Film Bazaar, South Asia’s largest co-production market, has revealed 21 eclectic projects from several countries and in a welter of languages, for its 2021 online edition.
The selected filmmakers will pitch their projects virtually to a curated audience of Indian and international producers, distributors, festival programmers, financiers and sales agents at an open pitch session. This year, Film Bazaar has also collaborated with the French Embassy in India which will be sponsoring the French Institute Award for one market project.
As is the usual case, the projects are a mix of festival favorites and debutants.
From India, Berlinale title “Eeb Allay Ooo!” editor Tanushree Das and Rotterdam title “Nasir” cinematographer Saumyananda Sahi make their directorial debuts with Bengali-language “Baksho Bondi” (aka “How Long Is Tomorrow?”), produced by Naren Chandavarkar (Rotterdam Fipresci winner “The Bangle Seller”); Tamil-language “Bommainayagi” (aka “Queen Doll”) by debutant Shanawaz Nizamudeen, produced by Pa. Ranjith, director of Rajinikanth...
The selected filmmakers will pitch their projects virtually to a curated audience of Indian and international producers, distributors, festival programmers, financiers and sales agents at an open pitch session. This year, Film Bazaar has also collaborated with the French Embassy in India which will be sponsoring the French Institute Award for one market project.
As is the usual case, the projects are a mix of festival favorites and debutants.
From India, Berlinale title “Eeb Allay Ooo!” editor Tanushree Das and Rotterdam title “Nasir” cinematographer Saumyananda Sahi make their directorial debuts with Bengali-language “Baksho Bondi” (aka “How Long Is Tomorrow?”), produced by Naren Chandavarkar (Rotterdam Fipresci winner “The Bangle Seller”); Tamil-language “Bommainayagi” (aka “Queen Doll”) by debutant Shanawaz Nizamudeen, produced by Pa. Ranjith, director of Rajinikanth...
- 12/22/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Line-up includes new projects from Onir, Anjali Menon, Shyam Bora and Haobam Paban Kumar.
Film Bazaar, organised by India’s National Film Development Corp (Nfdc), has announced the 21 projects selected for the Co-production Market (Cpm) of its 2020 edition, which will take place online next month after being postponed from its usual November slot.
The line-up includes projects in 17 South Asian languages originating in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, as well as co-productions with Canada, China, Netherlands and France.
International collaborations include Onir’s We Are, co-produced by India’s Anticlock Films and Canada’s Fae Pictures; India-Netherlands collaboration Dengue,...
Film Bazaar, organised by India’s National Film Development Corp (Nfdc), has announced the 21 projects selected for the Co-production Market (Cpm) of its 2020 edition, which will take place online next month after being postponed from its usual November slot.
The line-up includes projects in 17 South Asian languages originating in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, as well as co-productions with Canada, China, Netherlands and France.
International collaborations include Onir’s We Are, co-produced by India’s Anticlock Films and Canada’s Fae Pictures; India-Netherlands collaboration Dengue,...
- 12/21/2020
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
The New York Indian Film Festival (Nyiff) announced the winners of its competition categories at a ceremony at The Skirball Center, in the final event for the successful festival, which ran May 7 – May 14.
“I am delighted to honor these brilliant filmmakers for the diversity of their plots, themes and characters!” said Aroon Shivdasani, Iaac Executive & Artistic Director.
“Our jury had a tough job since this year’s nominations were very strong,” commented Nyiff’s film festival director Aseem Chhabra. “I congratulate all the winners, the nominees and also other filmmakers who shared their films with our audiences.”
Salman Rushdie presenting the award for Best Film accepted by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni for
Highway who also won Best Director for the film.
Photo credit: Mo Pitz
Below is the full list of winners:
Best Film: Highway
Best Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni for Highway
Best Screenplay: Ruchika Oberoi, Island City
Best Actor: Rajit Kapoor,...
