Bhubaneswar: The second day of 9th Indian Film Festival Bhubaneswar started with the screening of Suresh Sangaiah’s ‘OruKidayinKarunai Man’ (Mercy Petition of a Scapegoat) on Thursday. It is Tamil movie narrating the story of a newly married couple who arranges a holy pilgrimage for the villagers but on their way, a tragic accident which leads to introspection among all of them and the final conclusion. Next in the row was Lipika Singh Darai’sEnglish short film‘The Waterfall’(2017) and her Odia film ‘Dahani Ku NeiGalpo’ (Some Stories Around Witches).
The former revolves around the evolution of a young city boy, Karun who appreciates the value of environment as well as thinks critically about the climate change and development. The film has been screened at International Film Festival South Asia, Toronto, IFFI (Indian Panorama) and MIFF (Mumbai International Film Festival).Plot of the Odia movie revealed the humanitarian crisis surrounding the cases of witch hunting which took us closer to the people, who have been accused, ostracized, tortured and the circumstances that have led to it.
The film primarily engaged in three cases from some parts of Odisha, India, which finds resonance in other parts of the country. In the retrospective series, G. Aravindan’s KanchanaSeeta (Golden Seeta) was screened on the same day. Itis a 1977 Malayali movie which reiterates a few episodes from The Ramayana- The Punishment of the low-caste Sambuka , the banishment of Seeta and Rama’s AshwamedhaYagya. The movie is inspired from C.N. Sreekantan Nair’s play and Valmiki’s Epic. The title of the film alludes to the golden image of Seeta, which Rama sets by his side for the ritual sacrifice. With a special focus on North East, the festival also screened ‘The Head Hunter’(2015) directed by NilanjanDatta. This was his first feature film which tells the story of an old man who belongs to the forgotten ‘Wancho tribe’ from the north eastern states of India. They are dreaded for their practice of head hunting. The film has also been screened at Indian National Film Award(2016), Aravindan Purshakaram (2016) and Canada International Film Festival. The final movie for the day was Ottal(The Trap). Filmmaker JayarajRajasekharan Nair’s Malayali movie was released in 2014. It is an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s timeless work Vanka. A story of 18th century, but one that has travelled the time and space to be retold in the present day at a small village in South India. The movie was also screened in IFFK.
Meanwhile at screen 2 (Zona) a workshop was held on ‘Seeing Sounds, Hearing Images’ by Babu Eshwar Prasad who is a Kannada film maker. He is a renowned artist whose works are showcased in Prasha National Gallery of Modern Art, Karnataka Lalit Kala Academi, and several other public and private collections in India and abroad. In the workshop, he explained and taught the participants to interpret sounds in a image or movie – how it can invoke imagination, or even chaos. His film GaaliBeeja was screened on Wednesday.
A contemporary Oriya poetry and musical performance with Biebhu Bhai & Bhardwaj Panda was also organized in the evening which added to the charm of festival.
On Friday,five movies are scheduled to be screened which are Tithi(2016) by Raam Reddy, Village Rockstars(2017) by Rima Das, Gurvindar Singh’s ChauthiKoot (2016) followed by Manu’s Munroe Island( 2015). In the retrospective series G. Aravindan’s Malayali movie Thampu (1978) will be screened.At Screen 2 (zona) an interactive session will be held with Assamese filmmaker Manju Borah on the topic ‘North eastern cinema: then and now’.The day will conclude with the screening of Neeraj Ghaywan’s 2015 release Masaan.
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