Celluloid tales from across the world

Abhilasha Ojha previews the ninth edition of the Cinefan film festival in Delhi.

In one of the trailers of the film Vanaja, the protagonist, a young girl, is sweeping the floor of her house. As the camera zooms in, one senses a rhythm in her body, an uncanny sophistication even in this simple chore.

In another segment of the same trailer, the girl sweeps into the kitchen with a plate in her hand and strikes a Kuchipudi pose before making a quick exit.

Vanaja (the girl) is a poor fisherman's daughter who, after a soothsayer's prediction, wants to belong to the world of dance. She joins a rich, local landlady Rama Devi's household as a helper in the hope of learning Kuchipudi, but finds herself embroiled in a journey that's far from creative and rooted in useless societal barriers.

While audiences will go through Vanaja's journey in a span of precisely 111 minutes at the ninth Osian Cinefan festival, Asha, the protagonist of Meneka Das' Little Box of Sweets, is a girl slowly grasping the changes that take place in her village set in north India's Allahabad region in the mid '80s.

It's a story where industrial and government projects have replaced vast mustard fields and where the innocent Asha loses her heart to a handsome young man, Seth. Her aspirations for better living and her constant battles to be with the one she loves (especially when Seth returns to the city) leaves Asha in a dilemma.

Incidentally, the character of Nina Shah faces just such a dilemma in Pratibha Parmar's film Nina's Heavenly Delights. Here is a story of another young girl who, after returning back home to London, discovers a vast change around her.

Her people, places and everyone she had once interacted with, are suddenly alien and the film looks at, besides other issues, her challenge to save her father's restaurant.

At the Cinefan festival, where numerous stories will be told on celluloid from July 20 to July 29, tales travel from not just Asha's small village in Hyderabad, or Vanaja's poor dwelling place in south India. And while Nina's story is set in the heart of London, Rekados (Special Ingredients) is a film based (much like Nina's...) on culinary delights.

Directed by Paolo Herras, a young 26-year-old student of cinema, Rekados looks at three women from different generations whipping up recipes with secret ingredients in the kitchen.

Then there's celebrated Japanese director Mizoguchi's Water Magician (1933), adapted from a novel by Izumi Kyoka, that revolves around Irie Takako, a woman who falls in love with a young man and, in trying help him, ends up with murder on her hands and is finally executed by her own lover.

While reports of the festival having a "Japan focus" this year have been widely circulated, it will be interesting to keep track of some of the films in the Arab and Asian films sections. There's Cut and Paste (Qas Wi Lazk), the closing film of the festival, directed by Hala Khalil, which looks at contemporary Egypt through the eyes of a young couple who agree to a marriage of convenience so that they can pack their bags to New Zealand in the hope of better opportunities.

Going by the trailers (which you can check out on www.youtube.com), the film "" completed last year and showcased in festivals like the one in Cairo "" is young, lively, with a story that's elegantly told with interesting contemporary music thrown in for good measure.

Other films that will look at cinema from this region include Falafel ( a co-production between Lebanon-France), Making of and Tender is the Wolf. Falafel revolves around a young man, Toufic, who has to get to a late-night party on a borrowed mobike.

The evening is ruined when he finds himself in an altercation with another person because of limited "parking" space (something Delhiites can definitely empathise with!) and finds himself dealing suddenly with severe consequences.

Like Falafel, Nouri Bouzid's Making of was also showcased at the Tribeca film festival last year. Surprisingly, the film, in the past, has made rounds of various film fests under a misspelled title, "Making Off". Reports suggest that while the film hasn't had a very grand response in the Arab regions, it has been well received at film fests all over the world.

With around 140 films to be showcased at different venues (the festival has tied up with PVR this time around), film buffs will get to find their own flavour and see their own favourites at this year's fest.

And yes, while it's impossible that all films will come with a superlative tag, it's bound to be a rewarding experience. Now, if all film buffs could get leave from work!

SHOTS LIST
Ninth Osian's Cinefan Festival: July 20-29, 2007

Number of films ""140, with screenings at Siri Fort Complex, Alliance Francaise, PVR Plaza and PVR Rivoli

Films adjudged by five juries "" one each for Indian competition, Asian and Arab cinema and First Features (introduced for the first time)

Focus on Japan to mark the Indo-Japan Friendship Year, with an exhibition of Samurai art

Commemorating the 150th anniversary of India's First War of Independence in 1857, films from the Asian and Arab world will focus on stories depicting the struggle of freedom. Accompanying this will be an exhibition of photographs, chromolithographs and hand-painted stills from Osian's archive