11th OCFF opens with 'Hooked'; Lifetime Achievement award for Gulzar

New Delhi, Oct 24 : The 11th edition of the Osian's Cinefan Film Festival kickstarted here this evening with the screening of Romanian film 'Hooked' while the veteran playright writer, poet and director Gulzar was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Amid cheering crowds and glittering surroundings, the writer, poet, lyricist and director Gulzar, who is currently basking in the glory of his lyrics of 'Jai Ho' bagging an Oscar, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinematic Contribution.

''I feel really happy to receive this award because such reassurance is really necessary for any artiste for his motivation to keep doing better work again and again and simultaneously spread it everywhere,'' Gulzar said after receiving his award.

The award is the most prestigious award presented by Osian's Cinefan and the heartfelt tribute focuses on Gulzar's creativity and contribution to entertainment that goes beyond cultural, linguistic and other boundaries.

Last year, it was won by eminent film director Mrinal Sen.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit inaugurated the week-long film event in presence of filmmakers Vishal Bhardwaj, Imtiaz Ali, Dibakar Banerjee, Rekha Bhardwaj to name a few.

''This festival is more significant for Delhiites this time as the national capital had lost the International Film Festival to Goa,''Ms Dikshit said.

She expressed hope that the Festival would come up with more vigour and glory which would be liked by the foreign guests coming to Delhi during the Commonwealth Games.

''I am sure next year the foreign guests will take with them the best ever memories of the cinema through this Festival,''she said.

Calling Gulzar the 'Hero' for the day, Ms Dikshit said, ''The award coming in the hands of such a renowed artiste makes it more priveleged and lucky than the receiver himself,'' she said.

As a surprise to the winning maestro, Rekha Bhardwaj paid a tribute to the veteran lyricist and poet by starting with her most known number 'Tere Ishq Mein'.

She sang various other songs written by Gulzar as a lyricist including 'Tujhse Naaraaz' from the movie 'Masoom', 'Dil Hoom Hoom Kare' from the movie 'Rudaali' among others.

To be held at the Siri Fort Complex and the Alliance Francaise here, the event will witness screening of 100 films from nearly 13 countries.

Adding to the glory was the movie 'Hooked', directed by Romanian filmmaker Adrian Sitaru. It is about how a Sunday picnic by a couple, meant to be an idyllic weekend gateway for them, is turned into a strange day by a series of odd and unexpected events.

The actors of the movie were also present on the occasion.

Gulzar will hold his Lifetime Achievement Awardee's Masterclass as part of OLE (Osian's Learning Experience) on the History of the Hindi film lyrics tomorrow.

He will also be in dialogue with Vishal Bhardwaj and the crew of 'Kaminey' as part of the exciting 'New Stream' panel discussions to be held during the festival. This new section, called 'New Stream Cinema', will include films that have dared to redefine mainstream cinema, bridging the gap between the so-called commercial cinema and the so-called art cinema.

Vishal Bhardwaj's 'Kaminey', Anurag Kashyap's 'Dev D', Zoya Akhtar's 'Luck by Chance', Imtiaz Ali's 'Love Aaj Kal', Raj Kumar Gupta's 'Aamir' and Dibakar Banerjee's 'Oye Lucky Lucky Oye' will be included in this session that is envisioned as a twofold event comprising question and answer sessions, lectures, panel discussions and seminars among filmmakers, actors and technicians, along with the audience.

The approach will be intensive and an in-depth analysis and scrutiny of the selected films will take place. The latest work under discussion of the panelists will also be screened.

The event also included three more sections -- 'InCompetition', 'InDialogue' and 'Shorts'.

The 'InCompetition' section will have masterpieces from the Indian, Arab and Asian world, selected in terms of their individual and unique vision, wherein the first, second or third eligible film of the filmmaker will compete.

The 'InDialogue' will blur genres and cross boundaries as they establish a dialogue on cinematic resonances between films from the India-Asian-Arab countries and the rest of the world.

An eclectic selection of shorts spanning genre, context and style will feature in the 'InCompetition' and 'InDialogue' sections.

In an incredibly atypical approach, the festival curators this year did not embrace a theme beforehand. Instead, brilliant films were first selected, analysed and then woven into a narrative-a radical change from the way films are selected at most film festivals.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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