Films and Docs – BULLETIN October 2009

1.   Call for casting: Experimental/ Fiction short film

2.   Call for submission: 60th Berlin International Film Festival - 
Shorts

3.  Call for submission: 60th Berlin International Film Festival - 
Generation

4.   Call for submission: Slamdance Film Festival

5.  Call for submission: Phoenix Film Festival


1.   Call for casting: Experimental/ Fiction short film

The Royal Film Commission – JordanRifqi Assaf – Seven Eight Filmmaking 
with the cooperation of RFC is working on a new Experimental/ Fiction 
short film production with a new with a new promising director.

Roles Needed:

 

Supermen of Malegaon at Shanthi Nagar

 

The Holy Wives @ IAT Bangalore

Pedestrian Pictures is holding the premier of the documentary film The Holy Wives, a journey through the life and struggle of Devadasis in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh on October 4.

The film, directed by Ritesh Sharma, documents the lives of women who were forced into the Devadasi system in her early teens.

It brings out the lives of communities who had been victimised in a system of caste-based sexual exploitation, variously called Devadasis, Jogins, Basavis, Kalawants, Paravatis or Mathammas.

The narrative unfolds through the stories of their life, struggle and their dreams of a dignified life for their children. Even after the system was banned in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, life remains difficult for the Devadasis, in the absence of credible alternatives.

The children from these communities were still being trafficked. Ritesh Sharma is a Delhi-based activist, theatre person who has been associated in several video productions since 2005.

The film will be screened on October 4 at 4.30 p.m. Screening is at IAT, Queens’ Road. For details, email pedepics@gmail.com.

 

National Film Awards: the gulabi flavour

Best Actress: Umashree

The Kannada actress Umashree  has won the prestiegious best actress award in National Film Awards – 2007  for her role  as Gulabi in Kannada  film” Gulabi  Talkies” by Girish Kasaravalli.

Gulabi Talkies have also won the best Kannada feature film award.

The film  set in the late 1990s among the fishing communities around Kundapura, in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka. Umashree the protagonist of the movie  - midwife gulabi gives one of her best  performance in the film. The film clearly analyses the  root cause and the complex factors that leads to communal clashes in south Karnataka districts. The intricate  relationships among different communities and increasing influence of the anti social elements in the region gives a clear picture how once peacefull karavali region of Karnataka has turned in to a boiling pot of communal clashes .

The awards :

Osian’s Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema, 2008:

• Best Film in Indian Competition
• Best Actress in Indian Competition – Umashree

Karnataka State Annual Film Awards 2009

• Best Film – Kannada State award
• Best Screenplay – Girish Kasaravalli
• Best Actress – Umashree

55th National Awards

• Best actor(female) Umashree

Film synopsis:

The impulsive midwife Gulabi (Umashree) is the protagonist, whose one passion is the cinema. She leads a lonely life in an island inhabited by fisher folk. Her husband Musa (K.G. Krishna Murthy), a small-time fish-selling agent, has deserted her and is living happily with his second wife Kunjipathu and their child Adda.

A family gifts her a television with a satellite dish antenna in gratitude after she attends to a difficult delivery (for which they even had to bodily remove her from a movie theatre). The arrival of the first color TV in her small island village heralds great changes in the sleepy hamlet. The women in the village begin gathering at her house once the men leave for fishing. But a few of them stay away, since Gulabi is one of the few Muslims in the village. Yet others prefer to watch from outside her shack, without entering it.

Among the regulars at her home is Netru (singer-actress M.D. Pallavi), a girl with an absentee husband and a domineering mother-in-law, whom Gulabi befriends and becomes a confidante to. But Netru disappears and Gulabi is blamed, leaving her all alone in the village.

The Kargil War of 1999 and the rise of communalism in Karnataka provide the backdrop to the film. The communal stereotyping of Muslims following the Kargil War finds an echo in the village. The tension between the small fishermen of the village and a Muslim businessman (who is actually never shown throughout the film) with a growing fleet of commercial trawlers acquires a communal colour.

The disappearance of Netru adds to the mounting tensions. The Muslims in the village flee and urge Gulabi to leave too, but she refuses and stays put in the village. Her house is vandalised and she is forcibly taken to a boat to leave the island. The young men from outside who spearhead the attack assure the villagers that Gulabi’s television would remain in her house.

The film ends with a scene in which two illiterate elderly women, who had hitherto refused to enter Gulabi’s house, going in there to watch TV (which they do not know how to switch on – they are probably unaware even that it has to be switched on).

 

Voices from the Waters -2009

The 4th International Film Festival on Water

Voices From the Waters-2009 is the largest International Film Festival on Water, with more than 300 handpicked films that deal with the many dimensions of the water crisis- ecological destruction, livelihood and migration, discrimination distribution, sanitation, harvesting and so on. The festival has been much acclaimed and films from the festival have played at prestigious international film festival such as the Margaret Mead Film Festival, New York, Mountain film in Telluride and Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, Ithaca College, USA.

It was a festival in design, but has become a movement in reality. The true success of ‘Voices From The Waters’ lies in its ability to reach out to the students, film makers, artists, water activists, architects, engineers, scholars and policy makers.

This Film Festival on Water is brought to you by a consortium of National and International organizations active in water issues, bringing together students, film makers, artists, water activists, architects, engineers, scholars, visionaries and all concerned from across the world! 
This unique event will spotlight on the serious global water crisis, conservation, consumption, conflicts, dams, displacements, floods, droughts, migrations, global warming, climate change and how these impacts our contemporary lives and futures… It’s a unique platform for voices of concern over water including testimonies of people working on water and with water. 
Voices from the Waters -2009 seeks to embrace and trigger interdisciplinary dialogue and vigorous debate on water across all its forms: economic, social, ecological, political, cultural, technological and the aesthetic.

