THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Friday morning witnessed much ruckus on the premises of the Kalabhavan theatre. Mixed emotions of patience, anguish, anger and disappointment flashed across the several faces in quick succession. Amid a whole scene of uncertainty, a rather familiar face was spotted in the long queue of people anxiously waiting for receiving the delegate pass. Remember ‘Amen: The Autobiography of a Nun’, the whistle-blower by Sister Jesme? And the familiar face found there was none other than the person who penned the work. Clad in a green silk saree bearing thick red borders, she appeared brighter than ever. A pretty infectious smile remained on her face throughout the conversation. Out of a curiosity, when asked whether the attire is to evade from the eyes of media, the cute grin made its appearance once again. She did not express any discomfort in waiting in the long queue. At the same time, she found that, “so much time could have been saved if both carry bag and festival guides were also distributed along with the delegate passes.” For the past two years, she has been a regular figure at the IFFK. “In the 14th IFFK, many television channels telecast my IFFK visit live after the controversy over ‘Amen’. This time, I hope to watch movies without causing much agitation,’’ she adds. Jesme prefers to watch movies in a particular theatre or theatres situated close to each other so as to avoid the trouble of transportation. “I love to stay in the Kairali/Sree theatre for a whole day once I get inside to watch movies.” The yard stick on which she measures the quality of a movie is through finding the good values in each. “Even movies that are criticised as worse would sometimes be found having a great message hidden somewhere,” she observes. Jesme says that she is interested in watching competition films in IFFK. “I intentionally avoid watching controversial movies. Yet much-talked-about movies are watched quite often. I found ‘Chithrasoothram’ worth watching the previous time.” In season 15, she had watched around 35 movies altogether. Sister Jesme was a tad disappointed when she found from a schedule list that the screening of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf’ was over at the Sree theatre in the morning. For the ardent fan of literature had missed the opportunity to watch the movie that is an adaptation of her favourite play. As she has been busy making journeys for the past few days, she did not receive a clear picture of the nature of films lined up for screening in the 16th IFFK. “I have not yet picked the movies to see. Will decide soon after I get a copy of the handbook,” she said.
Comments
0 comment