The other hallmark was the films that really made an impact in the first phase of IFFI:

1.  ’A 1000 Years of Good Prayers’, directed by Wayne Wang, is a story of an aging oriental couple in the United States of America. The film’s title came from the old Chinese belief that one needs 3000 years of prayers to find one’s soul-mate.

3.  ’Die Herbstzeitlosen’, a Swiss film was a departure from the high-voltage festival films, as it was cast in an escapist mould. A comedy, it is about four women who start life afresh after 50. The film most tellingly brings to fore the pink-power and is directed by noted Swiss film-maker Bettina Oberli.

4.  ’Cumbia Connection’ directed by Rene U Villarreal is a Mexican film that tells the love story of a society-underdog girl and a rich boy enamored by her beauty. The film, though ordinary, stood out for the brilliant portrayal of the female protagonist by debutante actress Fernanda García Castañeda.

5.  ’My Mother’s Tears’, a film from Argentina directed by Alejandro Cardenas Amelio touched many in the audience because of its subject-matter. The narrative unfolds through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy and how he wishes that his father and mother stay the way he has seen them till then – in love.

6.  ’Secret by Jay Chou’ was, as the critics dubbed it – a typical Bollywood fare made in Taiwan. The shots, the design, the emotions were so akin to any mainstream Bollywood feature that you just needed to substitute the actors with Hindi film actors and dub Hindi dialogues.

7. ’The Warlords’, the opening film directed by head of the jury Peter Chan and starring Jet Li was a compelling battle-drama that told a very riveting emotional saga of three friends turned blood-brothers, their rise and their downfall.

Other films that left a mark were a docudrama - ’Women Behind The Camera’ directed by Alexis Krasilovsky – about the very many women working in the film-industry as not just actresses but getting behind the camera. Milky Way, a film that was sheer paintings captured as moving images by the visionary director Benedek Fliegauf and the Cannes scorcher ’Silent Light’ by Carlos Reygadas.

The Thomson foundation that is making inroads into India with workshops and the need for film preservation opened a section dedicated to classics ‘Film Heritage’ with Lola Montes.

The first phase of IFFI no doubt went quite well, here’s hoping the second phase wraps up the IFFI with style.