Highlights:

Water Awareness Cycle Rally by Youth Conference 
on 29th August, 2009 on climate change and water.

Paintings and photos exhibition on water.

Water Songs.

Conference on Critical link between Climate changes Food, water, livelihood and ecosystem security.

Interaction with various Film Directors.

DATES : 4th to 7th September 2008
TIME : 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
VENUES :
:: Alliance Francaise de Bangalore :: (The Main Venue)
:: Suchitra Film Society, Bangalore ::
:: Badami House, Bangalore ::
:: YWCA, Bangalore ::
:: MES College :: (for College Students)
:: Bal Bhavan :: (for School Children)

 

1:1 film making workshop

Ever wondered what it’s like to make a film? Find out at  1:1 Filmmaking Workshop, a 1-day workshop where you make 1-minute films.

At a 1:1 Filmmaking Workshop, participants who are complete novices, will learn to write, storyboard, enact, shoot and edit by doing it themselves (with instructors to guide). Because you can’t make a film alone, you will work collaboratively in small groups (3-4 people). This is a hands-on workshop where participants will be taught to handle and use cameras, computers and software to make their films.
Workshop Plan
8:30 AM – Screening of short films and presentation of how films are made.
9:30 AM – Writing a treatment for a film.
10:30 AM – Writing a script for the film
11:30 AM – Storyboard a film
1:30 PM – Break for lunch
2:30 PM -  Begin shooting the films (each group provided with a Sony handycam)
6:30 PM – Editing of films (each group provided with an Apple computer editing with Final Cut Express software)
8:30 PM – Review of films.

Workshop Fee: Rs. 1,500/-

Where: FilmCamp.TV Studio. 94/5, 8th Main, Jayanagar, 2nd Block, Bangalore – 560011

When: 8:00 AM, Sunday, 23rd Aug, 2009

Register: Registration Form     OR      96118 12121

 

Mysteries of Asia: Lost Temples of India | Top Documentary Films

Mysteries of Asia: Lost Temples of India | Top Documentary Films

Posted using ShareThis

 

Angels and Demons’ to hit Indian screens with cuts

Mumbai: Representatives of Christian organisations who viewed the Hollywood film “Angels and Demons”, based on a book by “The Da Vinci Code” author Dan Brown, agreed to its screening in the country if the censor board cut some scenes and gave it an ‘A’ certification.
Like in the case of “The Da Vinci Code”, they said the new film should have a disclaimer before and after the film saying it was a work of fiction. The special screening was arranged after the Catholic Bishops Conference of India sought a ban on the film in India. They said it contained scenes and dialogue which they claimed were false and portrayed the Catholic Church in negative light.
The film’s world premier is on May 15. CBCI spokesperson Babu Joseph said they agreed not to insist on a ban as the censor board agreed to cut the scenes which showed violence inside a church and a bishop using abusive language. Tom Hanks returns to play Robert Langdon, the Harvard University

professor, investigating a murder in which the victim is branded with the illuminati sign.

Courtesy: Ashley D’Mello | TNN,movie web.com

 

NFAI-SUMMER COURSE IN FILM APPRECIATION

 For nearly three decades the NFAI has been conducting an annual Film Appreciation Course of four weeks’ duration (25th May to 20th June, 2009) in collaboration with FTII. Participants from different professions from all over India are exposed to the best of Indian and world cinema. Among the major topics taught are the basics of the film medium, cinema as an art, film history, film theory and the relationship of cinema to other arts.

The NFAI conducts shorter courses on similar lines at various other centres in the country in collaboration with film societies, educational institutions and various cultural organizations. The Annual Summer Course in Film Appreciation held at Pune is primarily designed to meet the needs of teachers interested in introducing film study activities in educational institutions but would also be useful for film society organisers, film critics, journalists, film researchers, Govt. officials handling films and others interested in film studies. The curriculum includes theoretical and practical study of the art and history of film and the development of cinema as a medium of art and communication. Film classics both Indian and International will be used for critical analysis and study.

1. The medium of instruction would be English.

2. The applicant should have completed 18 years of age

 3. The course fee of Rs.6,000/- should be remitted by Demand Draft in favour of Administrative Officer, NFAI, Pune only after the confirmation of selection. Fees once paid will not be refunded.

4. Hostel accommodation (optional) will be provided by FTII to those who desire to avail of the facility. Hostel Fees .. Rs.2,500/- + Rs.500/- as service charges Total Rs.3,000/- by D.D. only in favour of Accounts Officer, Film & Television Institute of India, Pune – 4. Deposit..Rs. 500/-by D.D. only Accounts Officer, Film & Television Institute of India, Pune-4. Deposit .. Rs.300/- by D.D. only in favour of Accounts Officer, Film & Television Institute of India, Pune – 4.

Application duly filled in in the prescribed format alongwith fee of Rs.200/- (Rupees two hundred only) to be remitted by Crossed Demand Draft payable to Administrative Officer, NFAI, Pune. The Director, National Film Archive of India, Law College Road, Pune – 411 004 N.B.

- Applications received after the last date and not in the prescribed format are liable to be rejected. Applicants are advised to send the forms by speed post OR by courier service in their own interest. 1. The prescribed format of the application is also available on http://www.nfaipune .gov.in 2.Applications received after the last date and not in the prescribed format are liable to be rejected. Applicants are advised to send the forms by speed post OR by courier service in their own interest.

