JDCA’s International Film Festival A Treat for Cinephiles

JDCA’s International Film Festival A Treat for Cinephiles

The city’s cinephiles were in for a weekend treat as 48 films from 17 countries were screened at the 13th International Film Festival on Art and Artists, which was organised by JD Centre of Art (JDCA) at IDCOL Auditorium here on February 8 and 9.

Since its commencement in December 2006, the festival has served as a platform for both artists and the people in general to meet some of India’s eminent personalities in the field of art.

On the first day of the festival on Saturday, JDCA organised it’s ‘Meet The Artist’ programme where participants got a chance to meet Bose Krishnamachari, father of India’s first biennale and President of Kochi Biennale Foundation. Krishnamachari delivered a lecture on ‘The Indian Biennale’ on the occasion. Director-General of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and renowned sculptor Adwaita Gadanayak also delivered a lecture on artist extraordinaire Upendra Maharathi and the retrospective exhibition. Actor Nandita Das gave a talk on ‘The Joy and Challenges of Recreating the Times in Manto’.

Among the acclaimed documentaries and films from around the globe which were screened, ‘Gurrumul’ from Australia opened the festival. The film is about a blind aboriginal musical prodigy Gurrumul’s journey of life through music. Three other Australian films were also screened. Deputy Head of Post, Australian Consulate-General in Kolkata, Daniel Sim was present during the screening of these movies.

Other films screened at the festival were a specially re-edited version of ‘Human’s Musics’ by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and ‘Decoding Shankar’ by Dipti Sivan. ‘Lost and Found’, ‘Carlotta’s Face’ and ‘Mythological Time’ by Sun Xun were some of the animated movies screened during the two-day event.

The festival included feature films on prominent artists like ‘Olafur Eliasson: Become Your Own Navigator’, ‘Legacy of an Artist’, ‘A Painter of Eloquent Silence: Ganesh Pyne’ and ‘Great Artists – El Greco’.

Besides, 12 films with Odisha connection were screened at the festival showcasing the region’s incredible artistic traditions and living heritage. Some of the Odia directors whose films were screened attended the festival. They were Abhishek Swain (Through the Eyes of an Artist), Ashutosh Pattnaik (Shrikshetra Ru Sahijata), Srikrishna Das (Ladakh – Journey through the Land of High Passes), Masako Ono (Lost into Art – Dhokra), Manoranjan Badatya (Sand Says Something, on Sudarsan Patnaik’s works) and Ranjit Mohanty (Planet Earth Celebrates).

Author and filmmaker Anungla Zoe Longkumer from Nagaland introduced the audience to her first film ‘Shot Awake: The Making of Changlangshu’s New Log Drum’. ‘Planet Earth Celebrates’, ‘Lost into Art’ and ‘Adimata Daman’ were some films which talked about the essence of being an artist with an Odia spirit.

A two-day filmmaking workshop, titled ‘4K Films on a Budget’ was also organised. The workshop has been a regular feature of the festival since 2012. This year, it covered different aspects of film production such as cinematography, sound recording and visual storytelling. The workshop was conducted by independent filmmakers and media trainers Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl who have been honoured with the prestigious National Film Award thrice. The duo have also received several other awards and honours. Emerging filmmakers and people having an interest in filmmaking participated in the workshop.

‘Raghu Rai – an Unframed Portrait’, an intimate film on one of the world’s most celebrated photographers, was screened during the concluding ceremony of the festival on Sunday. The movie, directed by Raghu’s daughter Avni Rai, has premiered at the prestigious International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2019. The celebrated photographer also interacted with the audience after the screening of the film.