Popular, neo-realist mix at Osian film fest

A diverse festival of Asian films showcasing the personal and cultural conflicts of a volatile region is drawing thousands of people in India, where world cinema is rarely shown in theatres.

The 10-day festival, featuring films from the Middle East to Japan, opened in New Delhi with the Iranian-Azerbaijan co-production "Raami", a touching tale of a musician's life torn apart by a bloody war between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Offering a careful mix of popular, neo-realist and cinema verite genres, the festival's highlights have been films from Iran, Japan, Egypt and Korea that have so far been seen by about 60,000 Indians.

The festival, organised by Indian art auction house, Osian's, closes on Sunday.

"We show films from two-third of the world's population, and I am very happy with the people's response," Aruna Vasudev, the director of the ninth Osian's film festival, said.

Audiences applauded Korean director Roh Gyeong-Tae's "The Last Dining Table", which grappled with people's isolation and changing values in the times of economic boom in East Asia.

In Japan's "The Summer of a Stickleback", the protagonist breaks from the familiar mould of a "cute Japanese woman" to fight personal and social demons and embrace single motherhood.

Over 20 silent era films from Japan and Samurai films will be screened.

The festival, which is showing about 140 films from 35 countries, closes with the neo-realistic "Cut and Paste" from Egypt that captures the frustration of unemployed Egyptian youths.

"I watched some Arabic films, they are different and very sensitive," said Ashish Das, a student who saw some of the films.

"They tell real life stories, we don't get to see such movies normally." he added.

In India, world cinema can mostly be accessed either on expensive DVDs or at international film festivals, and the Asian film festival is a rare opportunity for Indian connoisseurs, viewers said.

"Its a total feast of Asian cinema," said Nick Deocampo, a jury member and film-maker from Philippines. "It show ours ideology, art, culture, conflict, politics and plurality".

Reuters, July 2007

By Onkar Pandey