11th Mumbai International Film Festival Diaries: Day 5
The highlight of MIFF 2010 was undoubtedly the Magic Lantern show, organised by the National Film Archives of India.
Precursors
Way back in 1885, before the word 'animation' came to be associated with Disney or Pixar, Mahadeo Patwardhan and his friend Madanrai Pitale prepared coloured slides and by projecting them through a simple projector and manually moving them, created the illusion of movement. Their show Shambarik Kharolika (literally meaning Magic Lantern) was a 'show-and-tell' of stories from the epics, and could be said to be a precursor of today's animation films. Their unique show with slides, live music and narration was done all over the place and won awards. The slides were gifted to the NFAI for preservation, and the showu00a0-- the story of Krishnau00a0-- was recreated for an awed audience, that frequently broke into applause. Vijay Jadhav (director of the NFAI) played the tabla himself.u00a0u00a0
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A still from Rafting To Bombay |
This was the origin of cinema in Indiau00a0-- before the Lumiu00e8re Brothers and before Dadasaheb Phalke.
The MIFF audiences were lucky to have seen a slice of history come alive.u00a0u00a0
MaroonedA moving documentary with a Mumbai connection was 'Rafting to Bombay' from Israel. Erez Lauer comes with his parents to Mumbai, because his father Nahum wants to visit the place where he spent his childhood as a refugee from the Nazis during World War II.u00a0 They arrive right in the midst of the November 26 terrorist attacks in South Mumbai. They are marooned in their suburban hotel, the horrors of the Holocaust resurfacing in their conversations.
Wonderful mixu00a0
The film, telling parallel stories is a wonderful mix of history, nostalgia, memory, the power of fantasy, the anguish of reality and, finally, healing. They eventually make it to the houseu00a0-- the old man remembering what it was like 60 years ago, and actually meeting a neighbour who remembers them.u00a0 They go to a shop at Crawford Market, from where the family used to buy fabric for their garment business, and the salesman weeps for what is happening and for what has gone by.
'Rafting to Bombay' is a fine example of what a good documentary can dou00a0-- engage audiences and provoke thought as well as an emotional response and place the personal experience within a larger social / historical context.u00a0u00a0
The frail neighbour came to the screening and it was amazing to see a character from the film, face to face.u00a0u00a0
--u00a0Deepa Gahlot
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