51st CANNES FILMS FESTIVAL

A return visit to Cannes after a six-year gap to witness the celebrated festival's 51st edition came as a discomfiting shock. Too many changes have swept in and one has to adapt to them, instantly. The festival has grown to enormous proportions. It's thronging, shifting crowds of almost six thousand delegates makes walking in and around the premises difficult and almost a snail-speed joust. The festival’s character has become alarmingly American. Hopefully, the Hollywood aura is the festival’s hallmark for just this one year. This year Cannes is overloaded with American blockbusters in all its sections. The opening film, Mike Nichol’s Primary Colours was disappointingly didactic, and the closing film is the sci-fi bonanza Godzilla. American stars are pouring in at all hours. Every gala black-tie screening has thousands of cheer-leaders from teeny-boppers to the elderly screaming their lungs out at every sight of a star. The Elvis days are back at Cannes.

The Grand Theatre Lumiere with its imposing entrance was built some ten years ago by the festival organisers for the purpose of parading its celebrities. The cinema’s red-carpeted stairway leading upwards to its foyer, has adjacent space along both sides of its barricades where TV and still cameras can click away. Crowds that block streets all around can take in an eyeful and earful at the slow, solo entry and exit of celebrities as they ascend and descend this stairway, dressed to kill. Or mostly undressed speaking for the pencil-thin, pillar-tall female stars.

India is becoming an increasing absentee in the grand showcasing of new cinema that Cannes represents. Apparently, Cannes is the second largest market show in the world, next to the Olympics. At one time India was a sought-after and important participant in Cannes, featuring in competition and its three major side-bar sections of `Un Certain Regard', the `Directors Fortnight', and the `Critics Week'. In recent years, to have even one Indian selection in Cannes has become a rarity. Last year, Gautam Ghose’s Gudia got in at the last minute and by default (for political reasons a Chinese film was pulled out of `Directors Fortnight'). This year there is no Indian entry. The reason could be a fall in India’s budget for making art films, and consequently, a lack in quality and content. The visual quality of Indian films begins to pall when seen against the precision of digital sound and special effects that Hollywood is injecting into international movies. Besides, leading Indian filmmakers are increasingly making serials and telefilms for the country’s television and cable channels.

But behind the scenes and in the market, the Indian presence is hearteningly strong and encouraging. A group of Indian software technical experts are leading the world in introducing the new concept of `Motion Capture' into filmmaking. The company is called Pentafour Software which has over 20 branches all over the world and its headquarters in Chennai and Los Angeles. The use of `Motion Capture' was seen to effect in the Titanic. That film had only 12 minutes of this technique. We have used a record-breaking 24 minutes in our latest venture, Jeans, says Pentafour’s business development manager Sriram Sunder Rajan. Rajan’s three member team from Chennai were busy operating from their office at the Cannes Croisette seaface selling their technical breakthrough in a new Hollywood animated film that will be using Pentafour’s Motion Capture expertise in a big way. The name of the film is Sinbad Beyond The Veil Of Mists. Our market is the 14 to 20 age group — one that is familiar with video games and will therefore take to the look and movement of the technique we are incorporating,” says Rajan This Chennai based group are working alongside leading Hollywood companies providing the latest in computer software techniques that they have mastered.

The enterprising Ashok Amritraj is also leading the way in film production. In Cannes he was operating from his Majestic Hotel office, aggressively promoting his new production company, Franchise Pictures, which he launched in September 1997. With this company Amritraj is extending his film production to big-budget American movies using quality scripts and major US stars. Franchise Films has two films featured in the Cannes market, A Murder Of Crows starring Cuba Gooding Jr and Tom Beringer, directed by Rowdy Herrington, and The Confession starring Alec Baldwin and Ben Kingsley, directed by David Jones. "The Franchise-backed film aims primarily at the American market," says Amritraj, "and our films now use popular action themes based on quality scripts.”

Way back in 1981 after a successful tennis career, Ashok Amritraj formed his Amritraj Entertainment Company in Los Angeles which has produced over 50 films including the box-office hit Double Impact starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and the critically acclaimed A Light In The Jungle. Around three years ago, Amritraj’s other company, the Amritraj-Solomon Company, was formed to bring American investment into Hindi language co-productions. Reports have reached a cheery Amritraj on his India success. "Our latest Indian blockbuster Jeans starring Miss World beauty queen Aishwarya Rai and a host of Hindi cinema’s super-stars, was released three weeks ago in Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Kerala and is breaking all records,” he beams. Another big-budget Indian film that Amritraj-Solomon has on the anvil is called I Love You, Hamesha, starring Akshaye Khanna. “Our Indian language product,” adds Amritraj, “is meant for India and the Indian ethnic market worldwide.” With established offices located in Chennai and Los Angeles, Amritraj is positioned to cater to localised and inter-connecting world markets that link the US and India.

The omnipresent Ismail Mrchant breezed into Cannes to promote films that the Merchant-Ivory group has ready for release. One is the low-budget independent film called Side Streets directed by Tony Gerber, which opens with the statement, “One out of every three persons in New York city is an immigrant.” The film is a dark comedy that cleverly and tellingly interweaves the life-style and aspirations of four immigrant communities trying to find their place in Big Apple. One of the immigrant groups is Indian. The others are Italian, Caribbean, Japanese and the like. The Indian segment stars Shashi Kapoor as a tragically spent, ageing star trying to make a comeback through a non-existent tie-up with Al Pacino. He sponges off his nephew (Art Malik), who is his great fan. His spirited wife (Shabana Azmi) gets fed up with the demands that the ex-star’s presence makes on her and on her family life. The Indian segment comes to a pathetic end. Shashi Kapoor’s performance lends dignity and pathos to his role.

Finally, the leading French company Gaumont was promoting their film The City Of The Monkey God starring Delhi stage actor Khalid Tyabji and Mumbai’s own Tabu along with Javed Jaffri. A 20 minute promo reel of the film was being shown to select delegates. The film, which was shot mostly in Hampi, Karnataka, and has an Indian theme and setting, is planned for a major international release this coming September.