MFF boon for independent, regional cinema

Mumbai, Oct 25 (IANS) Independent and regional filmmakers laud the Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) for giving them the right exposure.

At the 14th edition of MFF, a section called New Faces of Indian Cinema was dedicated to the independent and regional cinema. It showcased two Bengali films "Paanch Adhyay" and "Nandigramer Chokher Paan" along with "Saptapadii" (Gujarati), "Digant" (Konkani), "Gangoobai" (Marathi-Hindi-English) and two Hindi movies - "Oass" and "Filmistaan".

Director Abhinav Tiwari, whose first feature film "Oass" was screened at the festival, said: "The way audience turns up at these events and the way media covers them, films get benefit. They get a platform and the eyeballs too. After the screening, I have already got calls from three distributors."

"One more interesting thing about Mumbai Film Festival is the Film Mart. It provides a platform for the independent filmmakers. It is a kind of backing for them, where they can get in touch with buyers from different countries and sell their films," added Tiwari, who started his career as a floor manager in Delhi in 1998.

Ratnakar Matkari, who has spent more than three decades in theatre as playwright and director, brougth his first feature film "Investment" to the festival.

"Mumbai Film Festival is very important specially for the young directors because it is a window to showcase their talent. There is a generation dependent on these festivals only," Matkari told IANS.

Talking about Marathi film industry, Matkari, who won the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1986 for scripting the Marathi film "Maza Ghar Maza Sansar", said: "For last four-five years Marathi films have been picking up. Makers are picking socially relevant topics. Earlier, there was just comedies and it was majorly for the villages. But it has changed now."

National Award winner Sumitra Bhave gives credit to the young audience who are looking for authetic cinema.

"I think regional films are becoming more authentic. The young generation is no more interested in just watching the guy and girl dancing around the trees. I feel regional cinema always churned out good films, but now the people are opening up to them. Audeince has become mature than the filmmakers," Bhave told IANS.

Co-directed by Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar, "Samhita" was screened at the festival in "India Gold 2012" category.

Priya Krishnaswamy, who won National Award for her documentary in 1998, too feels coming to the fest helps a lot.

"Mumbai Film Festival has the best of films and it is an industry festival. When a film comes to MFF, it gets a platform and the chances get better of its release. I have seen MFF grown over the years. When it began it was a much smaller festival," said Krishnaswamy whose "Gangoobai" was screened at the festival.

Copyright  IANS

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