Filmmakers warn of boycotting fest

PUNE: The Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), an annual event, scheduled to be held in February next year, seems to be in trouble.
About 180 documentary filmmakers from the country have threatened to boycott the much-awaited festival following the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry’s decision to censor Indian documentary films at the festival.
Annoyed over the move, several documentary filmmakers and movie buffs have initiated a ‘Campaign against censorship (CAC)’ at MIFF.
Moreover, they have appealed to leading filmmakers world-wide not to participate in the festival. CAC member Pankaj Butalia told TNN from Delhi on Sunday that they had submitted a memorandum to the Films Division and the I&B ministry about a month ago.
“We tried our best to keep communication channels open with the ministry, but except for a single meeting with the I&B joint secretary (films) and a few remarks by the minister, there has not been much progress. As a result, we have no choice but to boycott the festival,� Butalia said.
Several award-winning documentary filmmakers like Anand Patwardhan, Sunil Bhatia, Ajay Raina, Vasudha Joshi, Vipin Vijay, Baburaj P., Amar Kanwar, Ambarien Al Qadar, Nandan Kudhyadi, Uma Devi Tanaku and Bishakha Datta have signed the memorandum and have threatened to boycott the festival.
The filmmakers say that it is an accepted norm all over that films entering a festival are screened without being censored.
“Film festivals are places where there’s no restriction on expression. No international festival of repute ever censors films. It is strange that MIFF 2004 now wants to bring in censorship when in the past there was no such regulation,� Butalia said.
Butalia said, apart from filmmakers, several parliamentarians, too, had disapproved the regulations. But the ministry has failed to act. There have been reports that the I&B minister had dropped the “censorship clause’.