(Left) Santanu Ganguly and (right) Muhammed Umar Saeed are just two of the many curators who work tirelessly behind the scenes at festivals. PHOTOS: PUBLICITY
LAHORE: If anyone is organising a film-festival in this part of the globe, Santanu Ganguly is sure to be there. He probably wouldn’t stand out in the crowd, but he is the backbone of the growing trend of film festivals around the globe. The growth of film festivals has become an important circuit for aspiring filmmakers.
“Most people in India would not know what a film festival curator is. In fact my in-laws would ask ‘what is this job you do’, and in most places in India, people don’t know what film festivals are about,” says Ganguly.
Ganguly, who was in town for the third Rafi Peer International Film Festival held in Lahore last weekend, said that the job of film curator has become an important aspect of the ‘festival circuit’. Like any arts curator, he spends his life organising and scouting independent films around the globe for an array of film festivals.
“I am always on my toes from September to March, I am travelling like crazy, and I have found that people are very interested in film festivals everywhere,” he says.
Ganguly specialises in bringing regional films to the forefront; such as Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telegu and others. His year is booked solid, with him travelling around the globe, either organizing film festivals or conducting workshops related to the growing field.
“You can watch a film anywhere, on TV or cinema, but the beauty of the film festival, is that it goes deeper into creating an understanding of how to watch films, and what is good or bad about particular films,” says Ganguly.
As an expert on Asian cinema, he views the importance surrounding film festivals as a force that allows non-commercial films to come to the forefront. He interacts with directors who find it hard to break-in the controls of the mainstream industry.
“In the Bombay film industry, you have four houses controlling the industry. In Hollywood it’s the same thing, there is little space for people outside of the mainstream. I am looking to reveal those that are,” says Ganguly.
Muhammed Umar Saeed, who recently curated the Third Rafi Peer Film Festival, says that it is important to extend the culture of film festivals locally.
“I have studied film from Punjab University. After I graduated, I started to roam around the world attending film festivals. This allowed me to understand what they are all about first hand,” says Muhammed Umar Saeed.
When asked to curate and program the festival in Lahore, Saeed said he had been reluctant initially as he was unsure as to how many films he could curate. He said that being part of the festival circuit meant that he was able to get films from 35 countries.
“The importance of film curators and festivals, even if you go abroad, is that filmmakers from different backgrounds get to interact, and then you get to look and view everything related to films, so it’s important in preserving a culture,” adds Saeed.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2013.
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