SPOTLIGHT ON SRI LANKAN FILMMAKER PRASANNA VITHANAGE

Born in 1962, Prasanna Vithanage’s opus of five previous films has made him one of Sri Lanka ’s leading filmmakers with a worldwide critical and popular reputation. He began his career in the 1980’s as a theatre director. He translated into Sinhala and directed Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man in 1986 and Dario Fo’s Raspberries and Trumpets in 1991, before setting out as a filmmaker in 1992.  He returned to his theatrical roots in 2006 when he wrote, directed and produced two hugely popular Sinhala one act plays Horu Samaga Heluwen which ran to nearly 150 performances islandwide. Vithanage also produced Uberto Pasolini’s Machan, the international co-production, which debuted at the Venice International Film Festival in Summer 2008.

Mr. Vithanage will be present at the festival.

DEATH ON A FULL MOON DAY (Pura Handa Kaluwara)

Language: Sinhala
Running time: 74 mins Starring: Joe Abeywickrama, Priyanka Samaraweera, Linton Semage

Considered to be a modern day classic of Sinhalese Cinema, The film deals with the brutal war between the Sri Lankan state and the Tamils living in the North of the Island. When Vannihamy (Joe Abeywickrama) is presented by the army with the remains of his son, the the old man refuses to sign the compensation papers, and insists that his son is still alive. Influenced by Satyajit Ray, this impassioned and impartial neo-realist film uses a spare style and little music, focusing instead on the excellent performances, and the pathos emanating from Vithanage’s script.

The Sinhalese government and military, fearing the film would hamper the army’s recruitment of rural youth and focus public attention on social and political problems in Sri Lanka, suspended its screening indefinitely. Vithanage appealed to the courts. The Sri Lanka Supreme Court eventually directed the government to lift the ban and awarded the director compensation and damages.

Pura Handa Kaluwara has won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix Golden Unicorn for Best Feature Film at the Amiens International Film Festival, the International Film Critics Federation Award at the Fribourg (Switzerland) International Film Festival, and the Silver Screen Award for Best Asian Film at the Singapore International Film Festival in 1999.

FLOWERS OF THE SKY (Akasa Kusum)
Running time:90 minutes
Sri Lanka, 2008
Cast: Dilhani Ekanayake, Kaushalaya Fernando, Malini Fonseka, Nimmi Harasgama

A mother’s search for a daughter she has never met.
Sandhya Rani (Malini Fonseka), an ageing film star, was once the darling of the silver screen. Having lost fame and fortune in a changing world, she now lives quietly in obscurity. She ekes out a living by renting out a room in her home to the film and television stars of today to satisfy their illicit sexual desires. The popular young film star, Shalika (Dilhani Ekanayake), uses this room to carry on an affair with a young actor. When Shalika’s infidelity is unmasked by her husband, the scandal and its publicity forces Rani into the limelight again. In the spotlight once again, Rani is suddenly forced to come to terms with a dark secret of her past – a secret she thought she had buried forever. As she confronts the demons of her past, she journeys in search of a truth she abandoned long ago.

Awards:
Silver Peacock Award (Best Actress), Indian 39th International Film Festival (2008)
Jury Special Mention At Vesoul Asian Film Festival (2009)
Best Asian Film (Netpac) Award – Granada Cines
Del Sur Film Festival

KARMA CALLING
Directed by Sarba Das, 2008
Running time: 90min
Hindi and English

AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER Los Angeles Asian American Film Festival, May 2009

When karma calls, you can’t hang up.

What happens when a bunch of hapless Hindus from Hoboken get mixed up with an underworld don with connections to an Indian call center? And what happens when a good Jersey girl falls for a smooth operator thousands of miles away? For one thing, the phone keeps ringing.
Meet the Raj family. Deep in denial about its creeping credit card debt, dodging collection notices and phone calls. When eldest daughter Sonal finally picks up the phone, she meets a call center operator like no other, Rob Roy. Little does she know that he’s oceans away. Her brother Shyam, a college drop out, is too busy dreaming of becoming the next Dr. Dre (peddling his hip-hop album Hapa Means Weed in Japanese), to notice the bills piling up. But romance is in the air for him too, in the form of Radha, a village girl from India, arriving in America to marry a Dollar Store mogul. As for the youngest daughter Jamuna, well, she just wants a Bat Mitzvah. And another bag of Doritos.
Add to this mix Mausi, a chai-fueled Mary Poppins fresh from India, hell bent on getting this meat-eating, energy-wasting, spendthrift family in line. Little does she know that the Gods have it all figured out.

