Interview with Qazi Abdur

             Interview with Qazi Abdur Rahim

  • 1. - When and how did ImagineIndia started? 
It started in 2001, featuring Gomaespuma and M-80 Radio. 
Guillermo Fesser and I were acquaintances and one day I asked him to help me create a film festival. And just like that the first edition came up with the name “the Indians are coming”, in the best Gomaespuma’s style.

  • 2. - What it consists of the Imagineindia International Film Festival ?
Even if it’s an international festival, we schedule more Asian cinema. Around 100 films by year. Besides display films, the festival helps get funding for new projects, guides film directors with the script, invites film directors and producers to be in Madrid and put them in contact with the film industry, helps selling films to online platforms such as Netflix, etc.

  • 3. - Which film style is it based on? 
Essentially independent cinema with interesting social stories, good scripts, good bill and not boring. Our goal is to make the public leave while saying: “I saw a great film”. Actually, that’s what they say.

  • 4. - Why Imagineindia?
Because of The Beatles, they were in India one day. The song Imagine is a pacifist proclamation. Lennon was heavily influenced by India.

  • 5. - How many films do you receive, and what are the guidelines for their selection?
We receive around 2,300 films per year. Less than two hours and excellent films, with interesting and curious stories. A perfect example of a film for Imagineindia would be Parasites, which was almost coming to Imagineindia, but won the Oscar, and then we couldn’t.

  • 6. - What is missing to achieve equality both in this area and in more generic aspects of society?
I think many things should increase institutional support, encourage higher-budget productions for women. Equality is going through a slightly peculiar moment because, on the one hand, it is a historical moment marked by feminism and by a paradigm in which there is no turning back. But this is sometimes a bit dangerous and we must always maintain a critical, thoughtful and attentive attitude because it is also used as a fad when there is really not a deep awareness of what equality means and how necessary it is.

  • 7. - The selected films came from other festivals? 
Most of them do come from other festivals, but there is a 30% that are world premieres in Imagineindia.

  • 8. - After 20 years organizing the festival, can we see the evolution of the Indian female role in society in these films?
I don’t know all Indian women, hahaha. 
But yes, definitely, there has been a huge progress, mostly in cities. In the countryside, not that much. I noticed it mainly because of the type of films that sent us from India. I also see it when I travel there.

  • 9. - This year the jury has been head by Pedro Hernández, what would you stand out of him? 
First, a great professional. Also, he’s humble, empathetic, very collaborative and takes risks producing films.

  • 10. - This year Imagineindia had as guest country Turkey with the film director Faysal Soysal, what was the reason for this choice?
Over the years we’ve had a lot of contact with Turkish film directors. The embassy made things a lot easier for us. They have great film directors such as Ceylan, Kaftan or the very same Soysal.

  • 11. - Tannishtha Chatterjee, is the president of the jury for 2022 Imagineindia, what would you stand out of her?
She’s a great Indian actress that has worked abroad a lot. One of her films is almost a cult for me, Brick Lane, and it turned out that other of her films won the Best Film Price in Imagineindia, her acting was excellent. That caught my eye.

  • 12. - This edition has paid tribute to the Indian recently deceased Buddhadeb Dasgupta, how was the tribute?
Dasgupta was a friend of mine. I was at his house on February 2020. He had a poor health and said goodbye like five times, first time when arriving at his house door, then at the elevator, he came down with me in elevator and said goodbye, he followed me to the exit of the block and said goodbye again. Then I knew he wouldn’t last long enough. He lasted a year.

  • 13. - What future plans are planned for Imagineindia International Film Festival? 
Nowadays, we have a lot of standing abroad, in India, in Asia, between European distributors. The plan is to maintain the quality and quantity that made us great. Hand out the best films of Imagineindia and help the production

  • 14. - What would you stand out of Imagineindia?
The film quality. All of them are interesting and good.

  • 15. - What would differentiate this year winners and the previous ones?
I have to say that this year there are more prices, 32 between the first and second. Second of all, India still hasn’t had won a Big Price. We’ve had the smaller ones. Third of all, Eastern European countries are the ones winning the big prices. And the quality was the same as the previous years.


Author: Delia Echavarri
Translator: Andrea Montiel

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