Final-Film Festival-13-11-08.p65 - Directorate of Film Festivals

PrefaceIndian Panorama 2007If there is a place to get the panoramic view of Indian cinema,its the Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival ofIndia. The Indian Panorama presents a 360 degree view of theIndian cinema which in its vast sweep encompasses many subcultures and lifestyles. The cinema that emanates out of thisvaried cultural landscape, therefore, is also equally diverse andunique. Indian Panorama over the years has successfully attemptedto capture this lingual and stylistic variety in its bouquet of films.As always, this special collection of feature and non-feature filmscalled Indian Panorama commands an exalted status in theInternational Film Festival of India.This year’s Panorama presents a wide spectrum of contemporarythemes and treatments. The debut directors like Sameer Hanchate,Bhavna Talwar and Samir Chanda, bring with them a refreshingand incisive style of cinema, while the stalwarts like AdoorGopalakrishnan and Budhadeb Dasgupta challenge ideas andestablished norms again with their films, Naalu Penungal andAmi Iyasin Aar Amaar Madhubala. After many years a Manipurifilm, Yenning Amadi Likla finds place in Indian Panorama whichgoes on to prove that Manipuri cinema is finding its own nichewith filmmakers like Makhanmani Mongasaba.The non-feature section though small this year with only fifteenfilms, offers a large variety. The biographicals like Naushad Ali,Pandit Ramnarayan, Mubarak Beghum and RajarshiBhagyachandra of Manipur chronicle the lives of importantIndian personalities. Films like Bagher Bacha, Hope Dies Last inWar, Joy Ride and Whose Land Is It Anyway shake us out ofour smug attitude and sensitivities. A happy development thisyear is the inclusion of Nokpkliba, the first ever film by a Naga