 

ಹಾರು ಹಕ್ಕಿಯನೇರಿ

 

Rice Film Awards

Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP), TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP) and Public Media Agency (PMA) has  announced the launch of the ASIA PACIFIC RICE FILM AWARD 2008/09.

 The first ever Award in the region to acknowledge excellence in film on rice-related issues! Rice is Life to the people of Asia and our most revered treasure. It is central to the Asian way of life; its cultural heritage and diversity, spirituality, and traditions.  The PAN AP and  invites innovative film-makers from the Asia Pacific region to submit short creative television, video or cinematic films on Rice!

AWARD CATEGORY & ELIGIBILITY:

One general category: open to everyone in the eligible countries in the Asia Pacific region with no age limit.

The films must be produced by a person who is a permanent resident or citizen of an eligible (Asia Pacific) country. (Please see eligibility criteria at www.panap.net.)

DURATION OF COMPETITION: Entries will be accepted from 1 August 2008 to 30 June 2009 (12 midnight Malaysian time).

 THEMATIC SCOPE: Asia’s rice heritage (based on the Five Pillars of Rice Wisdom described at www.panap.net) and the threats it faces in this era of globalization.

FILMS: Films may be fictional or factual, as long as they have rice in Asia as the key theme. The films may have been produced using professional video, home video, mobile phones or cinematic equipment. 2D or 3D animation; songs; short drama; satire; adaptations of folk culture; documentaries will be accepted. Entries must contain moving images for at least 90% of the total film duration – animated still photos or slides shows are not eligible. Entries should have been produced after January 2008 and should be no longer than 10 minutes long.

GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE: The entry’s content must be filmed in the Asia Pacific region.

 

Chhattisgarh Jan Filmotsav

 

The 1st Chhattisgarh Jan Filmotsav to be held from 22nd to 26th March, 2009 at Bhilai.
The Bhilai Film Archive will also be inaugurated during the festival. The festival will open

on the 22nd March 2009

at the Nehru House of Culture,

Sector 1, Bhilai,

District Durg.

From the 23rd to the 25th of March the festival will shift to the Jamul Labour Camp

and Kohka Village where screenings will be held simultaneously from 5pm to 10pm.

The  film makers can  send  their films for the festival and archive to the following  mailing address .Fest primarily need films in Hindi at this moment. Subsequently there will be screening of  films in universities and other parts of Chhattisgarh and so would need films in English and other languages as well. While the focus will be on films that are about the lives and struggles of people , all kinds of films  whether old or new films, documentaries, long fiction and also short experimental or abstract or personal films are welcome.  

  

regards
Ajay TG
( Festival Coordinator )

Address for films to be sent to :

Drksakshi,
Plot No. 48,
Ayyappa Nagar,
PO. Supela,
District Durg,
Chhattisgarh, 490023.
Tel: +91 788 2294018 ,
Mobile : 9424136077

–
AMAR KANWAR
New Delhi
India

Email :
amarkanwar@gmail. com

 

Livelihood Documentary Screenings & Discussion

Center for Civil Society, Jeevika in collaboration with

Bangalore Film Society is conducting

Livelihood Documentary Screenings & Discussion

on 14-15 March 2009,

Venue: Aashirvad, Bangalore

Time: 1.30 to 8.00pm Saturday 14th, March 2009

1.30pm Inauguration by Acclaimed Documentary Film-Maker Mr. Vinod Raja

1.45pm to 2.50pm – Tales from the Sands of Time

1.45pm Opening Film: Storytellers (English & Tamil / 0:25:02 / Dec. 2006 / India / Prashanth Kumar R, Daya J) The film is based on the art and life of L. Rajappa, a shadow puppeteer from Pondicherry and shows how traditional art forms are sidelined into oblivion in the present era of globalized mass media, television and cinema.

2.10pm Film: What is the Point of Stories if They Aren’t Even True? (Hindi, English & Gujarati / 0:11:15 / 15-04-2008 / Ahmedabad / Aditi Banejeei) A film on the art of storytelling through the eyes of an eighty-year- old storyteller. This film takes a look at the purpose of storytelling in the past and current context and addresses the larger purpose of life and art itself.

2.25pm Film: Bahurupia(Hindi, Englishi / 0:25:10 ) Bahurupia (Multiple Role performers) arc very versatile, itinerant performers who used to provide entertainment, at the doorstep, to all sections of society in many parts of India by performing a variety of roles. The tradition is oyer 500 years old; but due to the lack of Royal/State patronage, and the increase of Radio, Cinema and TV channels, their art is on the verge of disappearing.

 

Film South Asia-Call for entries

Film South Asia ’09 -the festival of Southasian documentaries  calls for entries for the seventh edition of its biennial festival.

The festival is being held in Kathmandu from 17-20 September 2009.

Documentaries made in and after January 2007 are eligible for the competitive section.

Early Submission deadline for the entries: 31 May 2009 (for films made between January 2007 to April 2008)

Final submission deadline for entries: 30 June 2009 (for films made after April 2008)

Details and entry forms are available at www.filmsouthasia. org

For further information contact: Upasana Shrestha Co-Director Film South Asia Secretariat

G.P.O. Box 24393

Patan Dhoka Lalitpur

Nepal Tel: +977 1 5552141

email: fsa@filmsouthasia. org

www.filmsouthasia. org

 

Fractured Lines between Tamil Eelam and Sri Lanka

Since January 2009, most newspapers and television channels have reported an escalation in the conflict between the Sri Lankan Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the northern part of the island. There have been disturbing reports of heavy civilian casualties as government troops captured the last of the LTTE strongholds in the island – in the absence of independent verification, the actual numbers figures of civilians and soldiers killed on both sides have been always been heavily contested.Though the offensive has stemmed with the fall of the last of the LTTE strongholds, many agencies continue to report widespread starvation of the population.

