Well its Fri, Dec 15, a day before the film festival officially opens and the Kino Kabaret wanted to jump start the film festival by starting a day early. This is take two of the Kino Kabaret, a trial run of the event took place in Sept 2017. That was a great success and this session is rolling along. The KK brings together creative creatures in cinematography/acting/directors/& wantabees. And within the first 15 minutes the motley crew established what all movies will have in common, a sound, an item, a line. For this session, the three things were: a cap, the line was: What a wonderful World and sound was loud munching/chewing loudly. Let the creativity begin! The different teams will work on their projects and at the end of 50 hrs. – we’ll get to witness their strokes of genius in our collective creative commons.
Six hours earlier the hollowed grounds of the Town Hall started its transformation into the creative set for the 5th bi-annual film festive. Art Installations by OK and Marco were first out of the block with the stage a close third and the tables and benches to follow. Other art works were done by Orly, Dominiique and Richa abd Rriva. One of the venues this year for screening movies is the new archives building. It was a lot of work to transform the archives room into a screening room. Too much light and acoustic problems! But thanks to Umberto and his team of volunteers they accomplished the task within a few days.
Speaking of volunteers, this installment and all installments of the AV Film Festival couldn’t take place without the willing helping hands (and feet!) of our volunteers. So here is a big thank you to all the volunteers.
Dec 16, AVFF 17’ was launched last night, kicking the festival off at 5pm, Krishna, Director of directors…(Krishna is like a quarterback in American Football, she directs everyone to act as a cohesive unit to accomplish all the goals) and Sasi (title)…welcomed the crowds and informed them of the many delights to come. For instance, thanks to Aneeta – organizer for the first International Food Festival – everyone could have 8 different cuisines every day of the Film Festival. Tonight, we were treated to African food by the African Pavilion. The other important thing was keeping the cost down by having community members pitch in. This made it possible to deliver meals for only Rs100 per meal.
Judges were introduced, a legion of people were thanked – for without them the AVFF would not take place. Listening to all the individuals and groups mentioned, AVFF is truly a community event. This year’s event was run on a shoestring…and collaborators helped us keep the quality high, while keeping the cost low…for instance the awards, always created by an Aurovillian artist; this year was kindly donated by Priya, Botanical Gardens and AVAG donated equipment and shamianas (tents), I could go on but will stop…
However, this year volunteers were thin on the ground compared to other years…
After the Opening Ceremony, we all had to wait for the dinner – there were over 200 meals served which was enjoyed by all. Thank you African Pavilion for sharing your cuisine with us.
Yuri Angelo was our man on the ground who organized a great line up of entertainers for the week and kicking off the film festival was Swaha’s Blues Band, a great way to open the Festival! The Band was tight and Swaha’s bluezzies style was a crowd pleazer…
What’s after food & music?…Movies!, as the band was breaking down and packing up, people wandered off in search of a movie or two or three and some were treated to viewing a movie then able to hear/see the director (via Skype) answering questions from the audience. This was trialed last film festival and proved to be a good way to have directors share their ideas and insights with us. So, this year we lined up four Skype calls and 4 live Directors/Producers (who are here!) inter-action with the audiences (one per day).
So Day won is over and it was a win win…for all