Kochi, Dec 15: Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2014 saw the screening of
one of India’s avant garde movies on Sunday as Artists’ Cinema, the 100-day film
festival, got off to a start with ‘Amma
Ariyan’ (1986) directed by late John Abraham.
The Artists’ Cinema was inaugurated by actor-filmmaker Amol Palekar,
and will run for almost the entire length of the contemporary art festival
concluding on March 29, 2015.
Describing KMB as a festival which strives to enrich visual aesthetics,
70-year-old Palekar said it was apt that the 2014 biennale featured a film
segment. “I will be curating a set of feminist-centric movies in the third week
of March (2015) here,” he added.
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| Amol Palekar inaugurating Artists' Cinema programme of Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014 |
Bangalore-based film historian Ashish Rajadhyaksha introduced the film
to the gathering.
All the movies will be screened at the newly-built Umbrella Pavilion in
Aspinwall House, which is the main KMB venue in Fort Kochi.
KMB 14 Director of Programmes Riyas Komu said the average Malayali has
a strong sense of visual arts, which he hoped would be further enriched by the
Artists’ Cinema at the ongoing biennale. Film personality and social activist Joy
Mathew, who acted as the protagonist in ‘Amma Ariyan’, also spoke on his
experiences with what was Kerala’s first “people’s film”.
Selected by 15 documentary and feature filmmakers, film historians,
critics and curators, the shows at Artists’ Cinema are free to the public and
will start at 6.30 pm every day.
The films, curated by key names like editor Bina Paul, film critic C S
Venkateswaran and artist and documentary filmmaker Amar Kanwar, are taken from
a diverse topics ranging from social science to politics, art and history,
though the aim of the festival is to showcase documentary and video art to
people.
“Digital filmmaking has revolutionised the art and serious cinema is no
longer for pundits,” said Bandu Prasad, programmes manager of KMB 2014. “We are
trying to find a balanced position between independent and commercial digital
filmmaking and providing a platform for good cinema.”
Films chosen by Berlin-based Natasha Ginwala will start showing on
December 15. Her selection, titled Metabolic States: Becoming Image, features a
set of video works by 13 international artists, which “relates nicely to the
exhibition and the seminar that precedes it”. “It is really interesting to have
a festival of this nature that is so committed to independent films and
documentaries,” said the 29-year-old curator-writer. “It’s unique and because
films are rarely seen within an art context, but this festival keeps the venue
like a community space.”
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