In the mid 70s, when China was caught in the wild tide of cultural revolution, Marco Muller was a student in Beijing.
Denied any access to books and dispirited by lousy classroom lectures, the young researcher immersed himself in oriental cinema. It was the beginning of a long journey, his self-initiation into the world of non-western films, as he watched movie after movie from China and its allies.
Only familiar with the syntax of European cinema, it was a fascinating interaction, a process that shaped his mastery over motion pictures. “And in the early 80s, I came to India and Russia, acquainting myself with two new cinematic experiences. That’s how I became a spokesperson of different creative and cultural sensibilities,” says the producer, film critic, and historian who heads the jury of 22nd IFFK.
Having a vast experience as the director of a spate of world-class fests, he considers his role as that of a gatekeeper trying to guard the aesthetic and spiritual truth of cinema. “In festivals, all the committee members may not have the same kind of film literacy or cultural perspective. When you organise a festival you are under tremendous pressure, there are all kinds of influences that affect the selection process,” he says.
Handpicking films
And his task also involves handpicking films with unfamiliar ethos, coming from far-flung lands and cultures. “There are films strewn with political metaphors and allegorical situations. It’s not easy navigating through the layered narrative without knowing the socio-political context; often you feel a foreign audience will be in need of footnotes to connect with the film. But usually, politically and culturally charged films will have a brilliant aesthetic edge that makes the communication possible,” he adds.
Balancing art and market is another challenging call of his job and he sees festivals as platforms that prolong the life of a film, even those denied a theatrical release. “Very often festivals turn into venues where they try to supplement for what’s not working in circulation and distribution. In Europe, we have a giant market censorship; no Indian film has been released in Italy, my country, for quite a few years. So you have to invent these parallel circuits,” he says.
Muller had his first tryst with Indian cinema in the early 80s and calls Mani Kaul his mentor who taught him to see beyond the western angle and grasp the complex matrix of Indian cinema. “I was fortunate enough to interact with the icons including Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G. Aravindan and John Abraham. John’s first visit to Europe was when I invited him for a festival. When Maniji left us, we were working together in this fantastic project Rossellini in India.”
“Back in Italy, luckily there are new voices now. They have proved that quality films can also be made within the very format of popular cinema. For example there is Call Me By Your Name by Luca Guadagnino, a very daring melodrama about gender identities and sexual politics,” he says.