“I am delighted to honor these brilliant filmmakers for the diversity of their plots, themes and characters!” said Aroon Shivdasani, Iaac Executive & Artistic Director.
“Our jury had a tough job since this year’s nominations were very strong,” commented Nyiff’s film festival director Aseem Chhabra. “I congratulate all the winners, the nominees and also other filmmakers who shared their films with our audiences.”
Salman Rushdie presenting the award for Best Film accepted by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni for
Highway who also won Best Director for the film.
Photo credit: Mo Pitz
Below is the full list of winners:
Best Film: Highway
Best Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni for Highway
Best Screenplay: Ruchika Oberoi, Island City
Best Actor: Rajit Kapoor,...
- 5/18/2016
- by Press Releases
- Bollyspice
The New York Indian Film Festival (Nyiff) announced the full lineup last night for their 16th year of celebrating independent, art house, alternate, and diaspora films from/about/connected to the Indian subcontinent (May 7 – May 14). Dedicated to bringing these films to a New York audience, the festival will feature 40 screenings (35 narrative, 5 documentary) –all seen for the first time in New York City. In addition, the festival will also feature five programs of short films.
The festival highlights various cinemas of India’s different regions. All the films are subtitled in English and some of the languages this year include Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telegu, Assamese, Haryanavi and Urdu. This year’s festival will feature a couple of sidebars –Nfdc restored first films of filmmakers and a three-generations sidebar, films of Bimal Roy, Basu Bhattacharya and Aditya Bhattacharya.
The festival’s film lineup includes 2016 National Award winners A Far Afternoon,...
The festival highlights various cinemas of India’s different regions. All the films are subtitled in English and some of the languages this year include Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telegu, Assamese, Haryanavi and Urdu. This year’s festival will feature a couple of sidebars –Nfdc restored first films of filmmakers and a three-generations sidebar, films of Bimal Roy, Basu Bhattacharya and Aditya Bhattacharya.
The festival’s film lineup includes 2016 National Award winners A Far Afternoon,...
- 4/13/2016
- by Press Releases
- Bollyspice
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
National award winning director Umesh Kulkarni will conduct the fourth edition of ‘Shoot a short’, a workshop on short filmmaking in Pune from December 26-29.
The workshop will be primarily aimed at guiding film enthusiasts to make short films. Translating an idea into a screenplay and working with a cast and crew are some of the core areas the workshop will deal with.
Umesh Kulkarni won his first national award for his diploma film titled Girni (The Grinding Machine) that he made as a student of the Film and Television Institute of India (Ftii). Even after making three critically acclaimed and successful feature films like Valu (The Wild Bull), Vihir (The Well) and Deool (Temple), Umesh continues to make short films.
He has served on the jury of festivals like Clermont Ferrand and International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala. Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival...
National award winning director Umesh Kulkarni will conduct the fourth edition of ‘Shoot a short’, a workshop on short filmmaking in Pune from December 26-29.
The workshop will be primarily aimed at guiding film enthusiasts to make short films. Translating an idea into a screenplay and working with a cast and crew are some of the core areas the workshop will deal with.
Umesh Kulkarni won his first national award for his diploma film titled Girni (The Grinding Machine) that he made as a student of the Film and Television Institute of India (Ftii). Even after making three critically acclaimed and successful feature films like Valu (The Wild Bull), Vihir (The Well) and Deool (Temple), Umesh continues to make short films.
He has served on the jury of festivals like Clermont Ferrand and International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala. Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival...
- 12/3/2014
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
A still from Vinay Shukla and Khushboo Ranka’s Proposition for a Revolution
Nfdc Film Bazaar’s Work-in-Progress Lab has announced its selection in Fiction and Documentary categories.
The Work-in-Progress (Wip) Lab gives filmmakers a chance to have their rough-cut feature-length films viewed by an eminent panel of international advisers. These advisers have a one-on-one discussion with the filmmaker with an intention to help the filmmaker achieve an accomplished final cut of the film.
