Hmmm....I totally forgot to update about the rest of the movies I watched at BIFFes. Almost all of them were class, and a must watch. I'll just give a brief description and what it feels like to watch them.
Epilogue - An Israeli film about an old couple. There is romance, and there is drama, and there is also the bitter truth that those who've spent most of their lives building the country are now left to fend for themselves with nowhere to go. This movie won the award in the Asian category at the festival.
Hush...Girl's Don't Scream - A surprising Iranian film about a woman who is accused of murder, but no one knows why she did it. She has no prior records; she doesn't know the victim; she has no motive; and she commits the murder just an hour before her marriage. It has elements of suspense, but there is something much deeper that the movie wants to convey.
Like Father Like Son - A Japanese film about a couple who find out that their six-year-old son is not really their son, but was "accidentally" exchanged with another newborn in the hospital after delivery. The father finds it very hard to cope with the revelation that the son he cares about so much is not really his blood. Great acting by all the cast. One of the best movies at the festival.
Mirror Without Reflection - A film from Tajikistan; don't even know what language it was in. Some dialect of Persian perhaps. The story was decent enough, revolving around a guy who desperately needs a heart transplant, but since he is most probably going to die anyway, he goes ahead and shoots someone in frustration. The acting is very amateurish, and so are the dialogues. There is not a single light-hearted moment in the film, but yet many were laughing at the childishness. It's better to avoid this film, but then again, it is a film from a pretty unknown place.
Apur Panchali - A Bengali film about the life of Subir Banerjee, the kid who played the role of Apu in Satyajit Ray's
Pather Panchali, the first film of the well-known
Apu Trilogy. The story revolves around how child actors who portrayed famous roles are soon forgotten, but the role stays with their lives forever. The film uses original footage from
Pather Panchali wherever it is relevant. The music is also amazing, inspired from the original trilogy of course. Fans of the trilogy should definitely watch this film.
My Sweet Pepperland - My third Iraqi film at the festival. I expected it to be a political drama, but it turned out to be a subdued western of sorts. Clint Eastwood would've fit in perfectly in this movie. The actress, Golshifteh Farahani, is the same one who played the lead role in
The Patience Stone. Apart from the acting, the music and cinematography are also excellent, and I must say, I won't be looking at Iraqi films the same way from now on.
Short Term 12 - The only English movie I saw at the festival. The film deals with the professional lives of supervisors at a foster-care facility for at-risk teenagers (drug addicts, depressed, those who've attempted suicide, abuse victims, etc...). The plot isn't that convoluted, but the way everything has been presented should be lauded. A must watch.
Wadjda - The first film to be completely shot in Saudi Arabia, and the first film to also be directed by a female Saudi Arabian. It deals with a tomboy Saudi girl who wants to buy a bicycle, but since the society has different expectations from girls, she has to struggle really hard to realize her dream. Just go ahead and watch it; a very inspiring film.
August Fools - A Finnish movie, but there were many other languages used in the film. It's a dark comedy about the cold war era, and one of the funniest movies I saw at the festival. The plot revolves around a festival organized to heal the relationship between the split-world (democratic and communist), but even there the propaganda machinery is in full-force. I realize I'm just saying you to watch almost all the films, but all of them are really that good.
The Rocket - An Australian film, but it is set in Laos; thus, the language is Lao. This was also the closing film of the festival. Yet another film with excellent performance from the leading child actor. The film requires some suspension of disbelief, but it is still a great watch, though not a must.
There were many other films screened at the festival, but I was not able to watch them due to scheduling conflicts. The 500 rupees I paid for the pass was totally worth it
