MIFF 2022: Hard-hitting films and informative masterclasses leave cinema buffs wanting more

The Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) generally takes place during winter. But its recently concluded 17th edition was held in late May and early June due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Except for the scorching temperature, this edition of MIFF had all the familiar sights and sounds as its predecessors, including the organizing team running helter-skelter constantly, which was visible from the media centre. The campus of the Films Division, where the event takes place every two years, was also as lively as ever and exuded positive vibes. 

A large number of short films, documentaries and animation films were screened in the national and international competitions. From the documentaries, the films that stood out were Teen Adhyay, a positive and different take on the COVID-19 lockdown; Lokmanya Tilak, narrated by Vikram Gokhale; and Sukumar Ray, a visual narrative on Satyajit Ray’s father by the legendary filmmaker himself. 

Of the fictional short films, Cycle and Washing Machine had the maximum impact. Directed by Devashish Makhija, the former is an utterly realistic portrait of the horrible lives that tribals lead. In fact, the realism achieved by the film is so acute, that it was difficult to believe that the film was staged. 

Washing Machine gives viewers a glimpse at the illegal practice of sex determination tests and the subsequent abortion if the unborn child turns out to be a girl. Despite the grim nature of the film, it doesn’t stop impressing you with its artistic choices. 

Suraj Seema Uddhav's moving documentary Earth Animal And Human sheds light on a cruel practice in the village in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district where farmers collectively kill newborn puppies by throwing them down wells and in the river. Although the documentary doesn't fully explore the emotional fallout of its shocking true story, it still does a good job of letting the viewer get a fair idea about the dilemma of these farmers who claim to love their canines just like their children.

Earth Animal And Human review: Moving documentary about a cruel practice

K Ranjith Kumar's 53-minute documentary GD Naidu: The Edison Of India gives you a remarkable life story of one of the most remarkable innovators and industrialists of India from the 20th century, who unfortunately never got his due. His achievements despite the odds make this true story stranger than fiction.

GD Naidu: The Edison Of India review – Forgotten pioneer of India's industrial growth

The MIFF is also known for its masterclasses by experts on the subject of cinema. The one by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, the head of the Film Heritage Foundation, shocked the audience by revealing that Dadasaheb Phalke’s — and India’s — first-ever movie Raja Harishchandra (1913) is not the film that is streamed on YouTube and screened at various festivals. 

Dungarpur also spoke at length about the sorry state of India’s film archive. He said that around 80% of all Indian films aren’t archived and pointed out that the print of a movie as recent as SS Rajamouli’s Magadheera (2009) is missing.

Rizwan Ahamd, director of the Instructional Media Centre, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Hyderabad, spoke about the penetration of over-the-top (OTT) media services in recent times. The craze for OTT has resulted in smaller films failing in theatres while larger-than-life sagas such as Pushpa (2021) and RRR (2022) are becoming blockbusters. However, despite this scenario, Ahamd feels that smaller films fare better at the box office in a year or two. 

In his detailed masterclass, India’s Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty took the participants through the basic idea of sound in films by taking them through scenes of his films such as Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and Pushpa. 

In a workshop titled VFX: An Ever-evolving Tool For Storytelling, Baahubali VFX supervisor PC Sanath explained the importance of visual effects in today's cinema and answered the queries of film enthusiasts in a detailed manner by showing his rough work on the Baahubali films. 

The attendance of filmmakers whose works were showcased at the festival this year was lower than that of the 2020 edition. However, the actor and director of Brother Troll, Nicolaj Falck and Gudmund Helmsdal, flew all the way from the Kingdom of Denmark's Faroe Islands to see the response to their film. 

Sharing his experience, Helmsdal told Cinestaan.com, “I love Mumbai, although it’s very warm compared to where we live. But I really like it as it’s quite different from where we are.”

Talking about the response to his film, he said, “It was overwhelming. It was the perfect response for the film. People laughed at the right moments. Everyone understood the film the way we intended. They also asked questions. It’s a wonderful festival. We also get a chance to meet other filmmakers.” 

Falck said, “This is the first time we are in India. We are happy to be here. We like being here in Mumbai. MIFF is a brilliant festival. People were very happy about the movie after the screening. They were cheering and clapping a lot.” 

The director of the National award-winning documentary GD Naidu: The Edison Of India, K Ranjith Kumar, who is also a staff member in the Film Division, said, "Although I work here, this is the first time my documentary was screened here, so I'm quite happy."

His documentary was supposed to be screened at RR-3 but the venue was changed to JD Hall at the last moment which according to him resulted in many people missing out on his documentary. "I think we should do better next time to avoid such mishaps. Luckily, my documentary is old and available on YouTube, so this mishap didn't hurt much. But what if it had happened during the premiere of some long-awaited international short film?" he asked. 

Ranjith had a piece of advice for the festival organizers. "The national competition and international competition films were being screened at adjacent screens in Audi-1 and Audi-2 in the same building. So the audience ends up spending the whole day in the same building or same theatre. And there is hardly any crowd for other homage screenings or masterclasses. I would suggest that these films should be split into different screens. I mean, don't screen all national competition films on one screen. Instead, screen a few films in Audi-1, then screen a few in JD Hall and then the rest in RR-3. And this pattern should be followed every day. So that the audience will also get out of the building," he said. 

Ashish Nayak, whose feature-length documentary Into The Sea was screened at the festival, told Cinestaan.com, "MIFF is the biggest film festival in India for documentaries. So I'm very fortunate that I got an opportunity to show my film here... My documentary was screened at 10 am, so considering this, I will say, we got a decent response. I'm sure if my documentary was screened in the afternoon, we would have gotten an overwhelming response."

As far as the audience is concerned, MIFF attracted people from outside the city. Kaushal Kalu, an aspiring filmmaker, came all the way from Nagpur just to attend this festival. “Overall, it’s a good festival,” he told Cinestaan.com. “The organization of the festival and selection of films is also nice. And as it is on hybrid mode, you can watch the films you missed later. I enjoyed the special packages from Italy.”

He added, “I had never attended a festival on documentaries and short films. I keep attending MAMI [Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival] and IFFI [International Film Festival of India].” He suggested that the organizers provide synopses of each film with the schedule before the festival. “Sometimes you can’t even find info about the films on Google,” he said. 

Nandini Kundu, who hails from Kolkata but works in Mumbai, missed the craze she experiences back home. “The festival is really nice. But I miss the Kolkata vibe here,” she said. “The Kolkata International Film Festival is grander and it’s a huge thing. People bunk school, college and office to attend the event. There is certain madness and we get to sit only on stairs. There is crazy madness even for documentaries and short films. That kind of hype is not here at all. I feel they should publicize it more and procure more participants from all over the world and invite more delegates.” 

But she also has some good things to say about MIFF. “This is a festival of short films and documentaries, and it’s great to find out the local and younger talent from all over India. In that way, it’s really nice. I really liked Brother Troll and some short films were nice. I also liked Arjun and Pilibhit.”

Jigar Vyas, who wishes to make films of his own, had attended the festival for the first time. "This event has definitely given me a new perspective about how to work hard to achieve our dreams. I really loved this whole atmosphere as young aspiring filmmakers like me got an opportunity to learn as well as enjoy," he said.

Of all the short films he saw in the last four days, Bangladeshi director Suborna Senjutee Tushee's Bengali short film Ripples left a long-lasting impact on Vyas.

Overall, the festival was an occasion for art lovers to see the sensible side of cinema. Hopefully, with COVID-19 being a distant memory two years from now, the next edition of MIFF will be held in better weather.