ithacafilmfest

Archive for September 24th, 2011

As an unprecedented platform for independent films, the recently concluded Toronto International Film Festival 2011 showcased some of the world’s finest contemporary cinema by independent filmmakers as well as established ones. The myriad kaleidoscope of talent included independent films from all over the world. Here’s a brief look at some of the best works:

Independent Films : Azhagarsami’s Horse (India)

This film explores the importance of symbolic objects in everyday rural India, weaving this theme into the life of a simple village man called Azhagarsami who earns his living by ferrying goods on a horse. In this village, a ceremonial horse statue disappears overnight. This holy symbol, or its suspicious disappearance more accurately, causes a chain of blame games that leads to a comically chaotic situation. With this situation as the backdrop, our hero must put his marriage on hold as his own horse has also gone missing and he must search for it. One of the most touching, yet understated independent films to come out of India.

Independent Films : Death for Sale (Morocco)

A heist tale with a twist in the tail, Death for Sale is set in Tetouan, Morocco, where crime is a way out of a life of misery and poverty in the city slums. Three such young boys decide to rob a jeweler’s, a plan that goes awry with drastic consequences. Director Faouzi Bensaidi paints a compelling portrait of a city left to the tender mercies of criminal lords, extremist factions and a corrupt officialdom, forming a vivid backdrop for an edge-of-the-seats crime thriller; a rarity among independent films.

Independent Films : Elena (Russia)

This film tells the story of Elena, who is the second wife of an rich elderly man called Vladimir and has a son from her earlier marriage. This son is an unemployed drifter, forever in financial doldrums and unable to provide for his own family. She hopes to be able to provide her son with more than just handouts once her husband passes away and his estate comes to her. These hopes, however, are dashed when Vladimir patches up with his estranged daughter and names her as the sole beneficiary of his will. The hitherto shy and subservient homemaker now silently rebels and plans to give her son and grandchildren a real chance at living. It is a well-crafted plot with noir undertones that have been so popular among directors of independent films in the past.

Independent Films: Free Men (France/ Morocco)

The German-occupied Paris of 1942, and the resistance activities of a handful of Muslim immigrants form the backdrop of this Second World War saga. The main protagonist is Younes, an Algerian black marketer who falls into the Gestapo’s net and agrees to spy and inform on a Parisian mosque suspected of pro-resistance and pro-Jewish activities. As this young man witnesses the brutality of the occupying regime first hand, he switches sides to become a freedom fighter.

Independent Films : Lucky (South Africa)

This is the tale of a boy named Lucky and his struggles. When AIDS takes away his parents, he goes to Durban to live with his uncle. The big city ghetto starts giving him hard life lessons, his only solace being an unlikely bond he forms with an elderly Indian neighbor, is spite of racial tensions and linguistic barriers. Lucky  is their story, a coming of age tale that deals with love, loss, self-discovery and the pursuit of happiness.

These films form barely a glimpse of the sheer variety  of contemporary cinema that was shown at TIFF 2011. Keep watching this online film blog for more film festival reviews, celebrity news and independent films.