River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival

River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival, under the Patronage of the Embassy of India in Italy, is the first festival in the world entirely devoted to films from and AbOUT India.

The Festival, run by Selvaggia Velo, is supported by Mediateca Regionale Toscana-Film Commission as part of the Cinquanta Giorni di Cinema Internazionale a Firenze and will have it's 10th EDition from 3 to 9 December 2010 at Odeon, the beautiful 20s-style theatre located in the heart of the city.

The Festival

The first edition of River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival took place in October 2001 in Florence, Italy, as the first festival in the world totally devoted to Indian cinema and films about India, including Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Indian cinema has always been known out of its country of origin, but the Golden Lion won by Mira Nair with Monsoon Wedding at Venice Film Festival in 2001 has certainly been an important kick off.

In the last years in Europe and all over the world Indian cinema has mostly been known as Bollywood, with its masala big budget movies, songs and dance, and big stars.

At the same time there is also another important side of Indian cinema, the independent and parallel one: the aim of River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival is to promote it, screening each year the most recent features, short films and documentaries, and having in Florence the directors, actors and producers to present their works to the festival audience and press.

2001

The first River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival was held in 2001, leading for the first time FACES and prints of Indian independent directors to Italy: drawn backs and stories of milliard men and women. Their works financed by a low and reduced budget, but extremely creative, testify to a harsh conflict caused by the hegemonic movement of the commercial cinema of Bollywood. The festival also wanted to focus on directors who deal in a strong and innovative way with stories about topical questions, but crushed by the commercial machine of Bollywood. During the first edition, the festival has had a big audience and a very good press response. The 8 films shown were on reconnaissance in this world, which is still unknown of little productions, pointing out directors of great interest like Dev Benegal, Biju Viswanath and Preeti Chandrakant.

2002

The second edition of the Festival, which was held at Florence from 11 to 15 December, has shown a large selection of films of independent productions financed by a low budget and Bollywood-free, paying particular attention to stories about topical questions and to the innovation of the visual language of young directors. The edition of 2002 has also host a tribute to the Bengali director Ritwik Ghatak and to the 17 documentaries of TFSA (Travelling Film South Asia). The guests of the Festival have been the directors Rahul Bose and Anand Patwardhan, and the journalist, programmer and casting director of the festival Uma da Cunha.

2003

The third edition of River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival took place from 10 to 14 December, showing the best movies from the recent Indian production: from Maqbool by Vishal Bhardwaj to Matrubhoomi-A Nation Without Women by Manish Jha, from Chokher Bali by Rituparno Ghosh to the short film by Amit Kumar, The Bypass. A special event was the screening of India seen by Rossellini by Roberto Rossellini, a filmed diary realized by the director at the end of the 50s; and moreover, the Om Puri Night, a tribute to the great Indian actor, and the PREview of TFSA (Travelling Film South Asia) 2004. The River to River. Digimovies Audience Award has been won by Matrubhoomi - A Nation Without Women by Manish Jha. The special guests of the festival has been: the directors Roysten Abel and Manish Jha, the journalist and director Meenakshi Shedde, and the journalist, programmer and casting director of the festival Uma da Cunha.

2004

The fourth edition of River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival, which took place from 8 to 12 December, closes with the screening of the outside programme Eyes on India, documentaries on India shot by Western directors, and the screening of the black comedy [...] Happens by Shashanka Ghosh, winner of the FIFF Digimovies Audience Award.

The festival has its closing night with a big success of the Calcutta Chromosome section, the crowded Q&A with the festival guests, the lively bunch of Indian Short Shots and the confirmation of a growing audience. Within the debut films, big enthousiasm for the features Let the Wind Blow by Partho Sen Gupta, White Noise by Vinta Nanda and the short film Holly Bolly by Dishad Husain; and big success also for Goutam Ghose’s Impermanence and Ray, documentary on Satyajit Ray that was screend before the Ray Trilogy.

