In association with Corporation of Cochin & I&PRD, Govt Of India, Kochi will be looking forward to kickstart the October Revolution Film Festival. Which starts off on the 18th of October and concludes on the 22th at the E.M.S memmorial town hall, Ernakulam.
To those ignorant on what October revolution is, it has nothing to do with the Oktoberfest held in Germany, which is in short, to state in very very few words, a beerfest, so its not even half as close to having that much fun.But in other words it is one of the defining events in history that lead to shape what we call our present world. It is also known as the Soviet revolution or the Bolshevik revolution, a political revolution that began with an armed rebellion in Petrograd,Russia on the 25th of October 1917. This eventually lead to a series of political conflicts and the birth of the Soviet Union in 1922. Although The October Revolution isn’t constrained in screening just film’s on the russin revolution,it just takes the name for the sake of sticking to what it represents. Everything red and socialist, communist in short. Well largely to movies in that genre or anything remotely close to its ideals atleast. So the film festival will cater to both our ‘comrades’ and film buff’s alike.
The Film Festval will be inaugrated on the 18th by Renowned scriptwriter John Paul.
The first film to hit the screen at town hall and start off with the festival on the 18th is ‘The Battleship Potemkin’ directed by Sergei Eisenstei circa 1925. The film potrays the very short spanned 1905 reovlution against brtual regime of the Tsars in Russia. The rebellion occured when Sailors abroad the battleship Ptemkin was given maggot infested food to eat and start to protest. The captain of the ship gives orders to have those who protest be shot. As the shooting squad approaches one of the main character’s Sailor Vakulinchuk he asks, “Brothers! Do you realize who you are shooting?”. They lower their rifles and thus mutiny evokes. Although Battleship Potemkin is a film that produces an impressive punch and despite crtcics claiming that the the film is a perfect example of film structure, Potemkin is said to be an uneven viewing experience.
The second film on the platter, to be held on the 19th is ‘Viva Zapata’ released in 1952, it is the story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Diaz in the early 20th century. The story goes like this, in 1909 Emiliano Zapata a poor Mexican Indian from a remote province born of good family, goes to Mexico City to complain about their land being encroached. But things doesnt go well and he finally ends being branded an outlaw after he rescues a prisoner from the local militia. Watch the film to see how the rest of the story goes.
The third film, which will be screend on the 20th is ‘Bolivia’ which came out in 2001, directed by Israel Adrián Caetano.
Its a story based on contemporary Argentina, the story itself is more chrunching than the cinematography. The story set in Buenos Aires, is a very simplistic story which is centered around a neighbourhood coffee shop,one the countless sterotype settings where certain over-the-hedge events and inner expressionism manifests. The main focus is on the cafe’s new cook, a Bolivian immigrant Freddy. The story goes on with how Freddy struggles in life and that is the sweet greatness in the film, as it beautifully portrays the essence of humanity.
The 21st will cater to the fourth film,the 1985 production ‘Come and See’ or ‘Idi i smotri’ directed by Elem Klimov.A boy is unwillingly thrust into the atrocities of war in WWII Byelorussia, fighting for a hopelessly unequipped resistance movement against the ruthless German forces. He witnesses scenes of terrors and atrocities and then accidentally surviving horrifying situations he loses his innocence and then his mind. The movie is horrifyingly realistic, the specialFX are on par with movies such as ‘Saving Private Ryan’,'Thin Red line’,etc.
The fifth day i.e the 22nd will have ‘Kaliyorukkam’ by S Sunil screened, which had won the award for the Best Children’s film in 2007. Its a movie that that more depth to its ‘actors’ than the usual children’s films that has come out in the malayalam film industry lately. The story revolves around a group of children in Kannapuram Panchayath in Kannur District, Kerala.
The 22nd will also be host to the 1925 film ‘Strike’ or ‘Stachka’, which will be screened shortly after ‘Kaliyorukkam’.In Russia’s factory region during Czarist rule, there’s restlessness and plans of a strike among the workers. The management brings in spies and external agents to try control it. When a worker hangs himself after being falsely accused of thievery, the workers strike.As things get worse the military arrives to liquidate strikers. A series of Documentary films will also be screened along side with the Film Fest. These include ‘Bhoomikkoru Charamageetham’ on the 19th , ‘E K Nayanar on the 20th, ‘Aravindan’ on the 21st and ‘M D Ramanathan’ on the 22nd.
Film Festival will screen its movies at 6 pm and entries are free.
At the end of the session, all that I had was a stiff back – sitting on those uncomfortable chairs and the feeling of having been taken for a bad ride. Well, am no authority to speak on theater but speaking for few of us, we would rather spend time over intelligent and good humored plays than something as morose & contrived as “* conditions apply”. And maybe for the cost of the highly priced tickets – we could have bought a bottle of Scotch plus a Tequila and happily tippled away…J
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