‘Distributors, theatre owners hurting independent cinema’

The first open forum organised in connection with the Kochi International Film Festival(KIFF) here on Monday saw active participation from film enthusiasts.

 Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf initiated the   discussions by talking about the censorship hurdles in Iran. Director Sajeevan Anthikad flayed the role played by theatre owners in imposing their own forms of censorship on films.

“It is not the Censor Board which is acting as a hurdle between independent cinema and the movie lovers in India. The distributors and   theatre owners play a main role in the independent movies not reaching the film buffs. Even though we procure a censor certificate, some theatre owners are unwilling   to screen certain movies,” Sajeevan said.

 Scriptwriter Sivaprasad Eravimangalam, strongly criticised the attitude of the distributors and theatre owners towards independent cinema.

“I wrote the script for the movie ‘Chaaya’, which was directed by Biju C Kannan. The movie  is yet to be released in the theatres. It was in 2004 that we completed the shooting of the film. It was selected for the Indian Panorama, but unfortunately it is yet to have a theatrical release. When we approached the distributors, they suggested that we include new songs in the movie and omit certain scenes. This is something more dangerous than censorship,”  he said.

Ernakulam District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth inaugurated the discussion. Maysam Makhmalbaf, director K Gopinath, former member of Film Distributor’s Association U Radhakrishnan and festival director Raveendran addressed the delegates.