| The latest edition of the Cinefan festival of Asian films aims for greater professionalism than ever before. | |||||||||
| At the sixth edition of the Cinefan film festival last year, vast crowds milled outside some of the venues long before the scheduled screening time for each movie. | |||||||||
| The films of director Wong Kar-Wai were especially popular, drawing such hordes of enthusiasts that the auditoria just couldn't accommodate them all "" but many of the other films evoked an almost equally charged response. | |||||||||
| At one point, after the chaos had subsided, festival director Aruna Vasudeva wondered aloud why these movies were still considered "niche" and failed to find wider distribution. | |||||||||
| "Judging by the response this year, many of these films could have been successfully screened even at multiplexes," she said to loud applause. | |||||||||
| Now, as Cinefan moves into its seventh year, one of the festival's goals is to provide distribution and promotion opportunities to "small" films. | |||||||||
| Multiplexes are still a long way off for the kinds of movies shown at Cinefan but there are more realistic targets to be aimed for and achieved. | |||||||||
| "It's important to talk about the business of cinema as well as about creativity and art," says Vasudeva. "Each year there are so many directors wanting to know how to go about financing their films." | |||||||||
| Efforts are being made to help these struggling filmmakers who lack financial backing. The tribute to Fortissimo Films at this year's Cinefan, for instance, should help in the development of valuable contacts; Fortissimo is one of the world's leading sales agents and distribution companies and its head will be present at the festival. | |||||||||
| "We don't believe in forcing things," says Vasudeva, "but this should give our directors a chance to interact with distribution companies on more familiar ground than, say, in Cannes where they have no idea who to get in touch with or how to state their case." | |||||||||
| This year's edition of the festival has a more purposeful, professional look to it, with press accreditation, a media centre and invitations sent out to foreign press for the first time. | |||||||||
| "One reason people don't want to come to film fests in India is that there is no international publicity," Vasudeva points out. "This is a calculated investment on our part "" we want to provide a platform for international exposure for little-seen Asian movies." | |||||||||
| There have been minor changes in venues as well, with Cinefan taking over Siri Fort Auditorium for the nine-day duration of the festival. | |||||||||
| While film screenings will be held at three auditoria, a fourth will be used for an infrastructure-building umbrella event that will include interactive seminars, debates and exhibitions. | |||||||||
| Vasudeva doesn't seem comfortable about the suggestion that Cinefan might be primed to fill the slot occupied by the International Film Festival of India, which was moved to Goa last year to the consternation of film lovers in the capital. | |||||||||
| But she makes it clear that Cinefan has seen a big increase in attendance since it began. "We've gone up from 5,000 people in the first year to 35,000 in 2004," she says, "and this year we expect to double that figure." | |||||||||
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The business of cinema
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First Published: Jun 25 2005 | 12:00 AM IST
