'Piff will be a showcase of fresh world cinema'

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">PUNE: In the next three years, festival director Jabbar Patel wants to make the Pune international film festival (Piff) a showcase of "fresh world cinema". The Pune audience, too, is looking at next week''s inauguration of the 3rd edition of Piff (January 14) with great expectations.<br /><br />Not that it has forgotten any of last year''s annoying film schedule changes and other unpardonable glitches.<br /><br />Sanjay Pendse asks Patel how he reconciles the aims, expectations and reality.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">What sets Pune apart in an overcrowded international film festival circuit?</span><br /><br />What sets Pune apart is the presence of the Film and television institute of India (FTII), the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) and the legacy of the Prabhat studio (which turned out top-class cinema in Pune in the ''30s and is today the FTII campus).At film festivals, the obvious emphasis is on new cinema, but the other emphasis is on the masters. It is very difficult to get their retrospectives together because their works are scattered. In Pune, we are lucky because the NFAI is a treasure trove of masterpieces.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">What are the difficulties you face while putting together the festival? And how have you gone about selecting the films?</span><br /><br />The biggest difficulty is procuring the films you want to screen. New cinema, like the old masters, is also scattered among other festival venues and distributors.<br /><br />Half of our selection became easy because we simply had to select the best of the Thiruvananthapuram, Goa and Mumbai festivals.<br /><br />We have also had our people at Cannes, Locarno, Berlin, Busan and other festivals to recommend titles to us.<br /><br />The real boost this year, however, was the opening of the world competitive cinema, which brought in 60-plus entries, of which 18-19 have been selected.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">What precautions have you taken to avoid cancellations and rescheduling?</span><br /><br />We have to admit that many of us were all newcomers to festival management two years ago. It is not the case today. Also, the Internet and cellular technology is being used better today to plan, confirm and reconfirm things.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Do you ever find the task daunting?</span><br /><br />I am confident about Pune because of its largely young audience, its beautiful weather. Nowhere do you have the venues as conveniently located. In the end, its not about the money. Gloss and glamour (Bollywood included) is creeping into the best of the festivals. Where does the art go? It will come to Pune. And look how the Sundance festival or Karlo Vary festivals were able to quickly carve out a niche. One day this will become an exclusive film festival for new entries.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">How soon?</span><br /><br />Within the next three years or so.</div> </div>