Film restoration is an art: Shivendra Singh Dungarpur at MIFF Masterclass

MIFF Campus: Film restoration is as much an art form as filmmaking as the restorer has to use an artist’s eye and mind to ensure that the restoration is faithful to the original creator’s vision, said national award winning filmmaker, archivist and restorer Shivendra Singh Dungarpur at a masterclass held on the sideline of 17th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) today.

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While addressing the masterclass on ‘The Art and Ethics of Film Restoration’ Shri Dungarpur said, “Restoration involves not just the repair of physical damage or deterioration of the film, but takes into consideration the intent of the original creator, artistic integrity, accuracy and completeness of the film.” He highlighted the five key elements of preservation process, which includes acquisition, conservation, duplication, restoration and accessibility.

“In India by and large we look at film as a commercial entity not as an art form. That is the basic tenet on which the process of restoration is being built. That is one of the reasons for which we have lost many classics like India’s first talkie, ‘Alam Ara’ and first colour film ‘Kisan Kanya’ among others”, flagged Shri Dungarpur.

He also discussed the difference between mass digitization programme and quality restoration. His deliberation covered the entire restoration process right from research and sourcing the best elements to the restoration workflow and mastering of the output and the afterlife of the restored film. He illustrated the case studies of world class restorations including Uday Shankar’s Kalpana, Satyajit Ray’s Appu Trilogy restored from burnt negatives and Aravindan’s Thamp, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film festival, 2022.

About the Speaker

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur is an award-winning Indian filmmaker, producer, film archivist and restorer who has won acclaim for his films "Celluloid Man", "The Immortals" and "CzechMate - In Search of Jirí Menzel". He founded Dungarpur Films in 2001 and also founded Film Heritage Foundation in 2014. In 2012, he won two National Film Awards for his documentary Celluloid Man, based on the life of noted film scholar, preservationist and the founder of National Film Archive of India, P.K. Nair.

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Children to be part of Mumbai International Film Festival for the first time and for free

MIFF Campus: Animation films ‘Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama’ and 'Mighty Little Bheem: I love Taj Mahal' to be screened free for children.

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The first animation film co-produced by India and Japan ‘Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama’ is having its special screening at MIFF. The film is celebrating 30 years since its first launch. Based on the Valmiki's Ramayana, ‘Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama’ explores the ‘FUSION’ style of animation that consists of three different schools of animation-Manga from Japan, Disney from the US and Ravi Varma from India. The film is being directed by the legendary Indian animator Ram Mohan and Japanese director Yûgô Sakô and Koichi Saski.

Mighty Little Bheem: I love Taj Mahal, India’s first Netflix original animation serieswill have its world premiere at the festival. Krishna Mohann Chintapatla, an alumni of the Zee Institute of Creative Arts ( ZICA ) with 25 years of experience in the field of Animation film making has directed this epic entertaining film.

When we are celebrating the endless joy of cinema, how can we keep our young creative minds at bay! Yes, for the first time ever children under the age group of 18 are going to be part of 17th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), one of the oldest and largest film festivals for non-feature films in South Asia. Children will get a much coveted opportunity to watch two of the master class animation films ‘Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama’ and ‘Mighty Little Bheem: I love Taj Mahal’ at this 17th edition scheduled to be held from 29th May to 04th June 2022 in Mumbai.

The entry for the two films is free and open to all (even if you or your child has not registered as a MIFF delegate, you can attend these two shows). The children can also get a chance to visit the National Museum of Indian Cinema and interact with cine experts at the Films Division venue.

‘Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama’ will be screened at 3.45 PM at JB Hall, Films Division Complex on May 31, 2022. Likewise ‘Mighty Little Bheem: I love Taj Mahal’ will be screened at 3.45 PM at Audi-II, Films Division Complex on May 30, 2022.

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India’s foremost documentary film festival MIFF 2022 to begin on May 29 till June 4.

MIFF Campus: 102 documentary, short fiction and animation films competing for Golden Conch and Silver Conch awards

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Mumbai International Film Festival 2022

The Films Division complex, which also houses the National Museum of Indian Cinema is getting ready to host the 17th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short Fiction and Animation films.

The opening ceremony of the weeklong biennial film festival will take place at the Nehru Centre, Worli, while all the festival screenings will happen in the Films Division Complex, which has state-of-the-art auditoriums. (auditoria).

MIFF 2022 has got an overwhelming response from filmmakers across the world, receiving a whopping 808 film-entries from 30 countries. Out of these, 102 films will be screened under the Competition Category - 35 in international competition and 67 in national competition. 18 Films will be screened under ‘MIFF Prism Category’

Pic Courtesy: PIB

The Best Film of the Festival will receive the Golden Conch award, along with a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakhs. Other awards carry cash awards varying from five to one lakh along with Silver Conch, trophy and certificate. IDPA award carrying Rs. 1 lakh and trophy for the Best student film and Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari Award for the Best Debut Director will also be presented on the closing day.

The coveted Dr. V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award that carries a cash award of Rs 10 lakh, trophy and a citation will be presented to a filmmaker of eminence for his/her seminal contribution to documentary films will also be presented. S Krishnaswamy, Shyam Benegal, Naresh Bedi, Vijaya Mulay are some of the prominent film makers who have been honoured with this prestigious award in the past. This award is instituted in memory of legendary filmmaker V Shantaram, who was closely associated with Films Division as Honorary Chief Producer during the 1950s.

In commemoration of Bangladesh’s 50 years of Independence the country has been chosen as the ‘Country of Focus’ this year. A special package of 11 films from Bangladesh including critically acclaimed film Hasina- A Daughter’s Tale will be presented at MIFF 2022.

Netflix original series "Mighty Little Bheem: I love Taj Mahal" episode will make its World Premiere at MIFF 2022.

The first animation film co-produced by India and Japan ‘Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama’, will also have its special screening at MIFF. Contribution of Films Division in documentary culture in India will be showcased through a specially curated package, Image-Nation.

Special packages like Oscar Film package, curated by Shorts TV, Special film packages from Italy and Japan, Indian Panorama- from the recent editions of IFFI will be a point of attraction for film buffs.

Students Film packages from reputed institutions like, National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata, Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) Pune, K R Narayanan Film Institute, Kerala will showcase the spirit of young talent. Also Students’ Animation Documentary Films from Myanmar and films from Students’ Animation Film Festival Brazil will be a unique curation.

Similarly, curated films from North-East India, best of short fiction from Pocket Films Platform and special screening of restored version of Satyajit Ray’s film Sukumar Ray will be showcased.

MIFF, being one of the reputed documentary film festivals of the world, brings together documentary film makers, film buffs, film critics, broadcasters and OTT platforms and students, who debate and discuss contemporary trends in the documentary field.

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