NEW DELHI, 20 August 2007 — Life will not be the same for thousands of Delhites who watched 140 films from Asian and Arab countries last month at the 9th Osian’s-Cinefan festival. At times one felt life and its shades were universal irrespective of languages and cultures. Beneath the skin human feelings are the same all over the world.

According to Egyptian director Khala Khalil, film festivals were the most important things that happened to her.

The festival closed with her latest film Cut and Past. This film is a true reflection of the urban life in the Arab world today. It deals with unemployment among the middle classes. This film is so universal in its theme and treatment that it could belong to any contemporary setting.

That was true for most of the films shown in four auditoriums in the heart of the Indian capital where film connoisseurs rubbed shoulders with the commoners. The films had a pull for both. The festival opened with Raami, based on the folk tale of two lovers, Asli and Karam, told through song. The Iran-Azerbaijan co-production deals with man’s relationship with nature, war and music. War figured in some other films too.

The award for the best film went to an Iraqi-Kurdistan film. According to the director, Shawkat Amin Korki, the movie’s message was anti-war. It condemns the feelings of hatred people have against others.

It celebrates the humane side and the love two people have for each other.

Similarly the two Algerian films The Battle of Algiers and Days of Glory depict the heroics of Algerian people. Ironically enough, the former shows the Algerians’ fight against the French for their independence and the latter describes how the Algerians fought in World War II for the French against the Germans without getting anything in return. BBC had described the first film made in 1966 as dictatorship of the truth. But the interesting thing is that terrorism, which is often referred to in the Middle Eastern context, was missing from most of the films. The filmmakers from both African and Asian segments of the Arab world were closer to the more common realities of the day-to-day life like relationships, family and future of the youth. That was a welcome breather from the stereotyping of the Arabs.

Censorship is one form of dictatorship. Talking about censorship in the Arab world in general, Khalil said: “The mainstream cinema consists of action and comedy. It is not easy to make serious films because censorship can be strict.

“There are a lot of problems in our society that need discussion and I am glad a class of films has come up that can take up these issues. The category isn’t very popular in the mainstream yet though.”

According to her there are three taboos: Sex, religion and politics. “Any serious film has to tackle these issues. Therefore I have to use tricks to get the screenplay passed. I can’t say I’ll do what I want.” But there were filmmakers like Jaani Saadi from Tunisia who left little for imagination in his film Tender is the Wolf.