Nfdc Film Bazaar 2014 will be held from November 20-24 in Goa Mariott Resort.
Work-in-Progress Lab 2014:
Fiction :
Bokul by Reema Borah Highway by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni Nil Battey Sannata by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari Tathagat by Manav Kaul Thithi by Raam Reddy
Documentary :
12 Acres by Rajesh Thind Maidaan (Home Ground) by Kavita Carneiro Nehi Mozo Hanü Dizo Le (Without You, I am Nothing) by Anushka Meenakshi and Iswar Srikumar Proposition for a Revolution by Khushboo Ranka...
Nfdc Film Bazaar’s Work-in-Progress Lab has announced its selection in Fiction and Documentary categories.
The Work-in-Progress (Wip) Lab gives filmmakers a chance to have their rough-cut feature-length films viewed by an eminent panel of international advisers. These advisers have a one-on-one discussion with the filmmaker with an intention to help the filmmaker achieve an accomplished final cut of the film.
Nfdc Film Bazaar 2014 will be held from November 20-24 in Goa Mariott Resort.
Work-in-Progress Lab 2014:
Fiction :
Bokul by Reema Borah Highway by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni Nil Battey Sannata by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari Tathagat by Manav Kaul Thithi by Raam Reddy
Documentary :
12 Acres by Rajesh Thind Maidaan (Home Ground) by Kavita Carneiro Nehi Mozo Hanü Dizo Le (Without You, I am Nothing) by Anushka Meenakshi and Iswar Srikumar Proposition for a Revolution by Khushboo Ranka...
- 11/8/2014
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Songs of the Blue Hills screens in documentary competition
The 8th edition of Signs Film Festival, to be held from May 28-June 1 in Kochi (Kerala) has unveiled lineup.
Organized by the Kerala Sub Region of the Federation of Film Societies of India, the festival features a national level competition for documentaries and short fiction. It has 4 award categories: Best Documentary, Prize: Rs 50,000; Best Short Feature(duration less than 70 minutes), Prize: Rs 50,000; Cinema of Resistance (Award for the best short feature/documentary on subjects like state oppression, human rights, environmental issues, gender equality, social/cultural identity etc), Prize: Rs 25,000; Cinema Experimenta (Award for the best experimental attempt), Prize: Rs 25,000.
The 2014 Jury will be headed by filmmaker Madhushree Dutta and will consist of artist and sculptor Riyas Komu; and filmmaker and academician K.B. Venu.
Films Selected For Screening In Signs 2014
Fiction – Competition
Dwand / 12 Min. / Director: Abhilash Vijayan Calls Unanswered / 16 Min. / Director: Vibhuti Narayan Upadhyay Thutse Kyume / 12 Min.
The 8th edition of Signs Film Festival, to be held from May 28-June 1 in Kochi (Kerala) has unveiled lineup.
Organized by the Kerala Sub Region of the Federation of Film Societies of India, the festival features a national level competition for documentaries and short fiction. It has 4 award categories: Best Documentary, Prize: Rs 50,000; Best Short Feature(duration less than 70 minutes), Prize: Rs 50,000; Cinema of Resistance (Award for the best short feature/documentary on subjects like state oppression, human rights, environmental issues, gender equality, social/cultural identity etc), Prize: Rs 25,000; Cinema Experimenta (Award for the best experimental attempt), Prize: Rs 25,000.
The 2014 Jury will be headed by filmmaker Madhushree Dutta and will consist of artist and sculptor Riyas Komu; and filmmaker and academician K.B. Venu.
Films Selected For Screening In Signs 2014
Fiction – Competition
Dwand / 12 Min. / Director: Abhilash Vijayan Calls Unanswered / 16 Min. / Director: Vibhuti Narayan Upadhyay Thutse Kyume / 12 Min.
