The Hindu Business Line : Feasting on films

Can art be combined with commerce? Do film festivals focus on quality or profitability? Is a `good' festival ensured through `good' financial backing?

These are pertinent questions today, when film festivals can be anything from mega events to art exercises or even money spinners — depending on their budget. In the backdrop of the just concluded International Film Festival of India at Goa, let us look at the funding patterns of some of the big and small film festivals of the world.

The Cannes festival's sponsors read like a `Who's Who' in the corporate world — L'Oreal, Kodak, Canon and Piaggio among others. There were no ticketed shows at the festival, because it was only for `invited' members of the film industry — 16,000 of them! The Cannes film market is the biggest in the world, and many movies here are `pre-sold' before they are even completed. Prices for movies can be negotiated, but according to insiders, usually range about 1,000 euros.

That's why the film packages at festivals today, are heavily dependant on budgets.

Switzerland's Locarno Film Festival has an arresting array of categories and films, thanks to a budget of 90 million Swiss francs gained from the local government, a major bank like UBS and corporate sponsors like Manor, Swisscom, AET and others.

Tickets cost 20 euros for the `public' screenings at the spectacular open-air Grande Piazza. But the eventual aim of the `committed' festival is to use the `big' funds for the `small' filmmakers.

Thus, they have a section called `Open Doors' that encourages any country with a struggling film industry to present scripts and seek European funds. Last year it was Cuba and, this year, three Asian countries in the Mekong region — Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam benefited.

Holland's Hupert Bals Fund and France's Fonds Sud Cinema are the best-known funding companies from Europe that have supported many independent Asian filmmakers, including India's Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Murali Menon. Sandra den Hamer, Director of the Rotterdam Film Festival, which is associated with the Hupert Bals Fund, says that the Fund supports about 40-50 film projects a year. Although the funding is not very large, ranging between $25,000 and $40,000 per film, "we serve as a catalyst for networking, and for marketing the film," she says.

Rithy Panh, the Paris-based Cambodian president of Fonds Sud Cinema, says he visits various film festivals to select movies that deserved funding.

At a panel session for Mekong films at the Locarno Festival, he said, "We receive about 200-300 high-quality scripts every year, and give about $100,000 for the films we select."

Small, but spunky

Germany's Berlin Festival and Italy's Venice Festival are the gourmet film events in their respective countries. But there is also the small, ethnic `River to River "Indian" Festival' in Florence. Director Luca Marziali, a great lover of Indian cinema, started this festival of 30 Indian films, four years ago, and says that it is steadily gaining in popularity. Their budget of 70,000 euros came from the local government, a top bank and a film foundation.

Similarly, a vibrant `Afrikano' festival is held yearly at Milan. Director Alessandra Speciale says she receives financial support from local sponsors and various European funding companies.

Directors from newly emergent countries like Ukraine and Estonia are also holding yearly festivals, with an impressively large package of films (including many Indian movies).

Tiina Lokk of the grand Black Nights Festival in Estonia, says her festival featured as many as 450 films, with a budget of half-million euros that came mostly from private sponsors like Radisson SAS Hotel, Eesti Uhis Bank and others. One-third of the funds came from the municipality and the government. Says the enthusiastic director, "Funds are getting easier to come by, although it's a slow process."

The scene in Asia

Asia has several film festivals that now rate among the top in the world.

Korea's Pusan Festival is top on the list, and has been compared to Canada's Toronto Festival with its 300 high-quality films. Director Kim Dong-Ho says they have had no dearth of corporate sponsors.

One of the highlights of the festival is the Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP) where Asian film projects are given funds, based on the quality of their scripts. This year, 23 new projects were selected. The Singapore Film Festival has been around for nearly a decade and it screens as many as 300 films too. According to Director Phillip Cheah, they have a budget of one million Singapore dollars, of which 15 per cent comes from the government and the rest from corporate sponsors like Asia Pacific Breweries, Westin Hotel and others.

The Hong Kong Film Festival has government support too, with a budget of $1 million that comes mostly from the Home Affairs Bureau, according to Director Li Cheuk To. They screen about 200 films every year.

Thailand has two film festivals — the modest World Film Festival organised by the Nation paper, and the grand Bangkok International Film Festival sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

The former, which was held in October, featured a select 80 films from 30 countries, including a large section from India, as Director Kriengsak Silakong is an Indian-movie buff. This year's budget of nearly 20 million baht came from a range of sponsors like TG, Mitsubishi and GVC. Significantly, Fonds Sud Cinema and Hupert Bals Fund attended the festival in order to meet and possibly fund independent Thai filmmakers. The Bangkok International Film Festival, to be held in January, will be put together by seasoned festival directors Craig Prater and Jennifer Mae Stark from Los Angeles. The American directors confessed that it was "very important to have TAT as the title-sponsor" because of the generous budget. Last year's festival had an estimated budget of 70 million baht and boasted of a glittering range of films, parties and movie stars. Interestingly, it is TAT Governor Juthamas Siriwan's ambition to make Bangkok the Cannes of Asia!

The ongoing Dubai Film Festival has big funds too and opened at a new, hi-tech complex in Dubai Media City. Director Neil Stephenson says the rich East-West package of 80 films includes a large Indian section.

In contrast, Bangladesh's two-year-old festival is struggling for survival, says its Director Ahmed Muztaba Zamal. "Our government has many other economic priorities and it's tough to get funds for cinema," he says.

Zoom-in India

India's impressive film-festival circuit attracts delegates from around the world, as was obvious at the recent Osian Cinefan Film Festival of independent Asian movies, held in New Delhi. The festival was a huge success, despite the `free' tickets for the public.

But Director Aruna Vasudev confessed that it was the $20,000 sponsored by Neville Tuli of the Osian Foundation that saved the six-year-old festival from closing down.

The Kerala Festival, often considered the best in the country, has 140 films at a budget of Rs 1.25 crore. It is an impressive example of funding through government and private collaboration. The festival, which started in a small way in Kozhikode nearly a decade ago, has grown tremendously in stature.

It is currently organised by the private Chaalchitra Academy, with 70 per cent of the funds coming from the State government and the rest from private sponsors, according to Director Bina Paul. Only season-tickets are issued for the festival, which witnesses the largest and most cinema-literate audiences in the country.

The newest film festival is in Chennai, which opened last year with 80 films and a modest budget of Rs 25 lakh. General Secretary E. Thangaraj says the funding mostly came from private sponsors. This year they hope to get support from companies like Hyundai Motor, TVS and Indian Bank.

The State government also helped by exempting tickets from entertainment tax.

The country's most high-profile festival is the government-supported International Film Festival of India, which has an enviable budget and large package of films. Huge investments have been sunk into this year's festival held in the lush beach-town of Goa, which is to become a permanent venue.

Director Neelam Kapoor says Goa hopes to become the `Cannes' of India!

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