Narrated by award-winning actor Tony Sirico (aka “Paulie Walnuts” of The Sopranos), Karma Calling is a snapshot of our hyper-globalized world through the eyes of a Garden state family just trying to get by. It’s a quintessential American tale about unlikely alliances, outsourcing, and outwitting. And at its heart, it is the story of a family learning to live together.

GULABI TALKIES
Directed by Girish Kasaravalli, 2008
Story by well-known feminist writer Vaidehi
Cast: Umashree, K.G. Krishna Murthy, M.D. Pallavi, Poornima Mohan, Ashok Sandip
Running time: 122 minutes
Kannada

Best Film in Indian Competition and best Actress in Indian Competition at Osian’s Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema, 2008

Best film, best screenplay, best actress at Karnataka State Annual Film Awards, 2009

Women in an Indian village discover that the love of a good story crosses many boundaries in this drama from Girish Kasaravalli. It is 1999 in a coastal town near Kundapura, and Gulabi, the local midwife, has had a hard life – she’s one of the only Muslims in a primarily Hindu community, and her husband Musa has left her to take another wife. Gulabi loves nothing more than a good movie, and she’s hesitant to leave a picture midway, through when she’s summoned to help a local woman give birth. Gulabi grudgingly assists with the delivery, and the grateful family presents her lavish gift – a color television, the first in the village, and a satellite dish to go with it. Given her faith and her marital troubles, Gulabi is something of an outcast in town, but when word gets around about her television, a handful of women from the neighborhood begin stopping to watch soap operas with her (though some are content to just peek though the windows at her new set). One of Gulabi’s new friends is Netru, who has husband troubles of her own, and the two women bond over their shared troubled and love of the daily serials. But with India and Pakistan at war, tensions between Muslims and Hindus reach a new high, and when Netru disappears, many accuse Gulabi of foul play.

7 DAYS IN SLOW MOTION
Directed by Umakanth Thumrugoti, 2009
US PREMIERE
Running time: 101 min
Hindi and English, India
Cast: Teja, Kunal Sharma, Shiva Varma, Rajeshwari Sachdev-Badola, Ayesha Jaleel, Vivek Mushran

Set in middle-class India, 7 Days in Slow Motion marks the comical yet thoughtful journey of a 6th grader Ravi and his friends whose lives change when they chance upon a camera of a visiting American tourist. Their insatiable love for movies push them into a film-making mission of their own, but their path is riddled with problems: they only have 7 days to make the film as their final school exams begin in 7 days.
Ravi uses creative ways to keep his friends involved in the project during the stressful exam season. But his movie-making project accidentally captures some darker moments of his friends’ and families’ lives which get revealed in a party where everyone suddenly sees on the screen who they are and what they represent.
7 Days in Slow Motion in a subtle way, shows a kid’s rebellion against a system where there is a lot of pressure to succeed academically. It is a beautifully pictured comedy of errors about a film-making project by children, where adults see the truth through a child’s eyes and his ‘borrowed’ camera.

KALA PUL (THE BLACK BRIDGE)
Directed by Saqib Mausoof, 2008
US PREMIERE
Narrative Short, 42 minutes
Urdu-English, US-Pakistan
Director: Saqib Mausoof
Cast: Salim Iqbal, Angeline Malik, Munawar Saeed, Ayesha Toor

Kala Pul is named after a bridge in Karachi which connects the affluent parts of the city and the lower income areas.

