Friday, December 09, 2011

IFFK 2011 - Day 1 Afternoon

IFFK 2011 started with less than expected crowd today. Theaters have not been as jam-packed as organizers said they would be. The next two days are holidays and are expected to bring in an avalanche of film lovers.

Watched two films today. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, a collection of three short films of the same theme by three directors (Kaz Cai, Wang Jing, Anocha Auwichakornpong). Each short film addresses a grand theme: women and their quest for love. It narrates a day in the life of three women. Incidentally, the day after Benazil Bhuto was asassinated. It has a grand theme. But the film fails to gel together as a great movie.


Next I saw Two Half Times in Hell - a brilliant Hungarian film, by Zoltan Fabri. It is the first film of the Kicking Soccer package in this year's IFFK. The film was released in 1963 and is in black and white. It is a black comedy set in the backdrop the Second World War and the invasion of Hungary by the Nazis. It portrays the events unfolded in a prisoner camp when a football match between Hungary and the 'official' Germany is proposed and then held. The film scathingly reveals the meaninglessness of many narrow beliefs - be it patriotism, worship of leaders, and, ironically, love of soccer.

Next I am going to watch Circus Columbia in Remya. More about it later.

2 comments:

Sachin said...

what were some of the other films in the soccer package?

Brown Country said...

Sachin,

There were seven films as part of the soccer film package (titled Kicking and Screening - http://www.kickingandscreening.com/):

1. Two Half Times in Hell
2. Game of their Lives (about USA's 1-0 win over England in the 1950 World Cup)
3. Garuda in My Heart
4. Soka Africa (a documentary about the spirit of African football just ahead of the 2010 World Cup
5. The Two Escobars (an ESPN documentary about Colombian football)
6. Offside
7. Will (about a 9-year old boy, a Liverpool fan, traveling to Istanbul to see that Champions league final).

Wanted to watch Game of their Lives and Will, but missed both, as I could not attend the last three days of the festival.

There was also a documentary about Mario Filho, a legendary Brazilian soccer writer, titled Mario Filho, The Creator of Crowds. The film is not listed in the Festival Book as part of the package. But I think this film is also included in the package.