December 13th found me and BVN in front of Kripa theatre for our first film at IFFK 2008. Uncannily we had turned up in the same combination of light blue kurta and blue jeans, it would have taken only a couple of scraggly beards and a few beedis to turn us into stereotypical movie critics. That didn't happen, but our first movie did - albeit after a ten minute delay.
Hiroshima, My Love is a 1959 classic about the tryst between a Japanese architect and a French actress. It explores the personal tragedy that she experienced during the Second World War, juxtaposed with the collective tragedy of Hiroshima. Altogether an interesting if slightly slow movie, still relevant today fifty years on.
On to Ajantha, for the next movie - Half Moon (Niwemang) - is a tale of a bunch of Kurdish musicians who make a tortuous trip from Iran to post-Saddam Iraq to perform at a music contest. A bitter-sweet movie, it takes a few metaphysical turns, with a few laughs on the way, before reaching a tragic conclusion. We recognised Golshifteh Farahani who plays the title role, from the recent Ridley Scott movie, Body of Lies.
Good crowds in all the theatres and the arrangements seem to be even better than last time's. Stay tuned for more!
hope to read more detailed reports on the fest..
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