61st Berlinale opens with True Grit, empty jury seat of Jafar Panahi and his inspiring letter
Thursday, February 10, 2011 5:37:12 PM (IST)
|
Rajesh Kumar Singh, Bollywood Trade Editorial
 |
61st BERLINALE OPENS WITH TRUE GRIT
|
|
The 61st Berlin International Film Festival opened with usual pomp and show at the main festival venue Berlinale Palast, at Potsdamer Platz, right in the heart of the great city of Berlin, with its red carpet walked by the celebrated members of the Jury headed by a living legend Isabella Rossellini. The numero uno Indian star, producer, and director Aamir Khan, who is part of the competition jury this year, was accompanied by his better half, the writer, director, and producer Kiran Rao. The star cast of the opening film TRUE GRIT along with its directors added a touch of Hollywood grandeur to the red carpet ceremony. Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, Hailee Steinfeld along with the film’s directors Ethan and Joel Coen walked the red carpet and posed for the paparazzi’s cameras.
The opening ceremony was marked by the absence of Jafar Panahi, a member of the jury, and the entire community of filmmakers here sent a clear and loud message to the Iranian regime that it stands firmly behind and with Panahi and all attempts to browbeat artistes into submission will be resisted in every possible way and at every available forum. This is the second time after Cannes 2010 that an empty jury chair represented the brave Iranian filmmaker. A message from him was read out where he exhorts, ‘ … they have deprived me of thinking and writing for twenty years, but they can not keep me from dreaming that in twenty years inquisition and intimidation will be replaced by freedom and free thinking… So from now on, and for the next twenty years, I’m forced to be silent. I’m forced not to be able to see, I’m forced not to be able to think, I’m forced not to be able to make films. I submit to the reality of the captivity and the captors. I will look for the manifestation of my dreams in your films, hoping to find in them what I have been deprived of.’
(Rajesh Kumar Singh is Editorial Consultant for Festivals and Markets)
Tags : The 61st Berlin International Film Festival, Isabella Rossellini, Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, TRUE GRIT, Ethan, Joel Coen, Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, Hailee Steinfeld, Jafar Panahi
|