LISFF: Lessons In Self-respect For Filmmakers (am sorry, LGP)

Indian Coffee House is one of the best restaurants I have ever been to: excellent food and great service. Folks, if you ever go to Bhopal, do not miss this place: it's bang in the middle of the city at TT Nagar, New Market. 

Alas, the waiters and the managers there too did not know that there was a film festival taking place next door at Samanway Bhavan! This is just one of the flaws of the 'baap' of all film fests in India: LISFF (advertised so on FB few days before the fest began)! 

Fortunately or unfortunately, I was the only person from the short film community to have landed there on the first day itself (August 29). I was present at the screening venue right from the start to its end on all three days except for a couple of hours on August 30 (2pm to 4pm) and August 31 (7pm onwards). 

Charlie Brown aka Nivedita Fadnis, a resident scholar at Bhopal, is a witness to all my observations here:

Day 1 (August 29): The screenings began around 4:30 pm. The tourism minister came and inaugurated the fest. There was a classical dance based on the LISFF theme song. Sunder Rajan, the veteran actor also graced the occasion. 

Curfew was the opening film and was a great one at that but we were not able to watch the film properly because some volunteers, their friends, and few dancers were clicking pics in the auditorium and talking loudly while the screening was on! The organizers, including the festival director, did not do anything to stop this. My friend Nivedita and I had to go to particular sections of the auditorium and warn them to either get out of the auditorium or watch the film. Finally, we did get to watch the films in peace and in quiet. 

My bro's second short film, 100 Degree C, was the second-last film to be screened on this day. By then, the audience count had dropped to just 5 or 6, including the organizers and volunteers.

Curfew, Scenes from Suburbia, Rha, The Cold Side of the Pillow, and Uh La La made the first day worth it. 

By the way, I do not remember watching the following movies scheduled for that day: Believe, Valentine, and C! These were not screened on the remaining two days as well.

Before leaving for the day, Nivedita and I provided our feedback to Mohandas (Eon Filmss) in person that he needs to do more local publicity. She even suggested places such as Bharat Bhavan and Rabindra Bhavan (cultural centers for those who do not know Bhopal), where LISFF posters should be put up. She said that these posters can be put up there for free because lot of event organizers in the city put up their posters there for free. She should know; she is a regularly hangs out at these two places. He agreed that that is what they were going to do first thing next morning. We suggested that these should have been put up there at least two/three days in advance. 

We also suggested that films that will be screened on all days should be listed with their tentative timings along with a short summary on each film so that audience members can make a note of the same. This was not done on any of the remaining days; only a one-page Word doc was put up wherein only names of the films to be screened for that particular day were listed.  

In between these talks, I asked him twice about the screening timings for the next day... Either he failed to hear me or chose not to respond, but he did not reply. 

Day 2 (August 30): I woke up and about 11ish in the morning and logged into Facebook. Mohan was online too; once again, I asked him about the screening schedule for the day! Again there was no response. I assumed the screening timing to be the same as yesterday and reached the auditorium at 4pm. I missed not only my bro's film Hu but also Lensmangops Pictures Aghavizhi! 

Nobody from the organizers even informed me that the screenings were scheduled from 2pm onwards! They all knew that I had come all the way from Bangalore for full four days and yet, they did not inform me! Plus, even though it was a Friday today, not many people turned up till 5pm! 

Later in the day, Nivedita met me and she informed that there were no posters at Bharat Bhavan or Rabindra Bhavan... :-(

To add to this, they had 7 music bands playing in between the screenings! Not before or after the screenings! And these folks, a talented bunch they were indeed, got lot more space and time on the dais than the film-makers that day... They had some competition between the bands and there were three judges assigned for the same. It was announced that the best band will get some award by the end of the day and that too did not materialize! 

So when the films were being screened, few of the band members displayed disrespectful and uncouth behavior just like Day 1. Loud talks, laughter, clicking pics, etc., all activities going on. 

I lost my temper and I had to shout across to the organizer/anchor when she had come on the dais to talk about the films and the bands. I just gave a very stern message that the way these folks are behaving during the screenings is unacceptable and also asked those band members directly as to how would they feel if we made similar ruckus while they were performing. I said I am sorry for losing my temper and said that this is something the organizer should look into. This is when Mohan also seconded my opinion and told the band members to be silent or walk out of the auditorium. 

Breaking Views, OP Stop Smelling Your Socks, Baucchar, and 13 hours are the films that I remember watching with enthusiasm. By the way, OP Stop Smelling Your Socks was the only film which had its screening time mentioned on the screening schedule put up at the venue: 6pm. And, it was played at 6pm to maximum crowd... 

Again, few films scheduled for screening on this day were not screened and no explanations were given whatsoever. 

Today, at the end of the screenings, the anchor announced that tomorrow the screenings will begin at 2pm in the afternoon.

Day 3 (August 31): I reached the venue at 2pm today without fail and watched Timbaktu. It was an engrossing documentary but there was a glitch. They had started playing part 3 of the movie file first, then part 2, and then part 1. So I just helped them in correcting the order. 