Across the border in Tamil Nadu, we have seen a series of protests against the Indian Government’s response to the ongoing conflict. There have been strong expositions of affinity with the Tamilians in Sri Lanka – expositions which have been accompanied by the inevitable police crackdown on protestors. Fractured Lines between Tamil Eelam and Sri Lanka is an attempt to understand the multiple dimensions of the conflict that has been raging for 25 years in the island.

Join  as the multiple layers of the raging conflict are unraveled through film screenings and panel discussions with journalists and human rights activists.

Date: 13 and 14 March 2009 (Friday and Saturday)

Venue: Institution of Agricultural Technologists (IAT),

Queen’s Road,

Bangalore

Schedule

13 March 2009,

4:30 – 5:45 pm Lanka – The Other Side of War and Peace dir. Iffat Fatima 2005/75 mins/ Eng. sub.

6:00 – 6:55 pm: My Daughter the Terrorist:dir. Beate Arnestad and Morten Daae 2007/52mins /Eng subarch 2009,

7:10 – 8:25 pm Death on a Full Moon Day dir. Prasanna Vithanage 1998/72 mins/Eng. sub

Friday 14 Saturday

4:00 – 5:00 pm :Hot Spots – Sri Lanka dir. Jeremy Monblat (BBC Four) 2004/60 mins/Eng. sub

5:15 – 6:45 pm Panel Discussion

7:00 – 7:50 pm Burning Memories dir. S. Someetharan, 2008/49 mins/Eng sub

The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker

For more information, contact 94483 67627 or 98802 76820 or 97137 25224

or email pedepics@gmail. com –

 

El Camino-the road

This first feature film made by a woman in central American, tells the story of a girl faced with sexual abuse and abandonment, In Nicaragua, saslaya, a 12 year old girl, runs away with her brother, Dario to look for their mother, who immigrated to neighboring costa Rica 8 years before. The children travel from Managua to Granada, cross the lake, walk by the volcano, through the jungle. In their journey, they encounter different characters and face many challenging situations. At the border, the girl and his brother get lost and so she has to face the hardships by herself. Along their journey, saslaya and Dario rewrite their destiny…

The work on the film started in 2000 and in 2006 it was filmed. Post-production took two years. According to the director Ishtar yasin, El camino’ is the story of two kids who migrated from Nicaragua to Costa Rica in search of their mother. The Majority of Nicaraguan mothers sacrifice for their children.

Direction,screenplay: Ishtar Yasin

Producer: scott Disharoon, Rick Bieber

Cinematography: Jacques Loiseloix

Editing: valerie Loiseloix

Sound: Bill Meadows

Cast: sherlin paola velasquez, Marcos Ulises Jimenez, Jean Francois stevenin, juan Borda

Awards/Festivals

Guadalajara Film Festival, FIPRESIC prize and the special Jury Award, 2008

 

Little Zizou..

Sooni Taraporevala has penned some brilliant scripts likeMississippi Masala, The Namesake and the Oscar-nominated film, Salaam Bombay — all directed by her close friend Mira Nair.Now, Sooni is making her directorial debut, with Little Zizou. The film stars her own children Jahan and Iyanah Baltivala in pivotal roles, along with Boman Irani, Imaad Shah and John Abraham, in a cameo. The film is all set to release on March 13th.

The plot

 

Amul – Rehman Punch

Popular song ‘Masakali’ composed by A.R.Rehman for delhi-6 -Feb’09

 

P Lankesh Film award to ‘Thanks maa’

 

THANKS MAA 
Drama, 35mm, Feature Film, Drama/Social 
Run time: 120 mins, Hindi (with subtitles) 

Directed by : Irfan Kamal 
Writers :Irfan Kamal and Vishal Vjay Kumar

Cast : Master Shams, Master Salman, Master Fayaaz, Baby Almas, Master Jaffer, Baby Sakshi, Alok Nath, Raghubir Yadav, Barry John, Sanjay Mishra,  Ranvir Shorey

This looks like a pretty epic and moving movie based on 12.66m true stories… Thanks Maa is about a ‘12 year old street kid named Municipality, while on the run from the reformatory, finds & saves a two day old abandoned baby from becoming the prey to a ferocious street dog. Failing to find any takers among the people whom he deemed responsible and respectable, Municipality takes up the onus of finding the mother of that abandoned baby himself. Here onwards ensues his struggle in the urban jungle of Mumbai with just four of his friends from the street, Soda (15), Sursuri (10), Cutting (8) & Dhed-Shaana (6) on his side and apparently the whole world against him. Municipality’s rock steady determination ultimately helps him emerge a winner against all odds as he reaches that baby’s mother but in bargain he loses his most precious possession… the flawless & god-like image of a mother he used to see in his dreams and probably the hope that he’ll ever find his own mother come searching for him at the Municipality Hospital where he was found abandoned 12 years ago’

 

 

5TH IAWRT ASIAN WOMEN’S FILM FESTIVAL

 

IAWRT India Chapter with the support of the India International Centre presents the 5th IAWRT Asian Women film festival at New Delhi.The 5th IAWRT Asian Women’s Film Festival is back again, to mark the International Women’s Day. Each year, the festival showcases a wide array of films – documentaries, short fiction, and animation – made by women filmmakers of Asian origin. This year the festival presents over 20 films made by women filmmakers from across India, South Asia, and the Unites States of America. It has broadly been curated around the theme, Dialogues in Diversity.

