NEW DELHI: Indian cinema will be the focus at the 64th Locarno International Film Festival, which is scheduled to begin tomorrow, with a showing of classics and a retrospective of Satyajit Ray.
The section called "Open Doors" will embark on discovering new talent as well as screening a panorama of Indian films. The Film Federation of India, which has initiated this focus, had earlier participated in Cannes Film Festival, FFI Secretary General Supran Sen told indiantelevision.com.
Filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, documentary filmmaker Gargi Sen, actor Kabir Bedi, and producer Bhuvan Lall will be present. Critic Indu Srikent is chairing the jury for the short film festival.
The FFI will be represented by Vice Presidents L Suresh and Ravi Kottarakara, Executive Committee members K Nanda Kumar and Shashi Balakrishnan, and Sen.
Open Doors screening will present thirteen Indian classics which include Raj Kapoor’s Aag, Jahnu Barua’s Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai, Girish Kasaravalli’s Kanasembo Kudureyaneri, Shyam Benegal’s Manthan, Ritwik Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaka Tara, Aparna Sen’s Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar, Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Nizalkkuthu, Franz Osten’s Prapancha Pash, Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa, Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan, Umesh Kulkarni’s Valu and Rajnesh Domalpalli’s Vanaja.
A retrospective of Satyajit Ray will include Charulata (The Lonely Wife), Joy Baba Felunath (The Elephant God), Kapurush (The Coward), Mahanagar (The Big City) and Nayak (The Hero).
Open Doors organises a co-production lab every year for which twelve projects have been selected from India. The selected projects are: Aharbal Falls by Ajay Raina, Ajeeb Aashiq / Strange Love by Natasha Mendonca, Arunoday / Sunrise by Partho Sen-Gupta, Burqa Boxers by Alka Raghuram, Char, The Island Within by Sourav Sarangi, Jat Panchayat / The Judgement by Satish Manwar, Lasya / The Gentle Dance by Anup Singh, Samaadhi / The Penance by Sidharth Srinivasan, Sebastian Wants to Remember by Vasant Nath, The Trapper’s Snare by Shanker Raman, Thread / Le Fil by Lilium Leonard and Vidhvastha / Devastated by Ashish Avikunthak.