- 5/20/2014
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
This year the 12th edition of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla) includes a lineup of narrative and documentary features and short films. The impressive program reflects the rich diversity of Indian cinema, as well as the future of Indian filmmaking, with cutting-edge filmmakers and emerging voices bringing their acclaimed films to Los Angeles.
The festival is widely recognized as the premiere showcase of groundbreaking Indian cinema globally. Iffla will run April 8-13 at ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles, the festival’s home since its inception. Jadoo, an exploration of family bonds amidst two feuding brothers’ restaurants in England, will screen as the festival’s Closing Night Gala. The film is written and directed by Iffla alum Amit Gupta, and first premiered at the 2013 Berlinale. It features a wonderful ensemble cast that includes Kulvinder Ghir, Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Tom Mison, and Madhur Jaffrey. As previously announced, Iffla will open with Jeffrey D. Brown’s Sold, produced by Jane Charles and executive produced by Emma Thompson.
Iffla 2014 wil l present more than 33 films, including three world premieres, six North American premieres, six U.S. premieres, and 16 Los Angeles premieres. The films feature 10 different languages, from Hindi to Marathi, to Russian to Bengali. Additionally, Iffla supports American, Australian, British, Canadian, and European diaspora filmmakers from nine different countries telling their stories.
“I'm thrilled and proud that Iffla's line-up this year includes an especially diverse range of cinematic experiences, covering many regions of India and the diaspora,” said Iffla’s Artistic Director Jasmine Jaisinghani. "We would like to thank our Programming Advisor in India, Uma Da Cunha, for helping our programming team source some of these exceptional films."
Program highlights include: the North American premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s latest, Ugly an intense, masterfully directed psychological thriller that premiered in the 2013 Director’s Fortnight section of Cannes; Liar's Dice, the remarkable directorial debut of South Indian actress Geetu Mohandas that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; Anup Singh’s latest feature Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost, starring Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire), winner of Netpac Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Dioraphte Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam; the Audience Award winner at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival Hank and Asha , an exploratory, romantic look at two people bonding in the digital age by newcomer James E. Duff; Nagraj Manjule’s Fandry, a highly praised debut feature for its multilayered emotion and realism on the subject of caste discrimination; Brahmin Bulls starring Roshan Seth (Gandhi, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Mississippi Masala) and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Beauty and the Beast, Heroes) as an estranged father and son unexpectedly brought together to confront the family’s past; and Siddharth, a nuanced look at a family whose son goes missing, by lauded Canadian director and Iffla alum Richie Mehta (Amal).
The festival's feature documentary competition includes an eclectic mix of films from established and upcoming filmmakers that consider India's unique traditions and dynamic future. The films include: the world premiere of
The Auction House , an intimate and funny look at two brothers trying to keep their anachronistic family business going in the digital age; festival favorite Powerless, which depicts intense struggles over electricity in a mid-size Indian city; Faith Connections, Iffla alum Pan Nalin's beautiful and rare look at the Kumbh Mela; and the National Award-winning Shepherds of Paradise, about an arduous, mountainous trek through an animal drive in the Kashmiri winter.
The Bollywood by Night series returns this year with Bombay Talkies and Monsoon Shootout. Premiering at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Bombay Talkies is a quartet of short films that celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema. The omnibus film features work by four of India’s most exciting contemporary directors: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Anurag Kashyap, as well as a stellar cast that includes Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, and Katrina Kaif. Monsoon Shoutout is a thrilling debut by Iffla alum writer/director Amit Kumar about how a split-second decision made by a rookie police officer has rippling effects in his life and the lives of those around him.
The shorts competition showcases a diverse selection of 15 films that include narrative, documentary, experimental, and animated works. Highlights of this year’s program include Academy Award® shortlisted Kush; Sundance award winner Love.Love.Love.; and the world premiere of acclaimed director Umesh Kulkarni’s The Fly.
Festival Passes and Gala tickets are currently on sale at the festival's website.
