strauss (france)m Paul Young (U.S.A.), Nettie Wild (Canada) and Mark Findel (West Germany) have sent in their entries adding to the rich variety of films in the competition and information section

We have a very distinguished Jury headed by the India's veteran film-maker Mr.Jehangir Shapurji Bhownagary, who was once a part of Films Division and later went on to make films all over the world for UNESCO. He has been a source of great inspiration in organising this Festival and it is due to his efforts that we are able to have a Restrospective of Georges Melies, the pioneer film-maker from France, and a contemporary of Lumiere Brothers.

We are indeed grateful to Messrs Adoor Gopalakrishnam, Dennis O'Rourke, Ulrich Gregor, Erika Richer, Ishu Patel and Mikhail Litviakov - all eminent film-makers who would enrich this festival by being Jury Members. A sum of Rs. 7.5 lakhs is being given away in awards besides golden and silver conches. The award amount, we understand, is the highest in the world, next only to that of Japan, for Short Films. If the award can help a short film-maker in some small measure with his next film venture, it will have served the overall Documentary Film Movement in the world.

Apart from the competition and information sections, we have a rich fare of films in the retrospective section. The most attractive package is that of Georges Melies, one of the architechs of motion picture photography and we are grateful to his great-grand-nephew, Jean Charconnet, who is specially bringing with him the works of the Master running into four hours screening time. Besides, we have, the stormy petrel Sukhdev's retrospective, and student films of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.

We thought it appropriate to present the best of documentaries made in India in the 1980s as 'Spectrum India'. You will find a rich variety of films made by Indian film-makers from Mani Kaul to Anand Patwardhan alongwith award-winning films films made on the Films Division campus.

As the Festival is poised to open in a few days'time, I gratefully think of Shri P.Murari, former Secretary and Sri B.K. Zutshi, former Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Their spirited efforts in the formative stages of planning of this festival helped us shape the concept and different sections of the festival and also decide a generous prize money. Sri Suresh Mathur, Secretary, Ministry of I & B with his media experience and insight into the potential of documentary films, has provided strength and direction in organising the festival. Shri S. Lakshmi Narayanan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of I & B has always provided a spontaneous support and encouragement. I also extend my thanks to Mr. Bikran Singh, Chairman, Selection Committee, Mr. K.L. Khandpur, Chairman, Retrospective & Spectrum India Committee, and Mr. K.S. Neelakandan, Chairman, Publicity Committee, for their invaluable guidance and co-operation.

I take this opportunity to offer my thanks, in particular, to Messrs Mani Kaul, Dr.Jabbar Patel, Siddharth Kak, Opendar Chanana and Amrit Gangar who helped us in inviting films from all over the world. We hope you would enjoy the films, meet and interact with the best documentary film-makers of the world during the Festival. We also hope that this Festival which is expected to be an annual event from now on, will trigger a healty documentary film movement in this country.

 

(VIJAY B. CHANDRA)

FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

Feb. 26th, 1990

Bombay.