Rhyme on reel: Film fest celebrated the spirit of poetryParomita Chakrabarti
Up on Delhi’s cultural calendar a unique film festival was held where poetry was the focus of the cinematic medium. On October 13 and 14, Alliance Française hosted this first-of-its-kind ‘poetry film’ festival, organised by Sadho, an NGO dedicated to the appreciation of poetry.
“Even though poetry is deeply entrenched in our culture, it isn’t quite a popular medium with the masses. I didn’t know how to address the issue till the idea of ‘poetry films’ struck me,” says Jitendra Ramprakash, the founder of Sadho.
‘Poetry films’, explains Ramprakash, “can deal with any topic ranging from a cinematic rendition of a poet’s work, a creative fusion of audio-visuals to form a poetic collage, to an interpretation of the life of a poet.”
“The onus is on creativity, originality and the quality of adaptation. The choice of poets is also important because the films cannot have suitable substance without a strong message,” says the 38-year-old.
From Sanskrit shlokas like Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu and works of 17th and 18th Century Japanese Haiku poets like Basho, Issa and Buson, to those of German poet-philosopher Rainer Maria Rilke and post-modern American poet Sylvia Plath, the films on offer delve on a wide gamut of topics. Entries have been divided into five sections — international, student, Indian, poetic and experimental films, and café films.
‘Poetry films’, explains Ramprakash, “can deal with any topic ranging from a cinematic rendition of a poet’s work, a creative fusion of audio-visuals to form a poetic collage, to an interpretation of the life of a poet.”
“The onus is on creativity, originality and the quality of adaptation. The choice of poets is also important because the films cannot have suitable substance without a strong message,” says the 38-year-old.
From Sanskrit shlokas like Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu and works of 17th and 18th Century Japanese Haiku poets like Basho, Issa and Buson, to those of German poet-philosopher Rainer Maria Rilke and post-modern American poet Sylvia Plath, the films on offer delve on a wide gamut of topics. Entries have been divided into five sections — international, student, Indian, poetic and experimental films, and café films.
The two-day film festival featured about 85 films, the lengths of which range between two and 20 minutes on an average. Eleven of the films werescreened by Indian filmmakers. Other entries have came in from across the world, including the US, Canada, Brazil, Israel, Croatia and Germany. While the response from outside India has been overwhelming — Ramprakash went through as many as 1,500 films before selection — convincing people in India proved to be a bit of a task, he says.
“People were mostly cynical or plain disbelieving, but maybe things will change after the festival,” says Ramprakash, who plans to take the festival to all metros like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad, besides other smaller pockets next year.
The idea of Sadho first struck Ramprakash in 1998 when he worked as a news anchor. It took him another three years to come up with the blueprint of the organisation and the film festival. “In those three years I researched a lot on the kind of work being done in this domain, and then floated the idea. Many of my friends from the creative media came forward and volunteered to be a part of the process,” he says.
As of now, Sadho has about 25 members who come from various professions including art, media, music, films and the corporate sector.
“People were mostly cynical or plain disbelieving, but maybe things will change after the festival,” says Ramprakash, who plans to take the festival to all metros like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad, besides other smaller pockets next year.
The idea of Sadho first struck Ramprakash in 1998 when he worked as a news anchor. It took him another three years to come up with the blueprint of the organisation and the film festival. “In those three years I researched a lot on the kind of work being done in this domain, and then floated the idea. Many of my friends from the creative media came forward and volunteered to be a part of the process,” he says.
As of now, Sadho has about 25 members who come from various professions including art, media, music, films and the corporate sector.
FONTE: Screen Weekly - Mumbai,Maharashtra,India
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