For more information, please visit:
Website: www.indianfilmfestival.org.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ indianfilmfestival
Twitter: https://twitter.com /iffla
Tumblr: http://indianfilmfestival.tumblr.com/
About Iffla
Now in its 12th year, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla) is a nonprofit organization devoted to a greater appreciation of Indian cinema and culture by showcasing films, honoring entertainment industry business executives, and promoting the diverse perspectives of the Indian diaspora.
Opening Night Gala
Sold
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2014/97min
Director: Jeffrey D. Brown
Producer: Jane Charles
Executive Producer: Emma Thompson
Screenwriters: Joseph Kwong, Jeffrey D. Brown
Composer: John McDowell, Sammy Chand, Salim & Sulaiman Merchant
Cast: Susmita Mukherjee, Seema Biswas, Tillotama Shome, Niyar Saikia, Priyanka Bose, Ankur Vikal, Parambrata Chatterjee, Gillian Anderson, David Arquette
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Jeffrey D. Brown adapts Patricia McCormick’s novel Sold – a National Book Award finalist – into a vivid, harrowing and inspiring story of a young girl’s resilience in the face of unspeakable cruelty.
Closing Night
Jadoo
Los Angeles Premiere
UK/2013/84 mins
Director: Amit Gupta
Producers: Amanda Faber, Isabelle Georgeaux, Richard Holmes, Nikki Parrott
Screenwriter: Amit Gupta
Composer: Stephen Warbeck
Cast: Kulvinder Ghir, Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Tom Mison, Madhur Jaffrey
Set in Leicester, England, Amit Gupta’s culinary comedy charts the chaos that ensues when young Shalini gets engaged to her longtime boyfriend Mark. The fact that Mark is not Indian is the least of Shalini’s concerns. Her father Raja and uncle Jagi have been at war for years. After a legendary falling out that caused them to close their family restaurant, each man opened his own establishment – directly across the street from one another! Shalini’s dream wedding would see both men put aside their differences and prepare the feast together, but resentment runs deep and neither man can hear mention of the other’s name without a spike in blood pressure. Both the prospect of disappointing their beloved Shalini and the threat of a new, hip restaurant opening in the area force Raja and Jagi to work together – but for how long? In this uproariously funny and heartfelt exploration of family bonds, shared history and gastronomic perfection, Gupta’s cast is endlessly appealing. Plus, there’s enough mouth-watering Indian food on display to have your stomach growling before the credits roll.
Feature Films
Before My Eyes (Ankhon Dekhi)
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/107min
Director: Rajat Kapoor Producer: Manish Mundra
Screenwriter: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Sanjay Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa, Rajat Kapoor, Taranjeet, Maya Sarao
Celebrated writer, director, and actor Rajat Kapoor (Midnight’s Children, Monsoon Wedding, Mixed Doubles, Mithya) paints an offbeat yet thought-provoking portrait of domestic life in modern day Delhi when an incident prompts head of the family Bauji to reject anything he himself has not experienced, much to the exasperation of his extended family but to the delight of his newfound philosopher disciples. Balancing the comical and the existential, both Bauji and the film ask the basic question, ‘Can you know truth without true experience?’
Brahmin Bulls
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/96min/2013
Director: Mahesh Pailoor
Producer: Yoshinobu Tsuji
Screenwriters: Anu Pradhan, Mahesh Pailoor
Cast: Sendhil Ramamurthy, Roshan Seth, Mary Steenburgen, Justin Bartha, Cassidy Freeman, Monica Raymund, Michael Lerner
Mahesh Pailoor's tender, funny, and touching debut tells the story of estranged father and son Ashok and Sid, who reunite at Sid's Los Angeles home when Ashok arrives unexpectedly. Each man is keeping secrets from one another, and when the truth is revealed, parent and child must work even harder to close the rift between them.
