Don't look away now

A point often raised at various discussions during MIFF (at this and previous editions), is the difference between reportage and documentary filmmaking.u00a0 Reportage can be a planned or unplanned shoot of a live event or issue, maybe without a point of view and often without artistic merit.


Still from Nero's Guests

A lot of documentaries are rough-hewn exposu00c3u00a9s on something the filmmaker feels strongly about. But sometimes, a film shot like a report can succeed in stirring the audience. Like Deepa Bhatia's Nero's Guests, which impressed MIFF audiences a lot -- a large part of the credit also goes to P Sainath, whose relentless campaign for creating awareness about rural poverty and farmer suicides has not just won him awards but the undying admiration of journalists all over the country.

The title Nero's Guests, refers to a horrifying historical episode, when Nero burnt alive humans to illuminate a party he had thrown, and not one of the guests protested against the atrocity. Sainath and Bhatia say that if we keep ignoring the suffering of our farmers, we are no better than Nero's guests.u00a0 (Incidentally, Bhatia is a well-known editor -- her latest work being My Name is Khan; she is also the wife of actor-writer-filmmaker Amole Gupte.)

Ali Kazimi, previous winner at MIFF, has directed with Richard Fung and John Greyson, a strong and unconventionally structured film about two Sikh men tried for sodomy in Canada in the early 20th century. In Rex Versus Singh, the two Sikhs are accused of trying to buy sexual favours from undercover cops. They solemnly declare their innocence and it does look like a particularly nasty instance of racial prejudice -- and a way of scaring away migrant workers.

According to reports on the film it was part ofu00a0 Vancouver Out On Screen's Queer History Project, after several such court cases involving Sikhs during the 1900s were discovered.

Earlier, at MIFF, there used to be two international competition sections -- international and Indian, and filmmakers could enter their films in either. But the two were merged into one common International Competition, but the presence of foreign films and participation are acutely felt. There are hardly 10-11 films out of the 60 plus films in competition. Films Division insiders reveal that they could not challenge or overturn the decision of the selection committee, and are not too happy with the way things turned out this year.

-- Deepa Gahlot
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