Cinefan 2007

As long-time readers of this blog will know, I’ve been covering/rigorously attending the Cinefan film festival for many years now (a few earlier posts here, here, here, here, here and here). This year’s edition is on between July 20-29. Some of the films on my to-see list:

From the Kenzi Mizoguchi tribute section – Sansho the Bailiff, Street of Shame and The Woman of Rumour (have seen the first two but need a refresher course).

From the Arab competition section – Falafel, Tender is the Wolf. (Deciding what to watch at Cinefan can be a hit-and-miss affair – which is inevitable for a festival that shows more than 120 films – but I’ve found the movies in the Arab section to be consistently rewarding over the years.)

Indian competition – Podokkhep, Kayyoppu, Shoonya.

Films on Intolerance – Shame (a documentary about Mukhtaran Mai's fight for justice), Iraq in Fragments, The Colour of Olives.

Hymns to Freedom – The Battle of Algiers (haven’t seen it on the big screen), Children of Fire.

From the whimsically titled “Spotlight Filmcraft” section, two old favourites that I haven’t seen on a big screen: Ozu’s Tokyo Story and Hitchcock’s The Birds (no, don't ask me what it's doing in a festival of Asian cinema; maybe some of the starring birds were immigrants), though the latter is being shown in the tiny Siri Fort 4 auditorium so might give it a miss.

Focus on Japan – Taboo (directed by Nagisa Oshima, who made the fascinating Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence and In the Realm of the Senses), Hiroshi Inagaki’s four-hour epic Chushingura/Samurai.

Of course, I’ll probably only be able to see a few of these films, and maybe a couple of others based on convenience, and hopefully I won't see anything as faltu as some of the stuff I stumbled into last year. Check out the full schedules here.