FEATURE

MIFF-2010

While India’s feature film industry is making giant strides, documentary film-makers continue to grapple with inherent challenges of the format itself, lack of funds and very few marketing avenues. The 11th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), (February 3-9, 2010)  has brought together documentary film makers, administrators, fresh cinema graduates and film journalists, to discuss and debate various issues related to the less glamorous but perhaps socially more significant film form of documentaries. Not for nothing, it is called the ‘cerebral cinema’ but is often forced to compete with the narrative and fiction film behemoth for a place in the sun.

For two generations of filmgoers, the documentary had been synonymous with the newsreels and one or two-reelers that mandatorily preceded the screenings of feature films in all the 13,000 plus single-screen cinema halls across the country. As a result of a recent court ruling, cinema-owners have now been given the liberty to obtain the pre-feature short film from a source of their choice, but many have quietly done away with showing these films altogether. Luckily, this development has coincided with the advent of digital media forms, leading to an explosion of content that does not use celluloid at all and providing the possibility of reaching audiences through routes that bypass cinema halls.

In 2010, can the documentary still be identified as merely the realistic, bare filming of actual events? Or is the line between fact and fiction blurring? Award-winning documentary film-maker Anand Patwardhan, whose name is synonymous with epic-length efforts like ‘Raam Ke Naam’ and ‘War and Peace’, and numerous court-battles related to censorship and telecast of his productions, feels that documentaries need not stick to captured reality. “I feel it is alright to stage an event or a piece of action as part of a documentary film, provided the viewer is made aware of this. Personally, I also avoid adding background music in my films, but I feel that the maker can decide whether to use this option or not,” opines Patwardhan, whose real worry is financing of films. “Since many films are being made with private and foreign funding, this curbs the creative freedom of the maker, who may have to follow the agenda of the backers,” he cautions.

Mani Kaul, an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India and maker of  fictionalized documentary ‘Siddheshwari’, starring Mita Vashisht in the role of the doyenne of Hindustani vocal music and shown at an earlier MIFF, recalled an amusing experience. “FD asked me what kind of classification did I want for the film, feature or documentary? I replied that it did not matter. Eventually, they applied for, and got, a documentary classification, as their brief was to make documentaries, not features,” he revealed. Kaul, more involved with music and lecturing these days, did make a pure documentary to promote tourism in Kashmir, but avoided the usual shots of popular attractions in the valley. “The bosses were shocked that I had not included beautiful long shots of Gulmarg, but I was determined to use my own creativity in making the film, and this appreciated by viewers in France. Documentary does not have to follow standard techniques.” Mani adds “the moment I position a camera and choose an angle, I am making a political statement, because someone else--Anand for example--may not take the same view of the scene.” Another film-maker, Bishakha Dutta, a MIFF regular, agrees. “My films are about gender and sexuality issues, which are highly political,” she says.

Among the major concerns of many documentary film-makers are credibility and credentials, access and accreditation. They tend to believe that journalists are a privileged lot, welcomed with open arms, wherever they go, whereas documentary makers are denied access, asked to prove their credentials and charged steep fees for shooting at public venues. This has been contradicted by members of the 20 year-old

Freelance Media Journalists’ Combine (FMJC), five of whom are attending MIFF 2010. The FMJC members deny any special privileges, and maintain that even access is

restricted due to plethora of rules and regulations. Beena Paul, Director, International Film Festival of Kerala, and Reena Mohan, a senior documentary maker, are concerned that any mechanism of accreditation is open to abuse and could lead to the formation of an elitist grouping or club. Known for her candour,  Madhushree Dutta, who made the much-acclaimed ‘I Live in Behrampada’, takes a radical stand. “Documentary makers should learn to accept their lot in life, and stop expecting too much. If they are so unhappy, they could consider other career options.”

There is mixed opinion about how should documentary producers be accredited and what should the role of a guild or association be. But there is a broad consensus on one point: that there is no substitute for collective bargaining. Jahnu Barua, the President of IDPA, makes a passionate plea for strengthening the organization. “In the days gone by, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry gave raw stock only to members of IDPA, so we had an impressive list of members. That is no more applicable. Yet I urge every documentary film-maker to come forth and join IDPA, since it is the only association of its kind, and make it the prestigious forum it deserves to be.” Kuldeep Sinha, Chief Producer, Films Division and Festival Director, MIFF, offers his support in any initiatives taken by IDPA to help ameliorate the working conditions of documentary film-makers.

Organized biennially since 1990 by the Films Division (FD) of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in collaboration with the Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA), MIFF brings together professionals from the largely unorganized documentary film production sector as well as veteran documentary makers who have been working with FD, the government’s own documentary and short film producing and commissioning agency, that enjoyed monopolistic status for the major part of its 62-year existence. As part of its initiative to promote documentary film movement, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry has made available Rs 200 million for commissioning documentaries to private producers.

* Mr.Siraj Syed is Mumbai based film journalist.