SAFF Networking at TIFF, Hannah Fisher in Toronto

I always find TIFF even more intense than the Cannes Film Festival, if that is possible.

The line-up is superb, as always, but there is something special and magical in the air this year. It is really staggering to go through the catalogue and see such an amazing, superbly curated line up. I say that – and it is true! Still, in truth, I have already walked out of two films that I found dark, oppressive, and fraught with emotional dysfunction.

As I am focusing on Asian/South Asian work and there will not be that much product, I have given myself the permission to sample films from all the other program streams. I saw a dazzling Moroccan film today (FREE MEN), by French/Moroccan filmmakers Ishmael Ferroukhi. We had his 2004 film, LE GRAND VOYAGE in Dubai, and it is thrilling to witness his growth as an artist and as a consummate story teller.

Let me start at the beginning. Davis Guggenheim is without a doubt one of American’s finest documentarians. His Oscar winning film, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH set the bar for a radical new approach to issues of global warming. His latest film, FROM THE SKY DOWN presents a searing and soul baring expose of U2, at a time when the band was closer to breaking up than any of them care to admit. I confess that I do not like the music. I did appreciate the honesty, the authenticity, and their on-going struggle to maintain truth in every song, in every moment of their music. It is unusual to kick off a major festival event with a documentary, even more so when the “stars” gracing the stage are world renowned musicians. Irish no less. It was a very raucous beginning.

The struggle for me at a festival is not unique. How do you balance the passion for film, with the need to attend gatherings, lunches, and networking opportunities. I am grateful to have been invited again to the annual Christie lunch (I think this is my 33rd invitation from George), and there are other superb events for networking: the Canadian Film Center’s Sunday Barbecue; the European Film Promotion party, the Ontario Media Development Corporation Party, the reception of the Australian Film Commission, the New Zealand Party, and new this year, the Doha Film Institute luncheon. I will of course attend all of them, exchange our beautiful new SAFF Canada card – and initiate new collaborations.

There were wonderful reunions today during the Sales and Industry Happy Hour. I met an old friend who is now the President of FIPRESCI, the International Critics Association. He lives in Paris, and offered to approach UNESCO and other UN agencies in Paris who are connected to the various SAARC countries. I asked if he thought that UNESCO would sponsor a small program; he simply shrugged? InshAllah! We will find a way of approaching not only the UN contacts he has developed, but as well, the cadre of international film critics over which he presides as President of FIPRESCI.

Another friend has asked me to collaborate with her on a major Bollywood program for an Eastern European Film Festival. And finally, a friend I have not seen for at least 6 years – last sighted during a shared festival viewing blitz in Jakarta-is now running an Indian Festival in NYC. They were all thrilled by the idea of the SAARC event, and their contacts and experience in the field can only benefit what we are attempting to do in British Columbia.

Of all the 300+ films booked in the festival, I am most anxious to see TRISHNA, directed by Michael Winterbottom, produced by Mumbai boy-wonder, Anurag Kasyrup, and starring Freida Pinto. TRISHNA is Winterbottom’s adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, set in contemporary India. I would walk on coals to see anything directed by Michael Winterbottom, but a Winterbottom/Kasyrup/Pinto troika is unbeatable. Kasyrup, himself an acclaimed director, and guru of indie Indian cinema also has at the festival MICHAEL produced by his company, directed by debut director, Ribhu Dasgupta, and starring the splendid Naseeruddin Shah.

There are of course other Indian and South Asian films. I am certainly looking forward to MAUSAM, directed by veteran actor Pankaj Kapur, and starring his son, Shahid Kapoor. Produced by Cinergy, and distributed by Eros, this film event will certainly burn out the searchlights in Toronto. And not to be forgotten, AZHAGARSAMY’s HORSE, a Tamil film based on an old village story.

And in the dazzling Mavericks program, a dialogue, a conversation with Deepa Mehta, Salman Rushdie and Cameron Bailey, Co-Director of TIFF. An event that will inspire, challenge and delight. What could be better than listening to two internationally acclaimed artists at the top of their game? Nothing! Full stop!

TIFF is a marathon and delicious because of the cinematic gems. What we are trying to do at SAFF – which is decidedly unique – is to scout out, discover, encourage, nurture those filmmakers from the family of SAARC – those countries that certainly have not yet developed the cinematic history and depth that India, and Sir Lanka as an example, can proudly boast. We are embarking on a remarkable journey.