Movies from all over the world come to the Capital
Henna Rakheja
What’s common to the movies The Insult (Lebanon), Loveless (Russia), On Body and Soul (Hungary) and The Square (Sweden)? Well, all of these were nominated for the 2018 Oscars under the Best Foreign Language Film category. And if you are intrigued to know more about them, you can catch them all at the upcoming Habitat International Film Festival 2018. The 10-day festival, in its second edition, will have 60 film screenings, and will open with A Man of Integrity, directed by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof. The film was awarded the Best Screenplay and Best Feature at Cannes Film Festival 2017.
“The response was so good in the first year that we increased the number of screenings this year. We are putting together films which are on people’s wish list. And people can watch them with other like-minded individuals. There will also be panel discussions and special sessions,” says Vidyun Singh, director - programmes, Habitat World.
The festival will also focus on the cinematic journey of Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, on his birth centenary year. Films such as Wild Strawberries and Persona will be screened. The festival will also have a retrospective on the works of German film director Christian Schwochow, and a screening of children’s films.
Film enthusiasts in the Capital feel that the festival will fill the vacuum rendered by the shifting of the International Film Festival to Goa, in 2004. “A few of my friends will be travelling from different parts of the country to watch film screenings scheduled in Delhi, at the festival,” says Ajay Jaisinghani, an entrepreneur and film enthusiast who makes it a point to attend at least four film festivals across India every year. He adds, “Not having an international film festival in Delhi means Delhiites are unable to see the best films of the year. People ask how so many filmmakers from Delhi have made it big in Mumbai? It’s because they went to see films at festivals such as the ones held at Siri Fort. But now, we are depriving people of seeing good cinema or getting inspired to make films.”