IFFI 50: Films scene and partly seen films

As is the norm at film festivals, I walked out of many a film that could not sustain my interest beyond the first few minutes. In one case, I sat till 90 minutes, before deciding that it had gone too far without going anywhere. International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2019, Panaji, November 20-28, will go down as a festival where my choices, and in many cases, films which I had to see because I had no choice, were under-whelmingly disappointing. In fact, I consider my entire trip to Goa to attend IFFI a loss of time, money and effort.

It is completely possible, and even probable, that many other journalists and delegates will have a bone to pick with me when I make such sweeping statements. I have no quarrel with them. Just darn bad luck, I might call it. There are still some films to see, since this being penned on the penultimate day, and may they bring some much-needed solace.

1. Lingua Franca, Philippines/USA, Isabel Sandoval/Walk-out
2. Out Stealing Horses, Norway/Sweden/Denmark, Hans Petter Moland/ ***
3. Stories from the Chestnut Woods, Slovenia/Gregor Bozic/ **
4. The Science of Fictions, Indonesia, Malaysia/Yosep Anggi Nogen/Walk-out
5. Watch List/Philippines, USA, Canada/Ben Rekhi/Walk-out
6. The Infiltrators/USA/Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra/Walk-out
7. Devil Between the Legs/Mexico/Arturo Ripstein/ Walk-out after 90 minutes (film is 147 minutes long)
8. The Fourth Wall/China/Zhang Chong and Zhang Bo/Walk-out
9. The Hero/Russia/Karen Oganesyan/** ½
10. 
11. Beanpole/Russia/Kantemir Balagov/***
12. Bridge (short)/India/Bikramjit Gupta/**