Some films are just made to shock. Take the film Emperor Tomato Ketchup, the 1971 work of avant-garde Japanese filmmaker Shuji Terayama. It was hated by all quarters. People from all sections rose up in ranks and denounced the film. Accusations of ?child pornography? were hurled at it, some hated its subversive parody, others the negative utopia it portrayed and a few celebrated the anarchistic approach to cinema. This surrealist film detailing the uprising of children against the adult world, which stirred the concept of a revolution not easily conceivable but also extremely disturbing, will be part of the 12th Osian?s Cinefan Film Festival. Along with Emperor Tomato Ketchup, other films to be screened, which repudiated existing norms of cinematic ?tradition?, include Pier Paolo Pasolini?s notorious film, Sal?, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) depicting the torture and degradation of 1944 Fascist Italy; Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh-Thi?s controversial 2000 French drama Baise-Moi (Rape Me), which some have dismissed as exploitative pseudo-pornography, while others have hailed as a violent art movie. The list also includes incarcerated Iranian director Jafar Panahi?s This is Not a Film, a haunting work of art shot on a mobile phone chronicling his house arrest. The film, a statement of Panahi?s resistance to a bullying government, was smuggled out of Iran last year; and then there is India?s 1933 release Karma, which caused a stir at the time with its four-minute onscreen kissing scene between lead actors, husband-wife duo Devika Rani and Himanshu Rai.

Back after a gap of two years, with the theme of freedom of creative thought and expression, Osian?s Cinefan makes an attempt, in a rich interplay of discursive dialogue, how censorship is an anathema to creative output and just another means to curb freedom. Says Neville Tuli, Osian?s group chairman, ?The film festival is one key piece of the jigsaw in tackling the atmosphere in which creativity exists. Without a conducive atmosphere no creativity can flourish irrespective of individual energies, and soon the suffocation of arbitrary controls, censorship, moral policing, self-righteous intimidation strangles creativity, not just into non-existence, but worst of all into creative compromise. Then the ironic position exists where the mediocrity in much creative expression is used to strengthen and further justify the moral decadence, which follows when the fearless of the human mind, its innovative spirit, its experimental and research driven ethos is curtailed.? According to him, this is the danger that India must face, and ?cinema more than any other cultural discipline has the ability to make our people fall in love with this fearlessness of mind and spirit. Thus, defending its freedom is pivotal?.

This year, Osian’s Cinefan has lined up an all-encompassing range of 175 films, including 61 short films, from 38 countries spread over a span of 10 days, starting July 27. It will host 15 world premieres, eight international premieres, 104 Indian premieres and 13 Asian premieres. The best of cinema from countries including China, Estonia, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria and India will be screened. Not only was the compilation of such a vast and varied list a difficult process, financially and in terms of infrastructure, but also one that required extreme dedication. Says Tuli, ?Financial problems can only be tackled by financial solutions. Osian?s Cinefan is no different. There will always be overreach, bandwidths will be overstretched, the individual vision, which loves and understands creativity, will struggle to change gear and understand economic and administrative obligations. The past crises have strengthened us and made us much wiser and now we have understood how to pace ourselves better.”

With an aim to show bold, meaningful, aesthetically challenging, and experimental filmmaking, as the film festival espouses, Osian’s Cinefan will open with Keiichi Sato?s Asura, a shocking tale of survival. Based on George Akiyama?s banned 1970-71 Manga and inspired by the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011, the film is about a boy, who becomes a ferocious cannibal roving a post-apocalyptic landscape. While the festival will commence with the story of a boy confronted by humanity, it will close with Rituparno Ghosh?s Chitrangada. An allegorical tale about gender and sexuality, the film has been described as one of the ?most radical explorations in Indian cinema about the freedom to choose one?s gender and sexual orientation?. The movie is a contemporary adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore?s dance drama of the same name, which depicts the love story of Arjuna and the warrior-princess of Manipur, Chitrangada.

The festival?s competition jury includes the artistic director of the Rome Film Festival, Marco Mueller, who will also deliver the inaugural Mani Kaul Memorial Lecture named after the late Indian filmmaker who was also the festival?s creative director. Other festival jury members include Muzaffar Ali, known for the iconic 1981 movie Umrao Jaan; Egyptian filmmaker Magdi Ahmed Ali whose film Girls? Secrets shocked Egypt with its bold theme of a young middle class girl, who becomes pregnant while still in high school; Iranian actor-director Ali Mosaffa (Portrait of a Lady Far Away) and screenwriter and producer James V Hart, whose writing credits include Francis Ford Coppola?s 1992 film Bram Stoker?s Dracula, Steven Spielberg?s Hook, the Jodie Foster-starrer Contact and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, among others.

A major highlight of the festival will be a discourse on how to develop ?Delhi as India?s Next Cinema City?. A two-day summit will bring together personalities like Shekhar Kapur, representatives from the government and various state and non-state cultural agencies to discuss the way forward to develop Delhi as India?s next film city. Also Cinefan?s new ?7.4? Section, co-curated by Mike Pandey, will highlight films and documentaries dedicated to environmental issues.

To mark the 100th anniversary of Indian cinema, the festival will include an exhibition from the Osian?s art archives with a focus on The Divas of Indian Cinema?100 Years of Beauty and Grace, which will pay homage to iconic actresses. Interestingly, the festival will also see the premiere of Anurag Kashyap?s Gangs of Wasseypur 2, four days ahead of its world release.