Osian’s Cinefan Fest at Liberty Cinema
Film festivals bring gravity to cinema and make it more than just song, dance and entertainment,” said Anurag Kashyap at the 13th Osian’s Cinefan festival at Osianama at Liberty cinema panel discussion on the various facets of the Film Festival with leaders such as Aruna Vasudev, Swarna Mallawarachchi, Bina Paul, Anurag Kashyap, N. Vidyashankar, Uma da Cunha, Latika Padgaonkar, Indu Shrikent and Neville Tuli among others. Celebrities of the likes of Shyam Benegal, Lalita Lajmi, Aarti Chhabria, Deepak Dobriyal, SMM Ausaja, Abhinav Tiwari, Arif Lamba were present at the festival. Speaking to Neville Tuli, the driving force behind Osian’s, Anurag talked about how a current member of his team has quit Silicon Valley to be here, how Vasan Bala and Neeraj Ghyawan quit their white collared jobs to join him, and how he could not afford to pay them more than Rs 10000. “When Neeraj made Masaan and it released and won an award, Neeraj’s father actually got him a script he had secretly written and asked him opinion on it. That shows what festivals can do.” This surely made sense, for it is his passion to bring world cinema to the common man that has driven Neville Tuli to have the 365-day free world cinema at Osianama at Liberty, and the 13th Edition of Osian's-Cinefan (Part 1) and African Cinema. Says Neville Tuli, “India has had a relatively weak and apathetic attitude towards world cinema, especially African, absorbed in its own escapism, and so naturally the development of a sensitive and quality-conscious cinematic culture becomes very difficult despite a deep love for cinema. They are radically very different concepts. Passion for cinema is necessary but not sufficient for cinematic culture to develop. Nurturing this sensitivity must become an imperative of all members of the film fraternity if we are to truly grow into a global cinematic force.” The festival saw Aruna Vasudev being honoured with the 1st Osianama Lifetime Achievement Award for Nurturing Cinematic Culture as well, besides the screening of Wadjda, the first feature film made by a female film director from Saudi Arabia. Mar 5 sees 20 Fingers by Maina Akbari at 12, Moolaade by Ousmane Sembene at 2, Two Women by Tabmineb Milani at 4.30. Panel discussion on Role of Cinema in Helping Women Overcome Abuse, Violence and Injustice at 6.30pm followed by Track 143 by Narges Abyar at 9pm. Mar 6 will see Under The Skin of The City at 12, followed by Hush! Girls Don’t Scream by Puran Derakhsbandeb, Surname Diet Given Name Nam by Trinh T. Minh-ha at 4pm, Panel Discussion on The Hypocrises and Double Standards of the Depictions of the Female Sexuality in Cinema – What is the Way Forward? At 7pm followed by Life Above All at 9pm. And of course, the much-awaited Jai Gangajal premiere will take place on March 7 at Osianama at Liberty. Check this one out. Entry free for all.
