Ahead of KIFF, workshops held in city with renowned auteurs calling for good content in Indian films

kolkata: Ahead of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), the city is witnessing a series of workshops on the great auteurs of cinema, calling for better and stronger content in Indian films.

In the past few months, the city witnessed a flurry of activities associated with cinema, an avenue where Bengal has always excelled be it in terms of art or commercial films; although the latter one is dominant mostly.

The most recent ones among such activities were workshops on renowned auteurs such as Jean Luc Godard, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, among others.

These were conducted by the Indian filmmaker and national award winner, Ashoke Vishwanathan who told Millennium Post that content is what is lacking in Indian cinema in the present time.

In a conversation on what led him to organise such workshops and rope in eminent directors, he said: “We began this series with 16 video essays which included filmmakers from India and abroad. We are having seminars on these every month, discussing at least two video essays. I think whether you are doing art cinema or parallel cinema, it is important to understand the craft of filmmaking.” He added: “For instance, directors such as Martin Scorsese, who works in mainstream format, are still able to assimilate all the knowledge and techniques absorbed from art cinema. These video essays and seminars will be useful to even those working in mainstream format.

Mainstream cinema is changing its character but not much in India as much as in Hollywood. A commercial cinema, such as Oppenheimer, is a good example. It has gone for serious theme and exploratory content and experimental form.”

Asked where India is falling short, especially at a time when several colleges are offering film study courses, Vishwanathan, who was a Dean at SRFTI in Kolkata, said: “The classes and courses need to be transformed into good content.

You need a good faculty who does research and is aware of international cinema. Our seminars are a protest against the marginalisation of regional cinema. We are trying to attempt a revival through these efforts, encourage making films that make you think.”