Among the festival guests, filmmakers Goutam Ghose, Herbert Krill, Dishad Husain, Vinta Nanda and Partho Sen Gupta, actress Koel Purie and producer Mohanjit Singh.

2005

The fifth edition of River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival was held in 2005 took place from 9th to 15 December, closing with the screening of Notes for a Film on India (1967-68) by Pier Paolo Pasolini, thirty years after his death, where the director shoots with a hand-held camera the city of Mumbai in its terribly poor suburbs; and Calcutta (1969) by Louis Malle, a cinematographic portrait of the Indian city where the devotees, the beggars and the streets swarming with people will play the leading role.

The fifth edition of the festival, lasted seven days, has had a growing audience and press. Within the features, the most appreciated have been Sof Haolam Smola (Turn Left at the End of the World) by Avi Nesher, Hari Om by Bharatbala (who has presented his feature in Florence) and Amu by Shonali Bose; the short film section has seen among all Viva Liberty! by Dishad Husain and 6 ft. in 7 min. by Rafael Del Toro; within the documentaries Between the Lines by Thomas Wartmann, City of Photos by Nishtha Jain and I baffi dei Rajput by Gianluca Pipitone (who has presented his documentary in Florence).

Very appreciated also the retrospective devoted to the producer and director Ismail Merchant.

The winners of the Florence Indian Film Festival Digichannel Audience Award in the 3 sections are: Sof Haolam Smola (Turn Left at the End of the World) by Avi Nesher for the features, 6 ft. in 7 min. by Rafael Del Toro in the short film section, and Between the Lines by Thomas Wartmann.

2006

The sixth edition of River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival took place from 8 to 14 December.

The last evening has seen the special screening of Notturno Indiano by Alain Corneau, from Antonio Tabucchi’s short story, in which a nameless traveller arrives in Mumbai in search of a friend, then heads on down.

The winners of the FIFF Digichannel Audience Award have been screened on the last day of the festival:

• feature films: the very of-the-moment Infinite Justice by Pakistani director Jamil Dehlavi, a brave story inspired by the real [...] of the American Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl;
• short films: the ironic Dog by Daniel Lang, in which the director imagines he dies and reincarnates in an Indian stray dog;
• documentaries: the 40-year-long filmed letters of I for India by Sandhya Suri.

This year, the festival offered a widely varied program, which tried to seize the different faces and sides of the human soul, each section ranging through different subjects.

As well as the winning films, the favourite feature films have been: Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (I did not kill Gandhi) by the Assamese Jahnu Barua, dealing with the universal subject of senile dementia in a quintessentially Indian setting, the death of Gandhi; the curry-flavoured gangster-story Dubai Return by Aditya Bhattacharya; and the ordinarily crazy day of Madhav Apte, the main character of Dombivli Fast by Nishikant Kamat. In the short films section, the surreal The Cherry on Top and Flower Girl deeply moved the audience. The favourite documentaries have been the delicate Kalasam by Anna Pitscheider, the curious Cricket Cup by Massimiliano Pacifico and Diego Liguori, and the pain of the “half widows” in Waiting… by Shabnam Ara and Atul Gupta.

The retrospective on Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay and Monsoon Wedding) has been a hit with the Florentine audience, as well as the meetings with the film directors: for feature films, directors Aditya Bhattacharya with Dubai Return and Jamil Dehlavi with Infinite Justice. And the documentary film-makers Pietro Silvestri with Le nozze di Mongla, Anna Pitscheider with Kalasam, Nicole Maria Krieger with Ayurveda-The Wisdom of Life, Filippo Papini with Varanasi Bang and Massimiliano Pacifico and Diego Liguori with Cricket Cup.

2007

The seventh edition of River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival took place from 7 to 13 December, with a great success among the press and the audience, confirming also the good idea of the 50 days of international cinema in Florence, at the historical and central cinema Gambrinus.