It is a dark journey into the heart of Karachi’s militancy by the protagonist, Arsalan, who returns to this gritty megalopolis after 12 years to investigate the violent death of his brother at the hands of religious fundamentalists. On his arrival in Karachi, Arsalan finds himself estranged from his rancorous family, in which his anglicized father is at odds with his devoutly militant younger brother. Arsalan has to navigate these diverging and conflicting paths to discover his dead brother’s past and Karachi’s future.
The plot uses the bridge as a metaphor providing a thriller ride between two completely different worlds – the hip side of Karachi and its disenfranchised youth growing up in the “Kalashnikov culture”.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

NJISACF 2009 dates have been finalized now

Date: October 9 through October 11, 2009
Venue: Busch Campus Center, Piscataway, Rutgers University, New Jersey

Gala Opening on October 9 2009.

Spotlight on films from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan

The best of South Asian Independent films from India, Bangladesh, UK and North America

Filmmaker Lounge, dialogs with filmmakers, history of South Asian Independent film making through photographs.

NO LIMIT, NO INHIBITION, NO BOLLYWOOD ENDING, NO PRETENSION, NO COMPROMISE, NO MASALA FARE

In the year 1906, villagers at Thrissur Pooram in Kerala, witnessed something that was simply unbelievable; on a flickering white sheet stretched across the wall, an image of a train entering the platform. This scene was breathtaking for them as well the Frenchman who showed it. The villagers could not believe what they saw, thinking it to be the work of evil power. This was the work of man– the arrival of cinema.

The fascination with cinema and images is what director K M Madhusudhanan has portrayed with use of stunning, poetic and dream like images in his first feature film– Bioscope. A fine painter, graphic artist and internationally acclaimed short film maker , the director was here in New Jersey to support the Spring festival of New Jersey Independent South Asian Cinefest. Here is an interview of KM Madhusudhanan by NJISACF staff Neha Mahajan.

NM: You are a graphic artist, painter and internationally acclaimed short filmmaker. How did you end up making films. What genre does it best belong to?

KM: Painting and cinema are connected. I see my film making as part of my art practice. My earlier works of graphics, lithographs, paintings and drawings dealt with dreams, history and memory. I tried and experimented all this in different mediums. So explored film making also. In a way without leaving painting I took up another art form and started doing both painting and cinema. Cinema is an extension of my paintings.

I have been drawing since my early childhood. The only difference is the narrative aspect. I love to tell stories through images. In painting one listens to a lot of stories encompassed in a bottle, or an apple or any other object. That gets a little restrictive, you really can’t go across a certain limit. But in cinema you are able to tell stories through visual images, and that too demands precision just like paintings. This helps one to reach good cinema.

As I said earlier there’s one thing that I have consistently done since childhood and that’s drawing. For my films too, I reach a concept through drawing. I can communicate through my drawings very well. So I basically rely on my drawings for cinema. I use these drawings while scripting and they in a way become my reference while I shoot.

Also attitude to paintings have changed. There are many a painter there who have successfully created images using cinema and paintings. Paintings have an eye to cinema.

NM: Do experimental movies get financial support and returns?

KM: Commercial success is something that money buys. When you want to put your work up for commercial success, people try and change it. Like producers would want some elements changed to make it commercially more viable. You have to compromise on your art. I am not willing to do that. I don’t want to alter my work to get audience. Creator gets money for his own work, Just like my paintings, I am 100% responsible for the cinema that I create.

As far as finances are concerned, now things are changing. Like NFDC helped finance my movie Bioscope. People do watch these movies, they will always create an imprint on your mind. Like Robert Bresson, who was a practicing painter until 40 years of age. No film can match up to his ‘Money’. If one sees ‘Money’, it will take years to erase it from one’s memory. It is like reading Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov.

NM: Will you make a commercially viable movie?

KM: We have had people like MF Hussain and Julian Schnabel making films, but their films get commercial somewhere. I am interested in my films being seen by wider audiences. I am not interested in altering my films to achieve it. I am happy to know that artists and film makers such as Schnabel are being appreciated by wider audiences.

For me films are my own ideas for which I use my own stories. And I am sure people will see it no matter what. When I see audiences for my films like Self Portrait or Bioscope, the shows become house full. There is audience everywhere, its a filmmakers duty to find them. Cinema has no language so it can adept well anywhere.