Fandry
North American Premiere
India/2013/103min
Director: Nagraj Manjule
Producers: Vivek Kajaria, Nilesh Navalakha
Screenwriter: Nagraj Manjule
Cast: Kishor Kadam, Chhaya Kadam, Somnath Awghade, Suraj Pawar, Rajshree Kharat, Sakshi Vyavhare, Aishvarya Shinde, Nagraj Manjule
Marathi poet Nagraj Manjule's impressive debut feature tells the story of Jabya, a Dalit boy, and his family's struggle against daily prejudice in their Maharashtra village. Jabya's carefree childhood desires and antics are soon stifled by his family's "untouchable" status, and the film's gradual transformation into an insightful and damning look at caste discrimination builds from a murmur to a defiant roar. Refusing to reduce his Dalit characters to victims – most explicitly at the film's explosive conclusion - Manjule's socially reflective film has received critical acclaim in India.
Hank and Asha
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2013/73min
Director: James E. Duff
Producers: James E. Duff, Julia Morrison
Screenwriters: James E. Duff, Julia Morrison
Cast: Mahira Kakkar, Andrew Pastides
James E. Duff's feature directorial debut, the Audience Award winner at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival, is an endearing tale of a long-distance connection in the digital age. Hank and Asha, two aspiring filmmakers separated by an ocean, connect with one another through video messages and quickly find themselves heading towards romance. That is, until Asha reveals some surprising news. Duff has created a captivating ode to the new possibilities open to us now that the world's gotten smaller.
Liar's Dice
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/104min
Director: Geetu Mohandas
Producers: Alan McAlex, Ajay G. Rai
Screenwriter: Geetu Mohandas
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Geetanjali Thapa, Manya Gupta
Established actress Geetu Mohandas steps behind the lens for her bracing directorial debut. A woman named Kamala and her daughter journey from their remote Himalayan village to Delhi in search of Kamala's missing husband. They find a guide in an unfriendly wanderer whose interest may lie more in his personal gain than in any help he can offer them. Beautifully shot by Rajeev Ravi (Gangs of Wasseypur), Mohandas' film evokes a hazardous world where answers may never be clear and a helping hand always comes at a price.
Phoring
North American Premiere
India/2013/128min
Director: Indranil Roychowdhury
Producers: Anasua Roychowdury, Sugata Bal
Screenwriters: Indranil Roychowdhury, Sugata Sinha
Cast: Akash Adhikary, Sohini Sarkar, Sourav Basak, Ritwick Charaborty, Shankar Debnath, Senjuti Roymukherjee
Indranil Roychowdhury's stunning feature debut is an evocative, unpredictable tale of confused adolescence in a struggling North Bengal town. Phoring, an imaginative adolescent boy, and his beautiful new teacher Doel form a close friendship that soon arouses doubt and suspicion when Doel's presence in the town is revealed to have less-than-noble origins. Roychowdhury accomplishes a tricky feat with his first film by luring us with the promise of an inspirational teacher-student story before ultimately delivering a much more complex and truthful account of the joys and pains of growing up.
Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost (2013)
Los Angeles Premiere Germany-India-Netherlands/2013/109min
Director: Anup Singh
Producers: Bero Beyer, Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper, Thierry Lenouvel
Screenwriter: Anup Singh, Madhuja Mukherjee
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Tisca Chopra, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal
Set in 1940s Punjab, Anup Singh’s latest feature Qissa details the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistan Partition through the experiences of one Sikh family, headed by Umber (Irrfan Khan). Following the family’s forceful displacement from their village, Umber’s desire for a male heir is stronger than ever. When his wife gives birth to their fourth daughter, Kanwar, Umber makes the fateful decision to raise her as a boy. This tragic choice ends up dividing the family in violent ways, and provokes a series of increasingly unsettling situations for Kanwar as she grows up. While in a sense a ghost story, the source of pain and suffering is all too real.
