Stories
from and about Goa have a general appeal almost anywhere in the world. Even
Goan films, with the essential English subtitles, are gradually gaining more
popularity in India. This was clearly evident at the recently held Second
Rajasthan International Film Festival 2016 where ‘MMS – a violent story of love
and ‘Caazu’ both won awards.
‘MMS
– a violent story of love’ is a suspense thriller with love and family values
taking centre stage, written and directed by Joywin Fernandes and produced by
Jerryton Dias. The 100-minute Konkani film was Joywin’s first theatrical
project. He submitted the entry for the Film Festival just two months back. “There
were 12 films from different states nominated for the award. I was surprised
and very excited to win the award for the team of ‘MMS…’. Since the film has
English subtitles, language isntt an issue; it is not just limited to Goa. The
subject of the film too is universal and anyone can relate to the story. I was
not there for the screening of the film but my friends informed me that the
audience enjoyed the film, including the two comedy scenes,” says Joywin. The
film had 75 successful screenings in Goa.
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The
team is now working on their next film, ‘7 Dayz’ which will be out in April
this year. “The film is 80 per cent ready. It will be a thriller and political
satire. Earlier, I used to get inspired by my friends’ love stories and did
more films in the romantic genre. For this film, I was influenced by the
general news and it is a mixed bag of emotions and events that take place in
seven days,” informs Joywin.
‘Caazu’,
a documentary film that tells the story of the traditional occupation of
producing cashew feni, was well received at the Second Rajasthan International
Film Festival 2016. It was awarded the Best Documentary Award at the festival.
The
documentary was produced by Xantara Media Works, a group comprising four
members, Ashley Fernandes, Ronak Kamat, Anurag Verdekar and Mohit Sukhtankar.
The film has been directed by Ronak, with script by Anurag, while Mohit was
responsible for production and Ashley handled the on location and background
score.
“We
submitted the entry but we didn’t attend the festival as we were not expecting
to win an award with nearly 20 documentaries being shortlisted. It was a huge
surprise that a film that focuses on Cashew Feni, a trade synonymous to Goa,
succeeded in impressing the judges in Rajasthan. Winning this award means that
even the jury of an international film festival understood the importance of
the cashew to Goans and Goa, I personally think the award couldn’t have better
timed, with Feni just getting GI status. I hope the government will help the
local distiller community to grow and continue this Noble trade with all the backing
possible,” says Ashley.
‘Caazu’
was first screened as a ten-minute documentary at ‘Cajuchem Fest’ in Soccorro,
with the film being shot and edited within two days for the festival. The
youngsters then wanted to screen the film at the first Cashew and Coconut
festival in 2015 but unfortunately, it was not screened for the Goan audience.
Feeling dejected, the youngsters thought of submitting it for film festivals.
The final version, which was submitted at the Second Rajasthan Film Festival,
was seven minutes long and featured three feni makers from Goa, namely, Thomas
Fernandes, Umesh Sawant and Pandurang Gawas.
“We
found that the creation of Urrack and Feni was a mystery to many, including
Goans, and hence we thought this would be educational. While digging deeper, we
realised that the distillers based in the remote villages had an amazing story
to tell, which highlighted the generation gap, labour shortage and a dying
trade on the whole. While telling this story, we wanted to make sure our film
appealed to an international audience and didn’t have any boundaries,”
concludes Ashley.
