Indian films on special focus at Rome Festival

ROME: Indian films have won huge appreciation at the current Rome Film Festival, which has decided to celebrate Indian culture, film and music this time.

"Both Indians and Italians excel in imagination and are gifted in arts. Their coming together at the Rome Film Festival this month is a celebration of the best talents of the two countries," Indian Ambassador to Italy, Rajiv Dogra has said.

He said 'Focus India' should and must result in a new age of Indo-Italian cinema. Indian films are on a special focus at the Rome Festival.

In a book highlighting the Indo-Italian relations in the film industry published by the Embassy of India in Rome this month, Ambassador Dogra said "Indians start celebrating life early. Just like in Italy. Colour, emotion, drama, above all creativity at its richest surrounds people from their childhood. Festivals in Italy, the noise and colour of Diwali and Holi in India excite passions and entice participation on a cinematic scale."

In cinema, India's contacts with Italy started early, almost from the time when films first came into being. In 1898 two Italian luminaries Coronello and Cornaglia screened films at Azad Maidan in Mumbai.

He said, "interestingly our effort at co-production started as far back as 1920, in fact the first international venture by India was with Italy to produce 'Nala Damayanti'."

Once again Italy held the pride of the place when the first International Film Festival took place in Mumbai in 1951.

The screening of the film Ladri di biciclette at that festival had a significant influence in introdu cing neo-realism into Indian movie making," Dogra said.

Not long thereafter, in 1937, the Marathi film 'Sant Tukaram' won the festival award at Venice. When Michelangelo Antonioni inaugurated the film festival of Kolkata in 1989 he was given tremendous ovation by people calling him "Antonida".

This exuberance towards an Italian maestro is the key to our mutual respect, and to admiration for talent from the other side.

More recently in May 2005, the first audio-visual co-production agreement signed by India, with any country, was with Italy.
 
Dogra said "the story of cooperation continues. This time on a magnificent scale."

He said the month of October has been quite eventful and productive in terms of Indo-Italian bilateral cooperation.

A number of important events have taken place starting from October 2, the Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi was celebrated in a grand way at a function where Italian Deputy Prime Minister was the Chief Guest.

On October 4, the soldiers who fought in Italy during the Second World War and s aved Italian cities were remembered at a function during which the Ambassador and the Deputy Defence Minister of Italy paid rich homage to the brave, young Indian soldiers.