I missed both IFFI and IFFK in 2023 due to my sabbatical and I was thinking of giving their 2024 editions also a miss due to upcoming big life events. But then as a happenstance, something in my meme-filled Facebook feed caught my attention. It was a poster by the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) announcing screenings of two films I had never heard of. FHF was going to screen the restored versions of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Strictly Ballroom (1992), two classics credited with popularizing Australian cinema. Upon further digging, I found that FHF was also going to run a short fest of Italian films around the maiden arrival of director Giuseppe Tornatore to India. Called Cinema Italian Style, its schedule would run for three days, offering classics such as Cinema Paradiso (1988), Malena (2000), La Dolce Vita (1960), and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). Without realising, I had already entered the 2024 film fest season.

It looks like it wasn’t really a coincidence. Facebook knows me pretty well and it must have worked overtime to show me that FHF poster. I ended up watching the Australian films over two days at Regal Cinema, Colaba.

Three days later, I prepared myself for the Italian film fest, starting with Cinema Paradiso. Even though it’s a classic, I hadn’t watched it before, so the experience catching it on the big screen was even merrier. Not to mention the lucky feeling of watching it with the director himself sitting in the audience. Before the screening, Tornatore joked how it’s incredible that he has been introducing the film again and again for the last three decades. His words hinted at a slight surprise. It was only later I would learn that Tornatore usually slips out of the theatre after introducing his films. But this time he was so captivated by “the enthusiasm of the crowd (sic)” he sat down with the audience.

Cinema Paradiso Was Released 4 Times Theatrically

Later during a talk with FHF founder Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Tornatore recalled how Cinema Paradiso was theatrically released four times in Italy. While the the film’s Wikipedia entry summarises it differently, it was delightful to hear the chain of events from Tornatore himself. According to him, Cinema Paradiso had four theatrical releases. The original cut (which is about 155 minutes) was a box office failure. When he and his producer discussed the failure with the distributors, the reason cited was that it was very long. Apparently, to prove them wrong, Tornatore went back to the editing room and cut it short to about 124 minutes, which is the most commonly available version today. They also created a new poster and trailer for this second release. However, this shorter version was also a box office flop in Italy.

After some dramatic events with Berlinale (where the makers withdrew Cinema Paradiso after the festival’s director panned the film before its screening), the film got an invite from Cannes where it won the Grand Prix. After the win, Tornatore released the film a third time in his home country, only to witness another failure. It almost seemed like Italians were averse to Cinema Paradiso. It was only after the Golden Globe and Oscar wins in 1989 that the film got the attention it deserved and was ultimately a great success, in its fourth release.

A facet of attending such film festivals is that you get to hear such stories from artists. Stories that are not usually published anywhere. This is why I always attend Q&A sessions after film screenings, and recommend you to do so too.

Film Festival Fatigue

I experienced festival fatigue for the first time during MAMI MFF 2023, when it felt like my body was not on board with my decision to attend the festival. Laziness crept in after a few days into the film festival, and my first reaction was to skip the morning shows. Since I was not working, I was very well in a position to spend the entire days watching films. Yet I started skipping the morning shows as most of them required me to travel 30-40 kilometres and reach the venue before 10 AM.

I experienced this fatigue again during the Cinema Italian Style fest, where I skipped both Senso (1954) and Ennio (2021). Although I had the desire to catch those films, somehow the desire wasn’t strong enough to pull my body out of a stupor that has taken charge since earlier this year when I ended my sabbatical.

Chronic sitting has also become an issue now. Starting with sitting in the local train for about an hour to sitting for hours at a stretch watching two movies back-to-back and then again sitting in the train on the way back home.^[1]Mind you, Sergio Leone’s original cut of Once Upon a Time in America was nearly 4 hours long, which is what was screened here. There was limited movement (walking) between these three activities, and I often ended up with a strained behind, to an extent that it was necessary to change my sitting position every few minutes. I see this as a way of my body reacting to my film festival madness. Did I tell you that one of my mom’s best friends has never watched a movie in a theatre because she can’t fathom sitting for two hours?!

MAMI MFF 2024 and IFFI Goa 2024

With the FHF-organised film festival wrapped up, it’s time for MAMI’s Mumbai Film Festival that begins October 19. Now that I am working, I plan to attend the evening shows only. This will be followed by the IFFI event in Panjim, Goa from November 20.

I’ll be skipping IFFK this year. The same goes to the Chennai film festival that no one talks about. I had some desire to attend the Ajanta-Ellora International Film Festival (AIFF) but then couldn’t find a safe accommodation in Aurangabad. Moreover, AIFF is known for screening mostly Marathi films which are something that I do not actively consume. The next stop would be the BIFFes in early 2025, which is usually the final leg of India’s film festival season.

Hoping for another year of good film festival days, with or without my body’s full support.