Siddharth
Los Angeles Premiere
Canada-India/2013/96min
Director: Richie Mehta
Producers: David Miller, Steven N. Bray
Screenwriter: Richie Mehta
Cast: Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee
A celebrated Iffla alum, Canadian director Richie Mehta returns to the festival with a heartbreaking story of parents Mahendra and Suman, whose son goes missing after being sent to work 200 miles north of Delhi. Carried by powerful yet restrained performances from Rajesh Tailang and Tannishtha Chatterjee as the parents, Mehta and cast capture the dignity of those facing the unthinkable. Mehta's chance encounter with a man searching for his lost son alerted him to the underreported plight of the families of 44,000 children estimated missing in India every year.
Ugly
North American Premiere
India/2013/128mins/Dcp
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Writer: Anurag Kashyap
Producers: Vikas Bahl, Madhu Mantena, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vivek Rangachari, Arun Rangachari
Cast: Rahul Bhatt, Ronit Roy, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Anshika Shrivastava
When ten-year-old Kali disappears from her father Rahul's car on the busy streets of Mumbai, the events that follow quickly spiral out of control and plunge into a morass of corruption and violence. Rahul and Kali's mother, Shalini, are divorced. Shalini is now married to Shoumik, the local police chief. When Shoumik learns that his stepdaughter is missing, he and Rahul clash in a breathless race to find the girl. With intricate plotting and vivid characterizations, Iffla alum Anurag Kashyap fashions a story that's sure to keep the heart racing.
Writers (Sulemani Keeda)
North American Premiere
India/2013/90min
Director: Amit V Masurkar
Writer: Amit V Masurkar
Producer: Datta Dave
Cast: Naveen Kasturia, Mayank Tewari, Aditi Vasudev and Karan Mirchandani
Writing partners Dulal and Mainak dream of shaking up Bollywood in director Amit Masurkar's slacker comedy. The two young men take a job from the wealthy, oddball son of a famous B-movie producer, but soon fear they're on the path to selling out. Masurkar's film captures the creative spirit of Andheri West, a Mumbai suburb where writers, directors, and actors come from all over India with the dream of working in the film industry, and is a sweet taste of things to come from the new "hindie" cinema.
Documentary Features
The Auction House: A Tale of Two Brothers
World Premiere
UK/2014/85min
Director: Ed Owles
Producers: Ed Owles, Giovanna Stopponi
The auction houses of Kolkata used to be where the rich and famous found the right high-end objects to decorate their homes. Today, the family-owned Russell Exchange is the last, and oldest, one to remain in India. Director Ed Owles follows two brothers, with the older brother moving back to Kolkata from London with hopes of using his Western business acumen to bring the Exchange into the 21st century. However, in a country radically transformed by technology and a rising youth culture, it may already be too late.
Faith Connections
Los Angeles Premiere
France-India/2013/115min/Dcp
Director: Pan Nalin
Producers: Raphaël Berdugo, Gaurav Dhingra, Pan Nalin, Virginie Lacombe
Every three years, Hindus gather at one of four rotating sites for Kumbh Mela, a religious celebration of faith and devotion marked by bathing in the sacred waters of the Ganges. With 100 million people at the 2013 Kumbh Mela, the pilgrimage is said to be the largest gathering on the planet. Iffla alum Pan Nalin crafts a moving and unique view of the mass gathering and presents unique stories of how individuals came to be there to share in the belief of the divine.
Powerless (Katiyabaaz)
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/82min
Director: Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar
Producers: Fahad Mustafa, Deepti Kakkar, Judy Tam, Leopold Koegler
Screenwriter: Fahad Mustafa
In Kanpur, a city of three million that has seen better days, one of the only ways for many residents to get electricity is to steal it. Co-directors Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar focus their attention on the likes of pirate engineers like Loha Singh and first female CEO at the local power authority Ritu Maheshwari. Coupled with beautiful photography of the intricately tied together powerlines of the city and a pulsating original score, they present a unique documentary about current-day India and its future battles over limited resources.