Some of the films this year are · Dam/Age: a film with Arundhati Roy: directed by Aradhana Seth, the film traces Roy’s campaign against the Narmada Dam project ·

View from A Grain of Sand: Meena Nanji’s comprehensive account of the recent history of Afganistan, the impact on the women’s lives, and the resistance they offer ·

There was a Queen: Kavita Pai and Hansa Thapliyal’s explorations through the lives of Kashmiri women as to what peace means and how it can come about in Kashmir ·

Skin Deep by Reena Mohan, on women’s complex relationships with physical beauty · and

Jill Mesquita-Mistry’s The Clap Trap, a moving look at the lives of the junior artistes of Bollywood. FOR MORE INFO: iawrtindia.blogspot .com

Festival details”

*WHEN: 7th and 8th March 2009

WHERE: India International Centre, Lodi Estate, New Delhi

ENTRY: Free, by registration available at venue. *

 *=========FULL SCHEDULE==== ======= *

7th MARCH 2009 SAT 09:00 AM: REGISTRATION

10:00 AM: INAUGURATION

followed by Mukand and Riaz by Nina Sabnani 9 m /2005/India An animation film about two friends separated by the partition of India and Pakistan 

TEA BREAK

11:00 AM: Dam/Age Aradhana Seth 50m / 2002/ India/UK Traces writer Arundhati Roy’s bold and controversial campaign against the Narmada dam

foll by View from a Grain of Sand Meena Nanji 82 m/ 2006/ USA Three Afghan women try to rebuild their lives in Afghanistan’ s “new era .

LUNCH BREAK

 

Premiere of “Poison on the Platter” ..

“The Right to Choose Safe Food’ is a fundamental right of consumers in a democracy. However, the onslaught of GM crops has been robbing the people of their right to choose.” This is the theme based on which Mahesh Bhatt (Filmmaker and Presenter of Poison on the Platter) and Ajay Kanchan (Director) have put together the film ‘Poison on the Platter’ - portraying the introduction of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in India as the end of choice . The film is aimed at raising awareness and to enlighten the people about the introduction of GM crops in the Indian market and the irreversible adverse impacts on human health.

Sahaja samudra has organised  the Premiere of the film

“Poison on the Platter”,

on Saturday 7th March 2009.

at 12:00 noon.

Venue:   Alliance Fransaise de Bangalore(Indo -French Cultural Center)

No 108, Thimmaiah Road,

Vasanthnagar, Bangalore-560 052

 

All Roads Film Festival 2009-

National Geographic is inviting filmmakers from around the world to submit
entries for its All Roads Film Festival 2009,

All Roads is a The All Roads Film Project is a National Geographic program dedicated to providing a platform for indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture storytellers around the world to showcase their works to promote knowledge,  dialogue, and understanding with a broader, global audience.

The deadline for submissions is March 15.

The festival provides an international opportunity for filmmakers to shed
light on their lives and communities through first-person storytelling.

To be held in three US cities, the festival is accepting entries in the
following categories: Dramatic Feature; Long Documentary; Short
Documentary; Live Action Short; Animation; Music Video. Entry fees vary
depending on the category.

Entry requirements include:

* Entries must include an English language version, through English
language voice over or subtitle.
* All written submissions must be in English or Spanish.
* A brief essay describing the film must be submitted, as well as
information on why the entrant has chosen a specific cultural
identifier, and what that identifier means to them.
* For those who do not come from a minority culture or indigenous
community, documentation that the entrant has been designated to speak
for such a culture or community is required.

Click here for more information.
http://dev-events.nationalgeographic.com/events/all-roads/about/
Click here to apply.
http://events.nationalgeographic.com/media/files/AllRoads2009_Call4Entry.pdf

 

ಗುಬ್ಬಚ್ಚಿಗಳು ಮೈಸೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ…

 

Amul- slumdog millionaire

 

Cinema in Stamps

 

Festival of Poland

A week long fest from 1st to 8th of March including music, poetry, photography, cinema and much more. First time such an even is being organised in Bangalore. A chance to meet some eminent personalities including the great film maker Krzysztof Zanussi. Please be at Alliance de Francaise (Vasanth Nagar) and Time and Space gallery (Lavelle Road) to enjoy the show.

+++

The Bangalore School of Music and Apple Blossom will present the first-ever Festival of Poland, in the City. Scheduled to be held from March 1 to 10, the ten-day festival will focus on the rich culture of Poland and include operatic performances, a panorama of films, Polish poster and photography exhibitions, panel discussions, classical music, Polish poetry and much more. 

The prestigious cultural event comes with the active support of The Embassy of Poland in India, The Polish Consulate General in Mumbai and The Ministry of Culture in Poland. This festival will focus on post-war, modern Poland, its achievements and developments — especially focused in the areas of culture, art, music, films and poetry.

The festival will be held across prestigious venues in Bangalore, and will attract diverse audiences including music and art aficionados from all sections of society; celebrities, diplomats, tourists, teachers, students and more. 
The festival inaugural and the grand operatic performance by opera singers Tomasz Rak  and Kamila Cholewinska will be held at the Alliance Francaise on March 2, from 11 am to 1 pm.

 

Lalu in a Canadian documentary

 

 

Having already acted in a bollywood film “Padmashree Lalu Yadav” in an eponymous role, effervescent Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is all set to appear in a Canadian documentary soon.

As in the feature film, Lalu is playing the role himself in the documentary “India Reborn” being shot by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

The only politician chosen by the CBC will be telling the story about his rise from the bucolic environs of his native Phulwaria village in remote Gopalganj district, where he spent his initial years as a cowherd, to becoming the minister of railways, the largest public sector undertaking in the country.

The four-hour documentary is to feature people from several walks of life including industry, information technology and agriculture who have left an indelible impact of their personality on the post-independence India.

