The forty fourth version of the Festival des 3 Continents has opened within the western French metropolis of Nantes. This 12 months’s occasion honours Indian cinema, with an eclectic programme devoted to the golden years of filmmaking from 1970 by way of to 1990.
Over the subsequent two weeks, audiences in Nantes and in cinemas all through the Loire-Atlantique area can feast their eyes on 90 fiction and documentary function movies from Latin America, Asia and Africa.
Many of them have by no means been screened in Europe.
Besides the official choice, there’s a tribute to Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda (winner of the 2018 Cannes Palme d’Or), who will likely be attending the pageant.
There can also be the presentation of the whole work of Mike De Leon, a necessary determine in Filipino cinema, and a dive into the movies of Argentinian Raúl Perrone.
India and its illustrious cinema business is highlighted with a particular give attention to the intensely artistic interval of the Seventies and ’80s – a time when political points, historical past and cinema intersected.
The 14 heritage movies current the wealthy range in Indian cinema, pushing past the stereotypes related to Bollywood – the Hindi movie business primarily based in Mumbai.
Linking previous and current
“It’s about creating a balance because, in the public’s mind, Indian cinema is linked to Bollywood which is a very particular way of making film and not the only one,” Jerome Baron, the pageant’s creative director instructed RFI.
There are 56 completely different languages and simply as some ways of expressing Indian tradition, Baron says, insisting on the significance of sustaining a hyperlink between up to date movies and historic archives.
“Looking back at the past is another way of understanding present-day cinema,” he insists. It can also be one thing that units the pageant other than different occasions, and retains the general public coming again annually.
“When I discovered the restoration of ‘Thampu’ at the Cannes Classics in May, I was so astonished by the film, which is, in my view, an absolute masterpiece,” he says, referring to the 1978 movie by director Govindan Aravindan.
Curious concerning the strategy of restoring movies, Baron received in contact with Shivendra Singh Dungarpur – founding father of the Film Heritage Foundation in India, who curated the choice for the pageant.
“When I was making my film ‘Celluloid Man’, I made the heart-wrenching discovery of the colossal loss of our film heritage and that in turn moved me to establish the Film Heritage Foundation to save what remains of our film heritage as well as plan for the future,” he instructed RFI.
Celebrating rebellious heroes
But this endeavour will not be with out its challenges, each monetary and technical, he says, indicating the necessity to increase consciousness over the significance of preserving social and cultural heritage by way of movie.
“In a world where the moving image has been reduced to content to be consumed on the go, on demand, on cellphones and personal devices, where the ‘democracy’ of the digital medium makes everyone a filmmaker, editor or musician, the idea of cinema as an art form is further diluted.”
Baron’s organisation did an archival venture on Saeed Akhtar Mirza, some of the essential administrators of the Indian cinema’s New Wave within the ’70s and ’80s.
Mirza’s debut movie “Arvind Desai ki Ajeeb Dastan” (1978) will likely be screened for the primary time in France, within the director’s presence.
It’s the story of the son of a wealthy businessman, dabbling in Marxist philosophy and struggling to come back to phrases with the rich-poor divide. The movie gained a number of awards, together with the Filmfare Critics’ Award for the Best Film in 1979.
“This celebration of the rebellious poets of Indian cinema in Nantes reaffirms our commitment to the preservation and restoration of India’s rich film heritage, especially those films that won acclaim, but live on the fringes of the mainstream, and hence are in even greater danger of disappearing as the commercial world turns its backs on them,” Dungarpur says.
Deeper understanding of the world
Baron is eager to emphasize that the pageant is “not seeking a form of exoticism” however relatively provides completely different views on the world.
“The younger newcomers I spoke to said they are trying to find a more sensitive, deeper image of the world they live in than the one they get in the media.
“They can get news from each nation in 5 minutes because of the web, and movies coming from China, Japan, Honduras. But the filter of cinema, of artwork, provides them one other viewpoint.”
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Although the representation from the African continent is thin this year, Baron points to the importance of a growing trend in documentary filmmaking, such as “Nous, etudiants” (“We, Students!”), 2022, by Central African director Rafiki Fariala.
There will be a special screening of “Sambizanga” (1972) by Sarah Maldoror which follows the early days of the struggle for independence in Angola. A leading figure of African cinema who died in 2020, French-born Maldoror made numerous films in Algeria and Portuguese-speaking Africa, including politically engaged documentaries and fiction films on decolonisation.
The prizes for the International Competition will be awarded on 27 November, followed by the screening of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film “Broker” (which won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival 2022), ahead of its release in French cinemas on 7 December.
Click here to see the full programme of 3 Continent Festival.
Originally published on RFI