Babenco: Tell Me When I Die By Barbara Paz Bags Golden Conch At MIFF 2020

Jyothi Venkatesh

The 16^th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short Fiction & Animation Films, came to a close, at a glittering closing ceremony at Nehru Centre Auditorium, Worli, Mumbai yesterday evening with TV and film actor Hiten Tejwani where Golden Conch, Silver Conch and other Special Awards were presented to various winners, Indians as well as International. The inaugural function was compered by TV actress Ragini Khanna last week. The biggest tragedy of the dignified function was the buffoonery anchoring in filmi style by Hiten Tejwani who perhaps mistook the even to be a Filmfare or Zee award ceremony

The Festival Director and Director General, Films Division, Ms. Smita Vats Sharma said at the outset in her address that the festival featured a rich tapestry of film screenings and events and was a sum total of a variety of unique experiences for the festival delegates. She assured that the festival would be back with a bigger and more enriched next edition.

The prestigious Golden Conch Award for Best Documentary Film at MIFF 2020 was bagged by to Babenco: Tell Me When I Die, directed by Barbara Paz “for its intimate and celebratory portrayal of the Brazilian film director and his reflections of life - and death”. The film is a tender tale about the life of the South American filmmaker and Paz’s late life partner Hector Babenco.

The Silver Conch Award for the Best Short Fiction Film was conferred on the Marathi film Paavsacha Nibandh (An Essay of Rain) “for its evocation of a grim social reality through the metaphor of rain that transforms into an unwritten essay”. Directed by Nagaraj Manjule, of Sairat fame, the film tells the story of a ten-year-old boy who writes an essay on rain for a school assignment.  

The Silver Conch Award for the Best Animation Film was shared by two films – the German film Portrait of Suzanne, directed by Izabela Plucinska and the Indian film Panangaatu Nari (The Fox of the Palmgrove) by Divakar S. K.

The Governor of Maharashtra, Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari highlighted the important role of documentary films and exhorted filmmakers to improve public awareness and sensitivity towards societal and humanitarian issues, to inculcate higher values and inspire actions among people and brought the roof down when eh thundered that if Hindi is spoken and understood even in places like Mauritus, Bangladesh, Japan and China, the sole reason is Bollywood films which propagate the language in farther corners of the world.

Chairman, International Jury, Shaji N. Karun said that to filmmakers, Films Division is the is the emotional history of the nation. “Documentaries represent the real history of India. I thank fellow jury members for their untiring efforts in selecting the best films for the festival. In order to bring more stability to a great and important festival such as MIFF, we like to recommend creating a position of independent artistic director or curator, to enable MIFF to acquire the best films from India and the world for the festival, based on a wider and deeper philosophy. The Organizing Committee should be formed at least one year in advance, for better programming and for providing better information to the public on the films on offer. One copy of the winning film should be deposited with the National Film Archive of India”.

The Minister for Cultural Affairs and Medical Education, Government of Maharashtra, Shri Amit Deshmukh congratulated the winners, and said that the national and international jury members had a very interesting and challenging time to judge and assess the films and decide on the winners in various categories. He said that MIFF has achieved great heights over the years. He noted that Nagaraj Manjule’s Sairat won hearts of people around the world; it crossed all the boundaries in terms of cinema.

Shri Deshmukh added, ““The Government of Maharashtra is going to do everything possible in order to promote the film sector. The Union Government and the state government must come together in order to create new avenues for filmmaking, to give infrastructure to experiment and produce films which can cater to the world. Films are a great contributor to the economy as well.”

The Chairman, National Jury, Thomas Waugh said that the National Jury had an enjoyable and challenging week. “Part of the challenge has been the diversity of the films. We need to reach out to the global animation community and get a larger representation of animation films. We need to reach out further to the producers of feature-length documentaries. We need to focus more on independent documentary production. We need to increase the number of selected films, so that both national and international juries can examine a broader range of films. The new section on water conservation is a very promising development. We are very proud of the strong representation of woman directors in the National Competition Section.”

Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari said that awards are a small effort by the Government to deepen the documentary film culture in India, in line with its quest for more meaningful and better cinema. He noted MIFF 2020 has instituted a special award for the best short film on Water Conservation and Climate Change. He said that Films Division has been responsible for keeping the flag of documentary films flying high. He hoped that with evolving technology, the coming editions will have a cornucopia of mind-blowing documentary films.

302 films were featured at the festival, which included 47 films in National Competition, 28 in International Competition, 11 in National Prism and 7 in International Prism. 13 Homages, 4 Retrospectives and 10 Special Packages were presented. The retrospective of noted animator Konstantin Bronzit from Russia and the scintillating and stunning packages of animation films from Finland and Balkan countries were widely appreciated. The Homages and Retrospectives of the legends of Indian animation – Ram Mohan, Bimsain Khurana and V. G. Samant – witnessed the participation of not only young students but also of their admirers and contemporaries. The same outpouring of admiration and affection was visible at the commemorative retrospective of Manjira Dutta as well.

MIFF 2020 also played tribute to the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray by showcasing his major documentaries and short films. The festival was enriched further by the special package of films from the North Eastern Region of India, with the presence of several eminent filmmakers from the region. The Country Focus this year has been Ireland, under which six documentaries and one animation film from the country have been presented.

For the first time in the history of MIFF, nine short films made by intellectually challenged youngsters were screened at MIFF, thus giving a platform to youngsters with autism.Gandhi Smriti, an event to commemorate the 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, comprised screenings of rare films from Films Division archives, on the father of the nation. Shri Sanskar Desai proposed a vote of thanks to the audiences 

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