Editorial

SHORTLIVED ANIMATION?

They’re reduced to the irrelevant at other times, unsought, rotting in the cans. But for once, documentary, short and animation films held centrestage in Mumbai last week, bringing the screens alive. To full houses. And warming the very cockles of their makers’ hearts, just for once.

Indeed, the sixth edition of the biennial MIFF (Mumbai International Film Festival) whipped up the kind of animated crowds that could be the envy of the box-office. Yes, believe it, there even were people trooping back home, dejected at being denied entry after house full, or simply hanging around till the next show. A darned sight better than the FD babus and their decked up missus and baba folk who comprised the audience at previous editions of the fest.

So who says there isn’t an audience for docu, short and animation films any more? Judging from the response at MIFF, the case isn’t solely one of lack of demand, but also of supply. And, not to forget, of quality.

As the mainstream feature film format continues to eschew realism, and seek refuge instead, in "crass, commercial escapist formula," it’s become the documentarian’s lot to ween the viewers away to higher ground. With engaging, thought-provoking, socially-relevant fare. Or so went the oft-repeated refrain at the fest’s inaugural do and the seminars that followed. Noble thoughts, those. Now, if only exhibition outlets for their brand of films were easy to come by, went the lament.

Therein lies the rub. Spurned by the national broadcaster, DD, docu films have been at the mercy of the commercial exhibitors, who, as a clan, have habitually looked the other way, too. This, despite the fact that docu films do have a discerning audience all their own.

SUPPLY, SUPPLY
The paucity of exhibition outlets for documentaries is a problem peculiar to the third world. Europe, on the other hand, has a dedicated docu industry, complete with theatres and TV channels (six of them, in fact) devoted entirely to it. Surely, it’s a model we can and must replicate in India.

The IDPA (Indian Documentary Producers Association) has long since submitted a proposal to the government, asking for a slot on DD, and its regional networks for shorts and documentaries. Arun Jaitley, the union minister for I&B, who was present at the fest’s inaugural, was non-committal on the matter of DD slots. "Consider the proposal, we will," he promised. But haven’t we heard that one before?

DD, too, has problems of its own, albeit largely of its own making. Despite being the sole terrestrial broadcaster, currently accessible to over 250 million viewers, it hasn’t had a delightful monopoly. With diminishing advertising revenues, escalating costs of maintaining 750-odd transmitters, inane programme content and competition from the satellite channels, DD has begun to find itself, more and more, like a cat on a hit tin roof. So, try getting DD to give the IDPA slots on its channels now! Leave alone, give docu fare a channel all its own.

Not that that would be a bad idea. The very success of channels like Discovery, National Geographic and Cartoon Network in India, shows that a discerning audience for short and animation films is already in place in our country. If DD doesn’t wake up to the idea soon, you can bet one of the satellite channels will. And with so many of its transponders lying idle, it would be a pity if it doesn’t give the option a try.

Instead of dumping the documentaries down the reluctant exhibitors’ throats, the government would do better to air them on its own channels first. And if that is financially unviable, why force the exhibitors to screen them, that, too, at their own expense? Or, come to think of it, why get the FD to make them in the first place?

"Keep your speeches short and animated," emcee, Tom Alter, told the guests at the MIFF inaugural. Short, they indeed were, and certainly, animated, too. Let’s hope the cries of the documentary industry have been heard, that the success of MIFF hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Or it will all be shortlived animation.

Shaju George Alex