Part of the documentary was shot on Tuesday at 10 Circular Road, the official residence of Rabri Devi, Lalu’s wife and former chief minister who was shown drying wheat for the coming ‘Chath’ festival.

Later, accepting the CBC crew’s request, Lalu boarded a train from Patna junction for a journey to Rajendra Nagar terminal, about three kms away, during which he explained to them the secrets of the phenomenal turnaround in the fortunes of Indian Railways.

cartoon courtesy: helloji

 

3.6 crore for the children of ‘Slumdog’

 

Vijay Dutt, Hindustan Times

A day after sweeping the Academy awards, Slumdog Millionaire producer Christian Colson is ensuring that the children featured in the film are not left to fight life’s battles on their own.

The producers are planning a stage musical of the eight-Oscar-winning film to raise funds for Mumbai’s slum kids.

A fund set up by the filmmakers has already generated close to Rs 3.6 crore for the children. And if plans for cover versions of Rahman’s songs came to fruition, the money raised could multiply many times over, he told The Times, London. The funds would be ploughed back into the slums where the movie was filmed.

Also, plans to safeguard the future of two children from the slums — Azharuddin Mohammed, 10, and nine-year-old Rubina Qureshi — who attended the Oscars  with six others from better off families, are being re-examined. He told The Times that producers wanted “something more professional” to be put in place.

“The profile of the film will remain high — we can’t assume attention on these children will drift away,” he said.

Boyle said the children also enjoyed their trip to Disneyworld and the Universal Studios. As soon as they got to the hotel, they jumped into the pool fully clothed.

The warm reception for the crew at the Oscars caught even the producers by surprise. Hollywood star Will Smith, for instance, went up to meet Madhur Mittal, who played Dev Patel’s brother in the film.

 

‘Mere paas ma hai’-A R Rehman in Oscar

 

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

A.R. Rahman

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Before coming, I was excited and terrified. The last time I felt like that was during my marriage. There’s a dialogue from a Hindi film called “Mere paas ma hai,” which means “I have nothing but I have a mother,” so mother’s here, her blessings are there with me. I am grateful for her to have come all the way. And I want to thank the Academy for being so kind, all the jury members. I want to thank Sam Schwartz, I/D PR, all the crew of Slumdog, Mr. Gulzar, Raqueeb Alam, Blaaze, my musicians in Chennai and Mumbai. And I want to tell something in Tamil, which says, which I normally say after every award which is ella puhazhum iraivanukke: “God is great.” Thank you.

 

Thank u Mumbai…

 

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Danny Boyle

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

(Bouncing up and down) My kids are too old to remember this now, but when they were much younger, I swore to them that if this miracle ever happened that I would receive it in the spirit of Tigger from “Winnie-the-Pooh” and that’s what that was. You’ve been so generous to us this evening and I wanted to thank you for that and also for an extraordinary, what a beautiful show you’ve done. I don’t know what it looks like on television, everybody, but in the room, it’s bloody wonderful, really. So, well done, everyone. 

Just to make, my, um, Grace, Gabriel and Caitlin, my kids, and their wonderful mom. Gail, thank you so much for letting me be Tigger for so long. And to my dad, Frank, and to my sisters Maria and Bernadette and everybody in St. Mary’s Social Club in Radcliffe. Big, big, big shout-out to you. I’ve got to thank Tessa Ross. I’ve got to thank everybody at Celador. I’ve got to thank François and Cameron at Pathé. I’ve got to thank everybody at Warner Bros. for having the great grace to pass the film on to the extraordinary guy at Fox Searchlight, Peter Rice, and all his team. Thank you so much. Peter, wherever you are, thank you so much for bringing all our cast and crew here, or as many of them as we could do. The film is an absolute tribute to them. There’s one guy I should mention, we’ve mentioned a lot of people. I forgot a guy. The guy who choreographed the dance at the end of the film. He’s called Longiness. And I forgot him off the credits. And I only found out about it two weeks ago. I’m an idiot and I apologize from the bottom of my heart, Longiness. Thank you so much. 

Finally, just to say to Mumbai, “Unending, inseparable, unborn.” All of you who’ve helped us make the film and all of you of those of you who didn’t, thank you so much. You dwarf even this guy (gesturing to the statuette). Thank you very much indeed.

 

ರಿಂಗ ರಿಂಗಾ ರೇ….

ಎ ಆರ್ ರೆಹಮಾನ್ ಆಸ್ಕರ್ ಗೆ ದೇಶ ಸಂಭ್ರಮಿಸಿದ್ದು ಹೀಗೆ…

 

Eight Oscars for ‘Slumdog Millionaire

Eight Oscars for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Los Angeles, IANS:

Directed by Briton Danny Boyle, based on Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup’s novel “Q & A”, the film had received 10 Oscar nominations, including three for Indian music maestro A.R. Rahman and one for Resul Pookutty for sound mixing.