The selection of the films in competition and the retrospective devoted to [Bimal Roy] have had a big success and have been very well received, and the guests from India and delegates of culture in Italy have been numerous.

During the last evening the winners of the River to River Digichannel Audience Award have been announced:

• feature film section: the intense story of a mother in Maati Maay by Chitra Palekar
• short film section: the ironic and up-do-date Saving Mum and Dad by Kartik Singh
• documentary section: the kite festival in Sotto il cielo di Ahmedabad by Francesca Lignola and Stefano Rebechi.

After the award ceremony, the Festival director has assigned to Médecins Sans Frontières a part of the ticket income for the victims of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh, at the presence of the President of Region Tuscany Claudio Martini. The evening has gone on with the screening of the last film of the retrospective devoted to Bimal Roy, Bandini.

2008

The 8th edition of River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival is finished on Thursday December 11, with a big success among the audience and the press, reconfirming the good idea of the 50 giorni di cinema internazionali in Florence and the beautiful venue of Odeon movie theatre.

The films in competition, the special sections and the retrospective devoted to Bollywood’s showman [Raj Kapoor], have been appreciated by the audience. Many guests this year, among the filmmakers, and also H.E. Ambassador of India in Italy Arif Shahid Khan and the Presidente della Regione Toscana Claudio Martini.

During the final evening, the River to River Digichannel Audience Awards have been announced:

• feature film section: the tender, moving metropolitan tale of Amal by Richie Mehta
• short film section: the suggestive Funerailles by Subarna Thapa
• documentary section: the interesting Super 30 by Christopher Mitchell

Furthermore, Digichannel has decided to give a special mention to Sarab S. Neelam for the feature film Ocean of Pearls “for the gentle manner in which the delicate issue of discrimination has been addressed and the support for the future development of a world that will never have to deal with any racial or religious difference among individuals".

After the award ceremony, the Festival has screened the three winners of the first edition of the Advantage India 3 minute film competition in collaboration with 1takemedia. And finally Bobby by Raj Kapoor as the closing film.

2009

The ninth River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival ended on Thursday 10 December in the beautiful Odeon, and has been a hit with the audience and the press.

The selection of films in competition, the special sections and the retrospective devoted to Guru Dutt, the Indian Orson Welles of the Fifties, have been greatly received by both the audience and the press.

The partnerships with Museo Marino Marini for the exhibition on Raja Ravi Varma and Palazzo Tornabuoni for the Gala Dinner have been important side events of the festival, in addition to the workshops on music in Guru Dutt’s films and gender issues in India with experts and lecturers of Indian studies.

Lots of guests attended to the festival: filmmakers Ketan Mehta, Raja Menon, Sooni Taraporevala, Sanjeev Sivan, Kartik Singh and Dev Khanna; actresses Nandana Sen and Iyanah Bativala, and screenwriter Shakir Kadri. Other guests included the Indian Ambassador to Italy, Arif Shahid Khan, and the Culture Councillor of the Region Tuscany, Paolo Cocchi.

The winners of the River to River Digichannel Audience Awards were announced during the evening:

• feature film section: the intense, evocative A Heaven on Earth by Deepa Mehta
• short film section: the poignant cartoon Topi by Arjun Rihan
• documentary film section: the interesting, shocking Children of God by Yi Seung-jun.

After the award ceremony, the evening went on with the screening of the three winners of the Advantage India 3 minute Competition and the Closing Film, the hilarious cartoon Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley about the tragicomedy of Ramayana.

In February the Festival organisers will start selecting films for the 10th anniversary of the event that will be taking place from 3 to 9 December 2010. Full details will be published at www.rivertoriver.it in February 2010.

2010

The organisers are now working on the 10th edition of River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival, that will take place from 3 to 9 December 2010 at Odeon movie theatre.

External links

• River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival official website
• River to River.Florence Indian Film Festival on Facebook

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