NM: Do experimental cinema get lost in the humdrum of popular cinema?

KM: Your question, I have partly answered in the earlier answer. Popular cinema is what they call Bollywood or Tollywood. These films are made with big budgets and superstars. You’ll find the same feel to movies. Repetitive narrative, same colors, sound and music. All these merely represent financial gains. They basically try and use the same formula that was successful in the market. This is just the kind of investment that they want back. They are all stuck up with a formula for success. They spend a lot of money and then they want that money back.

The point is, no matter what the budget, filmmaking does require a lot of money.

NM: Your works were honored by MOMA. Please tell us about that.

KM: My two movies were selected at MOMA, Self Portrait 2002 and History Is A Silent Film.2006.

Before making Self Portrait, I was seriously studying visual images. This story is about a photographer whom I saw on the streets of Delhi. I met him in Chandni Chowk. He had this old camera and would click pictures of people on paper negatives. The shots are very shallow. So he doesn’t know anything about anything else. This is the backdrop of US bombings. The technology is outdated and the man is without job. His close friend a policeman gives him the job of taking FIR photographs. Slowly his room is filled with pictures of the dead.

One day during a communal riot, his friend takes him to the crime scene. He takes the photo of a dead man and when he develops it he sees his portrait in it. The film basically deals with the inner menaing of visual images. What we see and what we know about images.

The film was well appreciated in MOMA, it also got an international award for best film from Greece. It has been to several other festivals.

In History Is A Silent Film, I have dealt with history through my medium of cinema. It is about disappearance as a historical motif. For many years I have been researching the history of silent films in India. If you look at the films and lives of people like Dada Saheb Phalke who single handedly started Indian Film industry without compromising the artistic values. There are so many people like them but they are getting erased from the history.

NM: What next after Bioscope?

KM: I plan a three part triology for Bioscope. Not exactly trilogy but an extension yet individual movies. The second part will be a atory about father and son who want to make an indegenous machine – a magic lamp. They depict Hindu mythological stories about life and how all that comes true.

The third part will be a contemporary Buddhist story of a person who is trying to make cinema.

An award-winning filmmaker from India, Goutam Ghose has made ten feature films and a number of prominent documentaries and numerous ad films, corporate and other short films.Ghose has won 14 National Awards (excluding 2008) besides Filmfare Awards and many International awards. He is the only Indian to win the coveted Vittori Di Sica Award. He was also awarded the Knighthood of the Star of the Italian Solidarity in July 2006.
He was present in our Spring fest to talk about his film. Read his interview as he speaks to our staff Neha Mahajan.

Here follows the complete interview.

I was very anxious while waiting for Goutam Ghose in a New Jersey hotel lobby. Having had a hectic day, I wanted everything perfect for the interview with this eminent filmmaker. It was not difficult to distinguish him amongst the crowd in the New Jersey hotel. His tall, dark, lean and a very confident persona stood out. For the next one hour, I could hardly keep a tab on time. Read on to know what DE SICA AWARD winner Goutam Ghosh had to say about his movies, Bollywood, National awards and his next projects. I wanted to ask him more, but time was short. Here is an excerpt of the interview with this very noteworthy filmmaker.

NM: Kaalbela is a film about turbulent 70s. How did you come across making this film and how nostalgic was the experience.

GG: This movie is based on a popular novel from the 80’s. The writer gave me the freedom to comprehend the story in my own way. It is about the student movement and I have special memories attached to the era of late 60’s and early 70’s where this film is based. While making this movie, my memories of that era just came alive.

Actually, this movie was planned to be a 5 hrs long ten part mini series for DD. But when Mrinal Sen, saw previewed, he wanted me to make a feature film out of it. It was very difficult for me to chop 2 hrs off, hence the length of the movie is about 3 hrs.

NM: You have been and avid follower of Satyajit Ray. Tell us about the close bond that you share with the legendary filmmaker.

GG: I admire Satyajit Ray. He was a unique man of the 19th century, the period which we call of renaissance and enlightenment. He was a great mind. I respect him as a brilliant mind.