Some of the best movies were preserved for this day: June, Bheka, Control Alt Delete, Lula, Ria, and Lunch With My Friend's Wife. 

Vartul was scheduled to be screened the next day but was screened today. I was glad that that happened because it was a wonderful film. 

Bheka and June were very sensible and sensitive films and so was Control Alt Delete with a brilliant performance by Kitu Gidwani. 

The film that, however, stood out for me and even for Nivedita and Santosh Ram was: Lunch With My Friend's Wife. Excellent story, great performances, and an ending that just blows you away. Unfortunately, this film was not nominated in any category and therefore, did not win any awards! That was just unbelievable... unless there are some technical reasons behind it.

Day 4 (September 1): An hour before 5:30pm, I get an SMS from Mohan informing that there are no screenings today and the awards function will start at 5:30pm at Kalindi Hotel. 

The awards function was pretty well attended by many film-makers who did not attend the previous three days. Met with many film-makers here... including Aditya, Venugopal, and others...

At the end of the ceremony, Mohan asked us to provide feedback. We did. Santosh Ram and I did say quite a few things. Sometimes he took it personally. 

Anyways, as I had said then that I shall be posting my feedback even on my blog and on Facebook, here it is. 

Here is my humble assessment of the festival in one statement: Overall, great films were selected for screening and then it all went down the drain... 

No reasons, excuses, or technical disclaimers can save a badly organized job. I really felt bad when a film-maker came up and said that his film was slotted to be screened today and he was sad that there were no screenings today. He said that this should not happen again. 

In fact, today, one of the reasons Mohan gave the audience for canceling the screenings was that there were some police problems! But, on the first day, I had overheard Ankit telling Mohan that police has no issues whatsoever in them conducting the fest for all four days and they have received permission for the same! Plus, after the awards ceremony, when I came over to Indian Coffee House for dinner, I saw that Samanway Bhavan was all lit up and there was some other function going on! :-)

The Nominations: 

Here is the nomination list copied from LISFF (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=398952386871166&set=a.303558123077260.55003.303509573082115&type=1&theater):

Best of Fest

Illusions | Curfew | Women Prayed & Preyed Upon | Ria

Best Indian Film

Ria | June | Aghavizhi | The Dream

Best Foreign Film

Curfew | Lula | Titanic Love | The Hunter | Love At First Sight

Best Children Film

A Desire to Fly | Take Care | Bauchaar

Best Animation Film

RomeoSpikes

Best Experimental Film

Control Alt Delete | The Dream | R'ha | C | Deep End

Best Documentary Film

Believe | eyecan | Paansi Paraar Chupkotha | Ajana Tir

Best Environmental Film

Timbaktu | Kaleda Hani | Notun Graamer Upokotha

Best Film on Social Issues

Women Prayed & Preyed Upon | Shyamli Ek Pratha | Smile you're dead | Jhumki

Best Film (Local Talent)

One Way | Chappal Chor

Best Film (Under 21 Category)

Bheka | The Wound | Biyaa | Goonj - The Empty Call

Best Public Service Film

The Truth Behind | Broken Angel | A Blind Story | Isme Anna Kya Karenge | The Mind

Best Director

Ria | Illusions | The Cold side of the Pillow | The Lost Paradise

Best Debutante Director (Male)

The Truth Behind | The Last Day | Chitthi | Set you free

Best Debutante Director (Female)

A Desire to Fly | Fakebook | Nadaan Parindey

Best Actor

Rutajeet Mukherjee | Phone Box | February 15th | Illusions | Aghavizhi

Best Actress

Control Alt Delete | Valentine | Shyamli Ek Pratha | What the luck | Fifty Pence

Best Child Artiste

Vartul | Bheka | Lula | Sharing

Best Cinematography

I Don’t Know | Set You Free | Fifty Pence | Humsafar | Vartul

Best Music Director

Ria | Fakebook | The Truth Behind | Deep End | Within

Best Editor

Breaking the Silence | Timbaktu | Scenes From Suburbia | Aakhir - At Last

Critics Award

The Dream | Alatchiyam | Laughing Buddha | Inseperables

Special Mention JURY

Kanavugal | Chhaayaa | 100 Degrees Centigrade | Breaking Views 

— at Lakecity International Short Film Festival.

If you have seen all the films, you can surely say that they have got some of the genres as well as categories incorrect for a lot of films. For example, Rutajeet Mukherjee is the name of the actor nominated from the film Kranti! Is that not a dead giveaway?! 

Having a lot of categories makes everybody happy. But then this is not a school and nor are we children! Lensmangops Pictures' Aghavizhi did win the Runner-Up award in Best Indian Film category... So this post is not a grouse against anybody. Just an objective review and critique of LISFF. 

I hope that the film-makers, whose movies were not screened, do get their refund (Rs 2,000 contribution for each film). That would be ethical. All the best, you guys. Hope your films do get screened in other film fests and they do get what they deserve.  

To quote Santosh Ram, "Festival organizers and directors should realize that they exist because of us film-makers and not the other way around."

By the way, can we now know who were the jury members at LISFF who chose the nominations and the winners? We do have a right to know this, I think. Don't you?