GOA: IFFI Film Heritage Section of the 39th International Film Festival of India was opened with the screening of the restored version of Max Ophuls’ Lola Montes. Highlighting the work, the theme this year for the Heritage Section is Women. Other films in the Section are Cluny Brown (Ernst Lubitsch), Subarnarekha (Ritwik Ghatak), Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse), Loulou (Maurice Pialat), My Life to Live (Jean-Luc Godard), The Women (George Cukor) and Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk).

Cinematheque francaise director of programming Jean-Francois Rauger did the introduction for the section. Thomson Foundation managing director Severine Wemaere was also present on the occasion.

Earlier, in a press conference Rauger said that the idea of cinema as a art form and the notion of preservation of this perceived ‘Low Culture’ took some time to develop but gradually the preservation of cinema has acquired a mainstream acceptance.

Wemaere said that Lola Montes is our best ambassador. “There are many movies, which are not accessible but should be available and our endeavour is to sensitize and promote awareness among the audience and the people involved in cinema about the importance of restoring and preserving film heritage,” she added. At the press conference film maker Mani Kaul said that a deep cultural change is required to accept the idea of physical preservation of art forms like cinema. On the theme Women, Kaul said that our cultural civilizational evolution has been dominated a masculine sensibility and it will be interesting to see the changes brought about by women taking charge of the various aspects.

Under the Section, there will be a workshop on restoration project of Lola Montes and the seminar on Women and Cinema, Women in Cinema.

IFFI-Film Heritage Section is dedicated to worldwide film heritage, representing significant cultural and historical documents as well as treasures of inspiration for future cinematic creations. For the second edition and since 2007, this new section is made with and as part of the International Film Festival of Goa and directed by Thomson Foundation for Film & Television Heritage with Cinematheque francaise and with the support of Film & TV Office of French Embassy in India and with Film & Television Institute of India.