NM: You were a strident political activist, an entertainer and director in theatre and photo journalist when you ventured into film making. How has that influenced your work?

GG: I was never a political activist. Born and brought up in upper middle class family. The people of that age were full of sheer romanticism. Without understanding the situation, they’d just jump in. We had an abstract poet in college. Me and my friend, we used to tease him that in times of rage and anger, you write about love and beauty. One fine day we came to know that he too had become a naxalite and was killed a few days later. This was the kind of craziness that youth had at that time.

From a very young age I had a fascination for technology. I believed science to be a part of philosophy. I had a keen interest in music theater and painting. This is what brought me to film making. Music was in my blood. All my siblings were taught at least the basic music. So I also know basic music.(I interrupted him here as he not only knows music much better than he claims but also composes for all his movies.)

NM: Your earlier films were about social issues. I read in one of your interviews that making Maa Bhoomi was quite a learning experience for you. How was the experience and how did you come up with the idea of making film in a language not so familiar?

GG: I met some producers from Hyderabad. It was some time after my first documentary Hungry Autumn. They wanted me to make a movie about peasant rebellion in the Telangana region. So I came across this short story by Kishan Chander. We were really short on budget and this film had a huge war sequence. The villagers were really supportive. They would tell us exactly how the clothes were worn in those times. I learnt a lot from them. Language definitely was an issue, but we had interpretors. One advantage about being in Hyderabad is that it has a heavy Nizam influence so the language is somewhat similar to Hindi, so we could understand most of it. The movie turned out to be a huge commercial success.

NM: Why all the rebellion in the films through protagonists?

GG: There is anger everywhere. If you see some injustice happening in front of you, you feel angry. It is romanticism, youth want change, something new. In 60’s this was dominant in Paris, US and Asian countries. Anger is the sign of the sensible human being. I do not believe in violence. We get angry when we see something wrong. The anger is in heart. We need tolerance in the society, violence cannot solve any problem. When I see terribly uncivilized people, I become angry.

NMWould you like to make a masala Bollywood movie?

GG: I do not understand the term Bollywood. They have money and expertise but the content is the same. If one formula works, they start following it and you’ll see many movies on the same subject. You cannot predict which film will be liked by the audiences. But young people are trying new content and style I have faith in young generation. I recently saw Delhi 6 and really liked the movie.

NMWhat is your take on movies being classified like multiplex, cross over, middle of the road cinema?

GG: Cinema is an intense language. You can write masala type, personal poetry or even the type relevant to the society. Cinema is flexible. When art and aesthetics come together, you’ll find good cinema. Not all my works are the ones that can be termed as great classics from the masters. The classification is more or less based on the economic definition, you really cannot define cinema. Mixed audience is a wonder, you have to work hard make a film for the mixed audience.

NMIs it necessary that cinema be the image of the society?

GG: It is not necessary. Directly or indirecty, you do get a reflection. After all, the characters, the stories are all part of the society. Cinema across the world is reflective of each culture. Indian culture is not homogeneous. It is difficult to define. Ours is a scattered culture. Bollywood along with regional cinema is incredible.

NMIs talent limited to only Bollywood? I mean why is it that Padma Shri (s) go to Aishwarya Rais and akshay Kumars? There is a hoard of talent around, is there something a miss or are we just blind to the right kind of films?

GG: Much to be blamed is the lobby of the strong groups. In the first place why was Hindi chosen as the national language of India? People speak more regional languages than Hindi. So whenever a lobby is strong, it tends to have its influence. Talent is there. I think per say that regional cinema has more talented actors. I personally feel Malyalam films is where the true super stars are. Even in the most ordinary Malyalam film, the acting is exceptional. It is in their blood, from all the Kuchipudi and Kathakali. But concentration is more on Bollywood– the popular cinema. Money and media both play an important part here. They manufacture the same content.

NM: National Film festival awards have always been shrouded in controversy over lobbying and preferences. What is your take on this issue. How will this be best dealt?

