THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: “The usage of ‘female filmmaker’ is not at all appropriate and such gender disparities cannot be accepted,” said actor-director Geetu Mohandas at the two-day seminar ‘Empowering Women for Cinema’ held at Hotel Apollo Dimora as a part of the 22nd International Film Festival of Kerala.
She spoke on the topic ‘Making your first film’. “During my acting days, I was unable to comprehend what my dialogues were and now the situation has changed a lot,” said Geetu. She said festival films should be popularised along with mainstream films.
“Good film is born only when one realises that one’s perspectives are incorrect,” opined director Anup Singh. Cinema is time bounded. We must sense this fact with all our senses and act accordingly,” said Anup.
“It is vital for women filmmakers to make their own stand point,” said Rayhana, director of ‘I Still Hide to Smoke’. She expressed her shooting experiences and her accidental entry to the film industry from the theatre arena.
Renowned Indian filmmaker Amit V Masurkar took class on the same theme. The session was followed by the lecture on ‘Film Festivals’ by Alessandra Speciale and ‘Colour Management from Set to Screen’ by Sidharth Meer.
Directors’ take
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The sixth day of the ‘Meet the directors’ session of the 22nd International Film Festival of Kerala held at Tagore Theatre discussed the possibilities of depicting realism through the formal elements of cinema. Directors Rayhana (I Still Hide to Smoke), Dileesh Pothan (Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum), Ilgar Najaf (Pomegranate Orchard) and Sreekrishnan K.P (Heart of a Dog) took part in the function. Algerian filmmaker Rayhana talked about the backdrop for the story of her movie and discussed on the role of woman in cinema.
Current Indian films follow a fixed formula: Anup Singh
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Filmmaker Anup Singh (director, ‘Song of the Scorpions’) said most Indian films lack imagination and follow a fixed formula these days. His comment came during the conversation with filmmaker K M Kamal as part of the 22nd International Film Festival of Kerala at Nila on Wednesday. “The story begins, the obstacles follow, they are overcome, and the goal is reached, as if the goal was always waiting for you. I wanted to do something different.
Reason and logic work in the realm, but it is the imagination that brings one to the world beyond,” he said. According to Anup, we live in a world where we are taught to separate the body and the mind but one should celebrate the whole spirit. “All art forms and universities practise that so as to exercise control of others’ bodies and thus their minds,” he said. According to him there were many truths, and not one. “One moment you are what you are, the next moment, you are gone. We need to take time, and look, and appreciate.”