The first Digital Talkies Film Festival, simply put, was a renaissance of sorts for independent cinema in India. Filmmakers and film viewers were both treated to an extravaganza of the friendly-neighborhood technology we now know as DV (aka Digital Video).

what the film buff is treated to at festivals such as MIFF and IFFM. While the number of selected films was restricted to about 40 (despite the number of entries being 250 plus) as opposed to the 500 usually at MIFF, the panache with which the festival was executed was exemplary indeed and numbers and days would have simply prolonged a very nice experience. It was held at the India Habitat Center, a very impressive and elitist venue that makes an impact on a visitor from the word go. Two features that need special mentioning- the fact that the festival was open to all, a welcome change for people who were simply interested in films to peek into what has become an elitist tradition for people who are in some way of the other connected to the industry and have a method to secure a delegate pass. Here was a festival that catered to people who were simply curious about film festivals. And all for free. The second great feature was the beer that was available at the venue. Watch a film, walk out in the sun, grab a beer. Heavenly.

A dinner hosted by the British Council for the delegates was a unique opportunity for the filmmakers (so many of them first-timers) from all over the country to meet and establish an association. Once again, such events are not usually a part of other Indian film festivals. Even the awards night / closing ceremony was a gala event at the Maurya Sheraton where there was much revelry with the excellent food and wine, snippets of the award winners, an invitation to the Sheraton discotheque, and Shekhar Kapur demonstrating the power of a two-inch mini-DV tape being capable of holding the same amount of footage as 3 cans of 35mm stock.

Besides the screening, there were talks, discussions and workshops on the several aspects of DV filmmaking, right from the technology behind these inexpensive DV cameras to myriad of possibilities in digital editing to discussions with the invited filmmakers.

The jury could've possibly been a better combination of people for this particular festival. Among them were Derek Malcolm, Shyam Benegal, RK Laxman (who quit the festival after watching the films on the first day), Vidhu Vinod Chopra (who turned up on the last day after all films were screened), Todd Verow (whose film, Once and Future Queen jarred the senses with its warped and shocking treatment), Rob Nilsson (the only one whose film were recommended and watch able fare) and finally Jon Jost (a man whose "electronic cinema" / "visual poetry" left the audience complaining that the seats in the auditorium weren't comfortable enough to sleep in) In essence, the jury was all wrong and their sensitivities would be incapable of really appreciating the sincerity of the many first-time efforts.

The type of cinema that the festival showcased, that of nouveau indie filmmakers in India (the average filmmaker featured here perhaps not a day older than 27) was really more entertainment and an effort to experiment and stretch the capabilities of the medium. This is not to say that there were some brilliant stories to tell and some very good filmic pursuit, but the emphasis somehow seemed to veer more towards technique. This was apparent, as almost all short films seemed to try and achieve something visually, either by gimmicky camera work or editing. This was unfortunate as DV filmmaking is not about technical wizardry just for the sake of it, films could still be made using this inexpensive medium as you would with 35mm. One of the few shorts that did not indulge in such gimmicks and used the medium to the fullest as an alternative to shooting on celluloid was Elevator Etiquette, a 13-minute simple film with an underlying sense of humor and an interesting social observation. Of the films screened, there was no categorization as shorts, documentaries and features were shown in almost random sequence. The features worth mentioning were the award winning, Urf Professor and Divya Drishti, both banned from Indian screens for language content (we saw them at a private screening), and Godass (a sensitive well told tale about a misconceptions of a teenage girl) among the shorts, Purgatory, 405 (truly unique and amazing films from overseas, with several accolades already behind them), and Anokha (a documentary on a French dance troupe in the streets of Calcutta directed by Sudipto Sarkar) are excellent works in DV.

It was interesting to note that Digital Talkies produced all the Indian films that managed to bag awards.

While its no secret that DT as a dotcom has been constantly in the red, one hopes that this festival has not effected a body blow as many industry pundits have deducted. Surely, there must be another yet next year where even more first time filmmakers are encouraged to take to cinema and produce these extremely well crafted, no-budget films. It is ideas like the Digital Talkies Film Festival 2001 that we hope will eventually create an alternate and highly visible world of independent filmmaking in India.

For more details on the festival go to http://www.digitaltalkies.com/activefest.asp