GG: National awards were once confirmed for serious type of films. It has become a commodity now. It’s a kind of a medal that everybody wants around their necks. There are a lot of games., lobbying and pressurizing. It depends a lot on the jury. I myself have been in the chair and can say that they don’t get true professionals. It needs three to four weeks of watchign movies, one jury member ends up watching over four full length feature films in a day and becomes an easy victim for the lobbyists. We have seen that in Oscars too for the past many years. Slundog didn’t really deserve to win, but with the media hype, it becomes a different ball game all together. They need to first shortlist at the regional level then be fair in bringing out the right talent.

NMYou acted in Buddhdeb das gupta’s Grihajudda way back in 1982, any plans of coming in front of the screen again?

GG: (laughs) No. I am happy making my cinema.

NMWhat are your next projects?

GG: I love making documentaries, scholarly, academic type of movies. I am currently working on two projects– one is a Indo Italian venture and the other is a Indo-Bangladesh. Until recently there was no bilateral agreement between India and Italy. Now that the agreement is being signed, I thought it was only relevant to make this movie. It is about a young boy and his love for his parents. It is an east-west encounter.
Our country is fascinating. I want to show people smiling, rural people who have nothing but that intoxicating smile.
The second project is about the Philosopher Lallan. It is a must to bring Lallan to the intolerant societies of today.; he was neither a Hindu nor a Muslim.

Last month has been a busy and eventful one. NJISACF 2009 officially kicked off with a one day Spring Festival on Saturday April 18, 2009, at the Busch Campus Center, Rutgers University, NJ, with style, verve and dazzle. Four independent feature-length films from different regions of India were screened throughout the day, and once again witnessed an audience turnout far beyond expectation.

Something noteworthy has been happening in Indian cinema in the last decade: the number of independent regional films being made has been comparable to that of the films churned out of Bollywood. These independent films not only deal with subjects rarely addressed in Indian commercial cinema, they often gain critical recognition and coveted awards at international film festivals around the world because of their excellence and brilliance. The one-day festival on April 18, 2009, was a rare opportunity to watch some of such films.

The 4 films screened on the occasion included the revival of a lost gem, Genesis – a story about love, jealousy and betrayal starring Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri — by Mrinal Sen, who is considered to be one of the socially committed filmmakers of international fame who ushered in a new era in Indian filmmaking back in the fifties. Another recent film, Kaalbela, a love-story set in the times of Vietnam and the Bangladesh wars, was directed by Goutam Ghose, who belongs to a generation of filmmakers who are influenced by the works of artists like Mrinal Sen. Noted theater personality Chitra Palekar had her debut feature Maati Maay screened on the occasion. Maati Maay deals with the crisis a woman faces in trying to balance between her professional commitments and instinct. Lastly, Bioscope, a new film by a first-time feature filmmaker, K. M. Madhusudhanan, about the introduction of cinema in a remote village in Kerala, may well be hailed as an outstanding cinematic achievement. Directors Goutam Ghose and K. M. Madhusudhanan were present at the screening of their respective films and both participated in intimate and in-depth question and answer sessions with the audience.

Most of the films played to packed auditorium, with Kaalbela being sold out well in advance. The snaking lines outside the theater and the excitement among the audience are evidence that NJISACF has become a sensation and a much-awaited event for film-lovers who otherwise may not have had the chance to see these films ever again. People travelled from far-away Washington DC, Virginia, Connecticut and Massachussetts to watch these films.

Now its time to wait for the main event in September 2009 – the 3rd New Jersey Independent South Asian Cine Fest, which will focuses not only on regional films from India, but on films by and about South Asians from all over the world.

Catch the updates about NJISACF 2009 regularly on www.njisacf.org.

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NJISACF Spring Festival
Encouraged by the overwhelming and growing popularity of the festival, New Jersey Independent South Asian Cine Fest (NJISACF) will be organizing a Spring Film Fest on Saturday, April 18th, from 12 pm to 11 pm, at the Busch Campus Center, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ. This will be a festival of regional films by master filmmakers from India featuring rarely seen works by Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasaravalli and Goutam Ghosh. Details will be posted soon on NJISACF website at www.njisacf.org.

