Filmmakers: What experience teaches them
Last weekend some sections of Colombo went on a gala excursion with a
galaxy of a few movie stars in Hindi cinema suggesting to the outer
world the potentialities this island nation has for more exploration in
many fields.. That’s certainly a positive element.
|
John Landis |
But the film industry is not a stable one despite millions of
filmgoers all over the world judging by the hard felt experiences of
some of the filmmakers around the world.
Take for instance what John Landis, a filmmaker not widely known in
this part of the world, had to say. Two years ago. He came down to Goa
where a retrospective of his films were shown at the IFFI (International
Film Festival of India) was held.
While admiring that the Indian public is a great movie-going public,
he pointed out that “cinema is just 105 (now 107) years old and still
more of a business and craft and less of an art” How true it is,
knowledgeable critics would agree.
What he added is pertinent: the pattern of the business of filmmaking
is changing a lot because the decisions are made by corporate and
international conglomerates that make films not for a niche audience but
the entire world. “This has also made it difficult for filmmakers to
experiment with the format”, he explained. Yes the fact that most Indian
films (Hindi, Tamil) and even one or two Sinhala films have their
locales in foreign clime to capture the attention of foreign audiences.
As counterpoints we may ask aren’t there socially conscious,
committed and responsible filmmakers among the world film directors? Of
course there are but most of them are not proactive as John Landis said
The cinema does not always tell the truth he argued. The reason is, he
said, it involves a lot of manipulation.
CDs, DVDs, VCRs, Computer, Mobile Phones, television, cable TV etc
are some of the media that make cinema available to all and sundry.
Therefore it is not necessary to visit theatres and watch unless there
are some facilities for people to see and be seen. Back to filmmaker
John Landis. One of his remarks was that “The biggest tragedy today is
that though a lot of filmmakers make films they do not get people to
watch them.
Today remakes are being made because it is the need of marketing to
get the cine-goers into the theatres in the first three days of the
release of any film” What he says is true in another instance. He said
that telling a story has still not changed though technology has changed
a lot.
In the last analysis it is the end product that matters and not the
tools. Readers who may not have known of John Landis, This is what I
have gathered. During the last 30 years or so he has made a number of
films. Five of them were screened at the festival. They were: An
American Werewolf in London, Coming to America, The Blue Brothers, The
Blue Brothers 2000 and Trading Paces.
I must confess due to choice of films to be seen I ignored the
retrospective, but I did attended his press meet at the Festival in
2008.
[email protected]
|
