Thaindian News

Mumbai, June 15 (IANS) The Osian’s Cinefan film festival, which was premiered here and now heads to New Delhi, is one of the best platforms in Asia for showcasing Arab cinema, says Aruna Vasudev, one of the festival’s directors. The 10th edition of the Osian’s-Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema, which opens in New Delhi July 10, will bring 22 movies from the Arab world. However, only two - “33 Days” (Lebanon) and “Since You Left” (Palestine) - were part of its premier in Mumbai held Friday-Saturday.

Festival director Aruna Vasudev stressed that Osian’s had of late become one of the best outlets in Asia to showcase Arab cinema.

“Since Egypt started making films first in the Arab world, the Egyptian cinema for long dominated the film scene there. Gradually, other Arab countries started making movies. Though the film industry there is not as vibrant as it is in India, it has been producing some of the best films,” Vasudev told IANS.

She pointed out that even though, Indian cinema, mostly Bollywood movies, had become extremely popular with movie buffs in the Arab world, some of the serious filmmakers there were working extra-hard to produce world-class movies.

“We at Osian’s-Cinefan make the best of our endeavours to celebrate their spirit,” quipped Vasudev.

So why does the Osian fest screen films only from the Asian and Arab world?

“Because some of the best of world movies have come from the Asian world, whether they are from India, China, Japan or Taiwan. Besides, all these countries are more or less culturally akin to us and their cinematic language is also similar to ours,” she explained.

Vasudev added that the festival later added Arab cinema to its catalogue of movies because of it being a neighbouring region, apart from being a source of good films.