It’s “Slumdog Millionaire” all the way. After shining at the Golden Globes and BAFTA, the Mumbai-based film swept the 81st Academy awards winning eight Oscars, making the same fairytale journey that its hero had done in the movie.Directed by Briton Danny Boyle, based on Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup’s novel “Q & A”, the film had received 10 Oscar nominations, including three for Indian music maestro A.R. Rahman and one for Resul Pookutty for sound mixing. The film managed to rake in over $100 million from collections across the globe, thougn in India it has grossed only Rs.215 million so far. Set and filmed in Mumbai, “Slumdog…” narrates the story of an 18-year-old tea boy Jamal Malik, who appears on a quiz show “Kaun Banega Crorepati”, the Indian version of British reality show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and ends up being a winner, arousing suspicion from the show host as well as the law enforcement officials. The film starred British-born Indian actor Dev Patel, Freida Pinto besides well-known Bollywood actors Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan apart from others. The screenplay has been written by British writer Simon Beaufoy and co-directed by India-based Loveleen Tandon, who was also the casting director for the film. List of Oscars won by “Slumdog Millionaire”: 1. Best Picture 2. Best director – Danny Boyle 3. Best original song- A.R. Rahman and Gulzar 4. Best original score – A.R. Rahman 5. Best adapted screenplay – Simon Beaufoy 6. Best cinematography – Anthony Dod Mantle 7. Best sound mixing – Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty 8. Best editing – Chris Dickens Earlier, “Slumdog Millionaire” had created ripples across the international film industry by winning seven BAFTA and four Golden Globe awards. The film won seven BAFTAs for best film, best director, best original music score, best cinematography, best editing, best sound and best adapted screenplay. At Golden Globes it bagged awards for best original music score, best motion picture-drama, best director and best writer. At the 14th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards, the film bagged five trophies – best composer, best picture, best director, best writer and best young actor/actress for Dev Patel.

 

Dharavi residents celebrate Slumdog

Mumbai: Residents of Dharavi locality here were glued to the TV screens to celebrate the magical run of Slumdog Millionaire, whose backdrop is their locality.

 Satheesh Nair / DNA

Danny Boyle shooting for Slumdog Millionaire at Dharavi on Sunday, December 9, 2007.”We plan to celebrate the win. There will be a party tonight (Monday). In fact, people are already in a celebratory mood,” said Azhar Shaikh, who has been living in Dharavi for the past decade. Danny Boyle’s film, which bagged eight Oscars, is a stark look at Dharavi slum, where lakhs of people live in a square kilometer area.

Family of Rubina, who plays little Latika in the film, is readying to greet her after she returns from the Oscars ceremony. “We will all be there at the airport when she returns,” her father Rafique said. His neighbours are also happy that the film, shot in their locality, has cornered Oscar glory.

The film had received mixed response across India as some slum dwellers found it offensive, with some critics even labelling it as “poverty porn”. Some like Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen said the movie shows reality. “When I see Slumdog…, I say Mercedes as well as a bullock cart run on the streets of my country,” she said.

 

I’m so happy that my daughter has won this award

Mother of ‘Slumdog’ child celebrates Oscar haul

ZEE News

Mumbai, Feb 23: The mother of one of the ‘Slumdog’ child actors celebrated on Monday the film’s eight Oscars from her home in an Indian shantytown, where relatives and neighbours had gathered to watch the awards ceremony on television.

Related Stories

Resul Pookutty wins Oscar, dedicates it to India”I’m so happy that my daughter has won this award and I could see her on stage with such big stars,” said Muni Qureshi, mother of 8-year-old Rubina Ali, who played the young slum kid Latika in the film.

Ali, along with other child actors in the film, was flown to Los Angeles for the awards ceremony and she appeared on stage after the film’s best motion picture award was announced. The film has generated controversy in India, where some people find its name, and depiction of poverty, insulting. B

ut Qureshi, who lives with her daughter and the rest of the family in a ramshackle home with no running water in Mumbai’s Garib Nagar slum, defended the film. “I know that this film has been criticised for showcasing poverty. But it has also meant that a girl from the slums of Mumbai who could not even imagine that she would go abroad has reached the Oscars, so how can that be bad?” she said.

The rags-to-riches romance ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ scooped up eight Oscars, the most of any movie this year, including best motion picture. Briton Danny Boyle was named best director for the often dark but ultimately hopeful tale about a poor Indian boy who competes for love and money on a TV game show. Bureau Report

 

and the oscars goes to…..nominee list

 

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

- NOMINATIONS BY CATEGORY – 81ST AWARDS -

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
• Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
• Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
• Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
• Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
• Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
• Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
• Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

 

‘The Final Inch’ for Munzareen at the Oscars

uktara Purkayastha

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) As millions of Indians pin their hope on A R Rahman winning an Oscar on February 22 not many know about Munzareen of Meerut and the documentary ‘The Final Inch’ she featured in, which is vying for an Oscar in the Best Documentary (Short) category. Munzareen, who is a part of UNICEF’s Social Mobilisation Network, was selected from 233 field workers from Meerut to feature in American filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky’s 38-minutes documentary ‘The Final Inch’. The documentary showcases efforts by the polio workers to eradicate the disease in India and globally. It will be vying for the Academy honours in Best Documentary (Short) category along with ‘Smile Pinki’, ‘The Conscience of Nhem En’ and ‘The Witness- From the Balcony of Room 306′. Munzareen is new to the limelight that is being showered on her post the nominations, she says, “I agreed to feature in the film as it showcases our work. Who knew that the film will travel all over the world?,” she told PTI. Known as baaji, Munzareen, a mother of three says she was camera-shy on the first day of the shooting. “I ran and hid at a local doctor’s chamber. There were so many film people and all the locals were also staring at me. There was so much crowd in the streets. I was nervous,” Munzareen said.

 

Cuba offers itself as Bollywood destination

Panaji,  (IANS) Cuba is serenading Bollywood’s bigwigs to use the Latin American country for shooting Bollywood films, the Cuban ambassador to India Tuesday said.

In Goa to inaugurate four-day Cuban film festival, Miguel Angel Ramirez Ramos said that he was holding parleys with players in the Indian mainstream film industry and pitching Cuba as a film shooting destination.

‘We are talking to some Bollywood names, asking them to shoot a movie in Cuba, but it will not be prudent to mention any name right now,’ Ramos said, speaking to reporters at a press conference here.

