Hidden Gems Film Festival shines light on Indian cinema
Calgary’s Hidden Gems Film Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary with award-winning cinema from and about India.
Festival director Niru Bhatia says this year’s festival “is like Forrest Gump’s eclectic box of chocolates. Each (film) is a surprise.
“Previous festivals always had a central theme but this year it is about showcasing exceptional films simply because they are exceptional and unique.”
Unique certainly describes the Hindi film Turup (or Checkmate) which opens the festival on May 25. The film was not only crowdfunded by the people of Bhopal, but they star in it and helped direct it through something called The Ektara Collective.
“Cinema is in the DNA of Indians and we certainly see this in the people of this town who decided to make their own film about themselves,” says Bhatia.
The film looks at the lives of three women interspersed with the friendly and not-so-friendly rivalries of men in the town — all centred around the game of chess.
“The people of this town are obsessed with chess and play it all over the town during their breaks for fun and for competitions. The men can play chess openly in public. The women have to play it secretly.”
Bhatia says she chose to open the festival with the Canadian premiere of this high-spirited film even though it runs for just 72 minutes.
“I don’t want Calgarians to miss this beautiful little film, so I programmed two shorts to accompany it, including Sujoy Ghosh’s Anukul about a man who purchases a robot with magical powers — not unlike those of the severed monkey hand in The Monkey’s Paw.”
The second film, Vaibhavi, is the true story of a couple who wrote to India’s prime minister to ask what they should name their newborn daughter. He actually answered and suggested the name Vaibhavi and we see how this affected the couple and people they knew and did not know.”
The short films begin at 7 p.m. with Turup starting at 8 p.m.
On May 26 at 3 p.m., Hidden Gems is screening Take Off, which Bhatia calls “a harrowing true story of 43 Indian nurses who were sent to work at a teaching hospital in Iraq.
“Shortly after they arrived, the town was taken over by Islamic militants and they became stranded and were hostages. The director interviewed these nurses for the screenplay and what he created from their stories will have people on the edge of their seats.”
Alberta’s Lt.- Gov. Lois Mitchell will attend the screening of Take Off and will be on hand for the cutting of the 10th anniversary cake after the film.
Another special guest, Dr. David Swann, Liberal MLA for Calgary Mountain View, will attend the screening of another film, Turtle, at 5:30 p.m. on May 26.
“This is a story about depression taken from the point of view of the man who is suffering. It’s not so much interested in the causes of depression because they are often so unique to the individual but rather looks at what people suffering from depression need such as understanding, acceptance and shelter.”
(This year’s festival) is like Forrest Gump’s eclectic box of chocolates. Each (film) is a surprise.
Following the film, Swann will talk about how depression affects not just those suffering but the people around them.
The first weekend of The Hidden Gems Film Festival concludes on May 27 at 2 p.m. with Beyond the Clouds, which takes its audiences to the slums of Mumbai for a tale of a brother and sister who must rely on each other to survive a life of abject poverty. The brother is a petty drug dealer and the girl is wrongly imprisoned, so he vows to rescue her.
“This is a film from Iranian director Majid Hajdi who received international acclaim for his 1997 film Children of Heaven.
“He is adamant that his Beyond the Clouds is not meant to be another Slumdog Millionaire. The cinematography is really striking and beautiful as is the film’s theme about the importance of family,” says Bhatia.
For more information and trailers of the films featured in the first weekend of the Hidden Gems Film Festival, check out hiddengemsfilmfestival.com. Also check out trailers for Posto, Color of Innocence, Song of the Scorpion and Victoria and Abdul which will screen June 1-3.
The festival runs May 25 to 27 and June 1 to 3 in the amphitheatre at the Alberta College of Art and Design.