NFDC Film Bazaar, Goa,-lots to do in future!

INVC,,

Mumbai,,

I could tell by the sheer gathering of the crowd that the 4 days of National Film Development Corporation, Film Bazaar held in November 2011 was a great success.
But business wise the result was not as overwhelming. The 40 or so film screenings, especially for the buyers and producers, were not attended by most of them. So that took away the main purpose of the screening, as many buyers/producers to my amusement, later cited that they were there to ‘discuss’ in the meetings and not really watch all of the 40 films screened. I don’t think any films were actually bought at all! So, for the next year, NFDC should think over this matter as to how they could inspire and get the buyers/producers to actually watch the film, discuss it and show some more interest. And if they’re not successful, I think they should consider totally doing away with the film screening for them.

Many technological problems persisted during the screening, as the film producers and audience complained of absence of ‘five one speakers’ which was substituted by only 3 speakers. Also, the quality of the speakers, were like the ones people would rather use for a DJ during wedding parties.
The publicity material provided each day consisted of many grammatical and spelling errors and sometimes even the actual name of the film was changed! To my agitation I was livid of the fact that the film ‘2 Nights in Soul Valley’ was written as ‘Two’ Nights in Soul Valley’ and some did away with 2 Nights and mentioned it as ‘Soul Valley’.

As a director, one key advice on getting your film the most number of viewers and buyers, I’d like to suggest to not screen your films on the first day, as most of the delegates do not make it on time for the first day, some are tired due to the traveling and jet lag while others are tied up with other engagements. So, not many really turn up for the first morning screening, which was held at 11 am this year. The best day for the film screening next year would be on the third day of the festival mostly after lunch.

Some memorable films like, ‘In the name of Tai’, and first ever family horror film, ‘2 Nights in Soul Valley’ and Marathi films like, ‘Kajalee’, ‘color of sky’ and ‘Mumbai cha Raja’ were great to watch and learn from.

The celebrities present were, director Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Farah Khan, Sudhir Mishra, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Shekhar Kapur and Govind Nilhani and actors like Abhay Deol with fiancé Preeti Desai, Kalki Koechlin, Sanjay Suri and Hemant Pandey. Among these I think the ones who truly enjoyed the festival and made the most of it were Abhay Deol and Preeti Desia as Abhay’s first film under his new production company was also screened at the Film Bazaar.

Can you believe that the most crowded time was cocktail evening? I wonder where these people disappeared to, during the rest of the day.

Goa is the destination for enjoyment, fun and frolicking. Union tourism minister Subodh Kant Sahai said that Goa is a heavenly abode for foreigners and this film festival only helps in getting more crowd, who enjoy the scenic beauty, the parties and various tourist spots along with attending the festival.

Technologically NFDC Film Bazaar is not up to the mark. Like in other International Festivals they provide wifi connection to the media and the rest of the people. But here in NFDC Film Bazaar, there were only 4 to 5 laptops with broadband connection. So no one could use their own laptops. NFDC should really keep these glitches in mind to avoid next year.

Being a delegate in only about Rs.5000 is not a bad deal, as you get lunch in 5 star hotel J.W. Marriott daily and if you’re a lover of drinks then you can enjoy the cocktail evenings. Also tea, coffee and biscuits were served throughout. However, if the parties at night happen outside the hotel, please confirm as this year we took a long drive to Coco beach, Candolim where a party was scheduled, but on reaching there, learnt that the party was postponed not by an hour or two, but for the next night! The time and money wasted only added to our misery.

The selection of the panel for discussion was not apt. this year. For there was a discussion held on topic, “Are new age directors Trend Setters?” and on the dais were director Zoya Akhtar, actors Abhay Deol, Sanjay Suri, Kalki Koechlin. The point here I’m making is, apart from Zoya Akhtar, who’s the director? Naturally the entire discussion trailed off to some other topic and barely anything related to the topic was discussed.

Another discussion held on 26^th November was on, ‘Item number; oomph factor of Indian Cinema’. The discussion created a light atmosphere and the speaker on the dais was director/choreographer Farah Khan conversing with Rajeev Masand of CNN IBN. Also, it turned out to be the best discussion as Farah Khan openly admitted in front of everyone that her last film ‘Tees Maar Khan’ was a complete failure.
However, Farah Khan did make an interesting point on the difference between Bollywood and Hollywood. She said that the foreign audience of Bollywood films look out for the item numbers and the over the top song and dance sequence which is absent from Hollywood films. She said, “If we cut them out then what makes our movie different?”

Some discussions were really exciting especially for the film producers. As the topics were, ‘co-producing with Canada’, ‘co-producing with Italy’, ‘co-producing with Poland’, ‘co-producing with Australia’, and ‘co-producing with Israel’. If through this discussion even one film were to be finalized for a co-production with any one of the countries then this activity would have been successful for the film producers. However till the very end of the festival I don’t think I heard of any such deal being finalized.

The best part of the festival was the fact that, NFDC made 20 films in which 11 Indian language films co-produced internationally are in the lineup for being produced. Hopefully, we will get to watch some of these films next year in the Film Bazaar which could be a Punjabi film, ‘Kissa’, Girish Malik’s, ‘Jal’, Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Shanghai’ and Sandeep Verma’s ‘Manjunaath’ etc.

Also a notable feat of NFDC this year was the launch of a new section called Market Recommendations, which presented the latest Indian films to international buyers and festival programmers. Market Recommendations complemented the Indian Panorama and focused on productions that haven’t been previously released. In this section of 50 films, 16 films were in the library of NFDC’s recommendations section.

This international film festival also drew in a US non-profit organization to give grants to deserving films. The Global Film Initiative so far had made grants of $10,000 each to 112 films from 45 nations. It also distributed 85 films in North America via its Global Lens programme.

I am now looking forward to the international film festival in Ladakh next year from June 15-17. This event will screen around 45 films in four sections: international competition, world cinema, and Indian and Ladakhi films. Also an interesting aspect of this festival would be the hand out of Snow Leopard award to the best film on an endangered species.