New Website
NJISACF has launched its brand new website. You can check it out here at www.njisacf.org and take a look at our latest updates, blog and more information. Join our email list to get regular updates.

Call for Submission, NJISACF 2009
NJISACF announces its call for film submissions for the 2009 festival. Films submitted should have been completed prior to 2007. Films selected for screening will be eligible for jury awards at various categories. To learn more and download the submission entry form, visit www.njisacf.org.

Selvaggia Velo
Director, River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival (Italy)strong>

The River to River Florence Indian Film Festival is unique in several ways. It is a film festival in Florence, Italy, dedicated to Indian films and organized by an all-Italian committee, and started as the first festival in the world totally devoted to Indian cinema and films about India. With a great vision, tremendous enthusiasm and hard work, the festival founder and director Selvaggia Velo started this festival in October 2001. As the festival steps into its ninth year, we interview Velo to find out more about what attracted her to Indian cinema, her experiences and her visions.

When and how did you start the River to River Indian film festival? Also, tell us a little bit about yourself. How did your love affair with Indian films start?

SV: The first edition of the Festival took place in October 2001, and the reason was that I realized that at that time there were no festivals in the world totally devoted to Indian cinema. I knew a little bit of Indian cinema – the classics, and also a bit more – but not too much, but I firmly believed that Indian cinema deserved a festival all for itself.
I liked India, and I liked cinema, and I united the two things.

As for myself, I have studied history of Music, Theatre and Cinema at University. I have lived in Paris as a child with my family, in Bruxelles when I was a teenager, and studied at the University of Bologna near Florence. I used to play the piano.

Then since 1998 my love has completely been towards India and it’s culture, and it is since then that I have been travelling to Mumbai, where I have many friends and where I feel at home. I am 36 years old, and I remember that during the first meetings for the Festival, people would look at me a bit strangely, perhaps thinking that a woman would not be able to run a festival, but I am happy that I have am slowly managing all this!

Are there theatres in Florence screening Indian films on a regular basis? Are they Bollywood films?

The theatres do not screen Indian films in Italy at all. The only Indian films that are screened here are those by NRI filmmakers, such as Mira Nair, Gurinder Chadha and Deepa Mehta. Lagaan was screened here after winning the Audience Award in Locarno Film Festival in 2001, but it was not much of a success.

What are your mission and goals?

To showcase the best of recent Indian independent cinema

What kind of response do you get from the Italian audience?

The response is very good, and through the years it has been growing in numbers and quality, taking also into account that we are the only festival of this kind in Italy.

What percentage of the festival audience is Indian? Do you have any person of Indian origin associated with this festival?

Unfortunately, since we do not screen Bollywood films, the Indian audience is very little.

And yes, we have Mrs. Uma da Cunha who is associated with the Festival – she is a film programmer, journalist and casting director based in Mumbai, and she has always supported us since the beginning.

Tell us a little about your experiences in the first couple of years of the festival. What kind of challenges did you face?

During the first couple of years all was new, and I learnt running the Festival as time went by. It is not only the job of selecting films, but also of looking for the sponsors, thinking of the graphics with the graphic designer, deciding the entire film program and side events, the press office and the guests, and all that is needed for the implementation of a film festival. As I said before, I did not study this in any school or university, nor did I have any experiences in other film festivals, so I learnt from my own mistakes and by seeing how things went on every passing year.

How did you go about assembling a film programming team interested and informed in Indian films?

This takes time. I used to be the only person going to India and to festivals, and watching the films that are then sent here. Now, I have people selecting the films with me.

How do you raise funds for this festival?

Most of the sponsors are institutional ones. I am still not that good at finding private sponsors, apart from small ones.

Is there any other film-related event you produce during the year?

I am also a freelance consultant for Indian films in Italy, so often I am called to organize screenings out of the Festival.

What’s your future vision for the festival?

This year will be the 9th year of the festival, and 2010 there will be the 10th year – something that I never imagined would ever materialize, sincerely!

The Festival wants to become THE place in Europe where to watch Indian films, and be also a marketplace where future collaborations can begin