BRICS Film Festival 2016
As the season of film festivals is upon us, nothing can be more heartening than the fact that India played host to the 1st BRICS Film Festival. Held from 2nd September to 6th September, at the Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi, it showcased several films from the BRICS nations. What set this festival apart from the rest was its unique yet personalized format, where apart from films, it showcased crafts, sculptures and even cuisines of the BRICS nations. It became a more holistic approach to gaining mutual respect and cooperation among the countries, through their cinema, culture and food.
This festival comes in the run up to the 8th BRICS Summit to be held from October 15–16 in Goa. With each country allowed to send 4 films from their respective nations, 20 films were a part of the competition category, apart from the 17 short films which were made by the Cinema students of India and Russia. The opening film of the festival was the Malayalam film ‘Veeram’, directed by Shri Jayaraj Rajsekharan Nair, starring Kunal Kapoor. The closing film was the Chinese film, ‘Skiptrace’, starring Jackie Chan, directed by Renny Harlin.
The best film award was won by the Kannada film ‘Thithi’, which has already travelled to around 12 international film festivals. Filmmaker Jianqi Huo from China won the best director award for his film Xuan Zang. Russia’s Yulia Peresild received the best actress honour for The Battle for Sevastopol. Thabo Rametsi of South Africa bagged the best actor’s trophy for his role in Kalushi, The story of Solomon Mahlangu.
A major highlight of the festival was the Russian documentary film ‘Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi’. Directed by Anna Evtushenko and Galina Evtushenko, the film shows the correspondence between Mahatma Gandhi and Tolstoy, covering religious, philosophical and political issues. It wasn’t a part of the competition, but nonetheless garnered much appreciation from the jury and crowd.
With this festival, there have been talks about co-production agreements with Russia and South Africa, and taking it forward with signing similar agreements with Brazil and China as well. Also, with the BRICS nations comprising about 43% of the world population, this festival has the potential to get them a huge global market for not just their films but also for their arts, crafts and cuisines.
This festival comes at an inflection point in the global scenario, with increasing isolation and de-globalization in the wake of terror and personal interests taking precedence over morality and basic humanity. This festival sets the tone for achieving mutual respect, trust and appreciation of different cultures. When the common people of a country become aware and appreciative of other country’s art, cinema and culture, then the countries are connected at a much deeper and humane level.
When the Zee network first introduced Zindagi channel on Indian television two years ago, Pakistani serials like Zindagi Gulzar Hai, Aunn Zara, Humsafar, Dastaan, became a part of the daily lives of millions of Indians. It made me realise, people are the same everywhere, and that love will always triumph hate. Thus, BRICS Film Festival is sure to grow over the years, and we only have our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi to thank, for suggesting this idea in the first place!
