Besides catering to a variety of cinema in terms of style and form from across the world, the Berlinale has always been unapologetically political in terms of the choice of films that are selected to compete. This time, from a majority of films competing at the Berlin Film Festival, many belong to the Asian sub-continent.
Apart from Gully Boy, which opened to a full house in Friedrichstadt-Palast, a nearly 1,900-seater theatre, a size rare even in India, other Indian films also have made a mark. Ritesh Batra’s Photograph was played in the Berlinale Special section.
In the Generation section was Rima Das’s Bulbul Can Sing, a coming of age story of three Assamese teenagers which received a ‘Special Mention at the Film Festival. The film was competing in Generation 14 Plus category at the festival.
Ruchir Joshi’s film Tales from Planet Kolkata was screened at the Silent Green Kulturquartier, a decommissioned graveyard/ crematorium. The 1993 film was restored by the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art, which has also restored a number of Indian films, unavailable or in poor condition in India. Joshi’s other restored film Egaro Mile (11 Miles, 1991) along with Tales from Planet Kolkata, were screened in the Forum and Forum Expanded Section.
The Berlinale Shorts Section also had two Indian films, Prantik Basu’s Rang Mahal (Palace of Colours) and Kerala filmmaker Varun Sasindran’s French short Omarska.
These films were among the 24 selected films, from across 17 countries.
Another film is an Indo-German feature, Dust, by Udita Bhargava, was screened at the New German Cinema category. The film developed from a final-year film school project is set against the backdrop of Maoist insurgency in India.
The Berlinale got over on Sunday.