Film restoration is an art: Shivendra Singh Dungarpur at MIFF Masterclass

MIFF Campus: Film restoration is as much an art form as filmmaking as the restorer has to use an artist’s eye and mind to ensure that the restoration is faithful to the original creator’s vision, said national award winning filmmaker, archivist and restorer Shivendra Singh Dungarpur at a masterclass held on the sideline of 17th Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) today.

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While addressing the masterclass on ‘The Art and Ethics of Film Restoration’ Shri Dungarpur said, “Restoration involves not just the repair of physical damage or deterioration of the film, but takes into consideration the intent of the original creator, artistic integrity, accuracy and completeness of the film.” He highlighted the five key elements of preservation process, which includes acquisition, conservation, duplication, restoration and accessibility.

“In India by and large we look at film as a commercial entity not as an art form. That is the basic tenet on which the process of restoration is being built. That is one of the reasons for which we have lost many classics like India’s first talkie, ‘Alam Ara’ and first colour film ‘Kisan Kanya’ among others”, flagged Shri Dungarpur.

He also discussed the difference between mass digitization programme and quality restoration. His deliberation covered the entire restoration process right from research and sourcing the best elements to the restoration workflow and mastering of the output and the afterlife of the restored film. He illustrated the case studies of world class restorations including Uday Shankar’s Kalpana, Satyajit Ray’s Appu Trilogy restored from burnt negatives and Aravindan’s Thamp, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film festival, 2022.

About the Speaker

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur is an award-winning Indian filmmaker, producer, film archivist and restorer who has won acclaim for his films "Celluloid Man", "The Immortals" and "CzechMate - In Search of Jirí Menzel". He founded Dungarpur Films in 2001 and also founded Film Heritage Foundation in 2014. In 2012, he won two National Film Awards for his documentary Celluloid Man, based on the life of noted film scholar, preservationist and the founder of National Film Archive of India, P.K. Nair.

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Find out which MIFF-2022 Film Prime Minister spoke about

MIFF Campus: The Prime Minister spoke about his recent visit to Japan where he met Atsushi Matsuo and Kenji Yoshi who were involved in the making of 'Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama', the first animation film co-produced by India and Japan and released in 1993. The film is celebrating 30 years since its first launch.

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Listen to what the Prime Minister said about the film

“This project was associated with Japan's very famous film director Yugo Sako Ji. About 40 years ago, in 1983, he came to know about Ramayana for the first time,” the Prime Minister said. The Prime Minister mentioned that the director Yugo Sako was touched by 'Ramayana' that he started researching deeply about the epic. “He read 10 versions of Ramayana in Japanese language, and not only did he stop at this, he also wanted to showcase it through animation,” he added.

The Prime Minister also shared how Indian animators helped him and guided him about the Indian customs and traditions that have been shown in the animation film. “He was told how people in India wear dhoti, saree, how they groom their hair, how children respect each other within the family, offering salutation to the elders of the household, seeking their blessings - all these things!,” the Prime Minister shared.

The Prime Minister expressed his love and appreciation for the people of Japan who in spite of the differences in the culture and language could connect and admire our Indian culture with respect. “People living thousands of kilometers away from us in Japan, who don't know our language, who don't know much about our traditions, their dedication to our culture, this reverence, this respect, is very commendable - which Indian would not be proud of that!.”

About the Film

'Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama' is Directed by the legendary Indian animator Ram Mohan and Japanese director Yûgô Sakô and Koichi Saski.

Based on the Valmiki's Ramayana, ‘Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama’ explores the ‘FUSION’ style of animation that consists of three different schools of animation-Manga from Japan, Disney from the US and Ravi Varma from India.

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Animation films powerful medium to get community voices out to the larger audience: Debjani Mukherje

MIFF Campus: Film makers from North East concerned about passion for films rather than profit: James Khangembam

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Though a niche area, animation films are a fantastic and powerful medium to get community voices out to the larger audience, said Debjani Mukherjee, curator of Yangon Film School package at MIFF 2022. She was talking at #MIFF dialogue held in connection with the 17th edition of Mumbai International Film Festival. James Khangembam, director of the opening documentary film ‘Meiram-The Fireline’, and Vaishali Vasant Kendale, director of Hindi documentary ‘Investing Life’ also joined the discussion.

Debjani Mukherjee an award-winning independent animation filmmaker and author also elaborated on the process she adopted in mentoring student films under the themes ‘gender based violence’ and ‘stories of friendship’. “We picked up students from the community who belongs to various social, political, economic and religious backgrounds. They have absolutely no prior experience or training in arts or film making. We worked two to three months together to make animated documentaries. Students recorded the audio narratives of the contributors from community and they are converted into animation films”, she added. Debjani also expressed confidence that platforms like MIFF will help in better marketing and distribution of animation films.

James Khangembam, director of the opening documentary film ‘Meiram-The Fireline’ said that filmmakers from North East are concerned more about the passion for films than profit. “Since it is a documentary on environment I have to wait for a long time to record it. Around 10 lakhs is spend for the production of the film but I haven’t get monetary returns from it. I am getting a lot of kindness and appreciation, but no money”, he explained.

Recalling the message conveyed by the protagonist of his film Moirangthem Loiya, James Khangembam said that expectation of human from nature never ends and this has to stop. He further detailed the events that lead to his transformation from a journalist to a filmmaker.

Vaishali Vasant Kendale, director of Hindi documentary ‘Investing Life’ said that her film is about survival of all species including human. “ Idea of the documentary is to talk about the actions to be carried out after unpredictable adverse situations rather than enquiring about the causes”, she added. The film follows the lives of three ordinary individuals from different localities in Maharashtra who work single-handedly and on a daily basis for the survival and welfare of fellow human being, animals and the environment. The protagonists of ‘Investing Life’ Majid and Raghavendra Nande were also present on the occasion.

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