He described these overtures as part of Cuba’s moves to improve cultural as well as bilateral ties between the two countries. Denouncing Hollywood’s repeated portrayal of Cuba as unfair and wrong, Ramos said that Cuban cinema reflected the ‘real’ Cuban society.

‘Nations can be judged by the cinema they make. Cuban people are very open. Cuban cinema is openly critical of the contradictions in society. This is not possible in a closed society, which Hollywood perceives us as,’ he said.

The Cuban film festival in Goa is being jointly hosted by the Entertainment Society of Goa and the Centre for Latin American Studies of the Goa University and will screen classic films and documentaries like ‘La Muerte De Un Burocrata’ (Death of a Bureaucrat), ‘Lucia’ and ‘Yo soy del Son a la Salsa’ (From Son to Salsa) from Feb 19 to 22.

‘We want to enhance cultural and bilateral ties between India and Cuba,’ the Cuban ambassador said.

Describing Goa as a home away from a Latin home, Ramos said that Goa resembled Cuba in many ways. ‘This place has a Latin feel, the homes, the people, even the drive by the sea in Panaji reminds distinctly of Havana,’ he said.

 

ಮ್ಯಾಜಿಕ್ ಚಾಪೆ

 

Gorakhpur film festival ..

3rd Gorakhpur film festival will be held from February 5 to8, 2009.

The theme of the festival is ‘Towards the Freedom from American Imperialism’. Prominent Indian novelist and political commentator Arundhati Roy and filmmaker Girish Kasarvalli and other well known personalities are expected to participate in the festival. The festival will open with Girish Kasarvalli’s latest feature film ‘Gulabi Talkies’. A special section has been curated on documentaries on Orissa’s people’s struggle against State and it’s anti people development policies.

Famous Indian painter Ashok Bhowmick will give lecture-demonstration on Anti War Sentiments in World Paintings. On this occasion, a 75 page monograph on World Cinema’s great masters, a festival brochure, an anti war poster, an interview based documentary on MS Sathyu and an audio cd of Kabir songs by Bairag Lok Geet Yuva Mandal of Malwa, Madhya Pradesh will be released.

The very important aspect of Gorakhpur Film Festival is its independence. As a policy festival will not be banking on sponsorships, and instead strongly believe in people’s participation. Thus the festival is solely dependent on small contributions and advertisements for the brochure.   This very idea of creating an independent festival is not only supported by people of Gorakhpur but like minded people from rest of India  too.

The festival dates are February 5 to February 8, 2007.

Venue is Gokul Atithi Bhawan, Civil Lines, Gorakhpur.

Gorakhpur is very well connected to the network of Indian Railways. There are few flights from New Delhi and Mumbai. Other important cities close to Gorakhpur are Lucknow (6hr taxi drive) and Varanasi (5 hr taxi drive). Please forward this appeal to your friends and like minded people and contribute with your valuable suggestions to make this cultural movement more effective and meaningful.

3rd Gorakhpur Film Festival

Contact Address: C- 303 Jansatta Apartments, Sector 9, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India-201012 Mobile: 9811577426, 0120-2885017 E mail id: gorakhpurkafilmfest ival@gmail. com

 

Laila’s Birthday-

Laila’s birthday a Palastinian movie directed by Rashid Masharawi was the Inaugural film of IFFK-08.

With several good movies screening simultaneously in the film festival, we were literally spoilt for choice. Though it was the Inaugural film, I chose not to watch Lailas birthday. Just because description in brochures said it as the portrayal of the struggle of Palestinian people in the conflict laden strip. I expected it to be janother film that has the pain, sorrow, killings,  hovering of fighter jets spraying the bombs etc.

But somehow made it for the second screening with half mind. and I was in for a surprise.

Laila’s birthday is a powerful movie that has conveys the uncertainty in the lives of Palestinian people but in a different way, the hard realities, the struggle for existence everything gets portrayed in the film, but laced with humor. Humor that is strikingly silent and thought provoking.

Film Chronicles a day in the life of Abu Laila who was a judge earlier, but now is forced to drive a taxi for his living in Palastine. The day chosen for the film is his daughter Laila’s birthday. His wife asks him to come home well in time, with a cake, for birthday celebrations. The story is about his efforts to reach home in time and the hurdles the daily life in Palestine has for him.

Abu laila though is a taxi driver now, cannot come out of the law abiding and law enforcing mindset of his earlier profession. All along the film he tries not to break the rules as well as not to allow others to break it, especially his passengers. His efforts go vein in a state where evading law itself is an art.

In his efforts to reach home in time, he goes through a series of incidents from losing his cab to birthday cake for the daughter. Film clearly depicts the life of ordinary people in Palestine who are forced to live in extra ordinary circumstances every day. Who ever may be the mistake and what ever may be the political rights of the rivelling countries of South east, the way common people cops in Palastine amidst of the conflicts is laudable. Lailas birthday upholds the faith of those ordinary people.

.The beauty lies in the fact that Laila’s Birthday, unlike other films on the Palestine struggle depicts hope and inspiration, even in the face of a troublesome future. The film makes you think while silently penetrating your conscious. In Rashid Mashrawi’s own words “Despite all the differences we have, we have to give hope and thought to the future, and this is Laila’s Birthday” 

The Acting of Bakri as Abu Laila is powerful, excellent, natural and is an art in itself. The direction, script and videography too are very good.

 

 

Directed by:	Rashid Masharawi
Written by:	Rashid Masharawi
Cast:	Mohamed Bakri, Areen Omari, Nour Zoubi
Country:	Palestine-Tunisia-Netherlands
Year:	2008
Running time:	71min