Shepherds of Paradise
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/50min
Director/Producer/Screenwriter/Cinematographer/Editor: Raja Shabir Khan
Composer: Bilal Iran
Nomadic herder Gafoor has to lead his large flock of goats, sheep, cows and horses across Jammu all the way to Kashmir so they can graze. Director Raja Shabir Khan presents lives few have ever seen, let alone lived, with simple beauty and real terror in a film that has won major National Awards in India. A cinematic wonder that must be seen to truly understand, Shepherds of Paradise is a testament of the power of film to transport us to other lands and experiences.
Bollywood By Night
Bombay Talkies
North American Premiere
India/117min/2013
Directors: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap
Producers: Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Guneet Monga
Screenwriters: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan , Rani Mukerji, Katrina Kaif, Randeep Hooda, Saqib Saleem, Nawazuddin Siddiqui
A quartet of short films directed by four of India’s most exciting contemporary filmmakers celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema in this omnibus film. Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap crafts a tale of ordinary people whose love of movies profoundly alters the course of their lives. Each story beautifully captures how lovers of cinema can’t help but carry that fascination into their day-to-day life. Haven’t we all wished, at one time or another, that our lives were more like a film?
Monsoon Shootout
Los Angeles Premiere
India-uk-Netherlands/2013/88min
Director: Amit Kumar
Producers: Trevor Ingman, Guneet Monga, Martijn De Grunt
Screenwriter: Amit Kumar
Cast: Vijay Varma, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Geetanjali Thapa
A split-second decision made by a rookie police officer propels writer/director Amit Kumar’s debut feature, which fascinatingly splinters into three separate, equally pulse-pounding scenarios. In a secluded alley drenched in the pouring rain, principled cop Adi aims his gun at Shiva, a vicious gangster on the run. What Adi decides to do next will reverberate throughout his personal and professional life in ways he could never imagine. Kumar thus explores the ripple effect our choices have, and how we unknowingly alter the lives of those around us.
Shorts
Aarti
Shorts Program 2
World Premiere
USA/2013/4min
Director: David Walter Lech
Producer: Terrie Samundra
A hypnotic look into the nightly “ceremony of light” ritual in a Hindu temple in Sheikhupur, Punjab.
Alchemy
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/5min
Directors: Pranay Patwardhan, Shivangi Ranawat, Janmeet Singh
Producer: Pritesh Varia
A bold and vibrant song to the intricate fabric of modern day India, a kaleidoscope of voices, colors and traditions.
Bhiwani Junction
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2013/18min
Director: Abhi Singh
Producer: Abhi Singh
A poignant documentary portrait of Himanshu, a 12-year old boxer, whose formidable commitment to the sport makes his lofty dreams to become an Olympic champion appear well within reach.
Black Rock (Kaatal)
Shorts Program 1
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/22min
Director: Vikrant Pawar
Producer: Film and Television Institute of India
Two young lovers spend one last afternoon together. A beautiful meditation on the ephemeral nature of young love that has won three of India’s National Film Awards.
The Fly (Makhi)
Shorts Program 2
World Premiere
India/2013/31min
Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Producer: Film and Television Institute of India
Employed as a Fly Killer in an upscale restaurant, Pipal must ensure a fly-free environment by smacking dead the flies that buzz over the patrons’ heads. When a nearby drainage is closed and the source of the fly infestation eradicated, Pipal must find a way to produce enough live flies to save his job, in this delightfully absurdist commentary on urban India’s emerging work culture.
Beloved (Humsafar)
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/6min
Directors/Writers: Swapnil Awate, Laura Erbacher
Producer: Dsk Supinfocom
A sweeping single shot takes us on the breathtaking animated journey of two lovers and their eternal pursuit of harmony.
Jaya
Shorts Program 2
USA/2013/19min
Director: Puja Maewal
Producer: Puja Maewal
Young Jaya is able to survive the gruesome gang life in the unforgiving streets of Mumbai by posing as a boy. When she meets a wealthy businessman who looks like he could be the father who abandoned her, she sets out to reclaim her identity, in this engrossing drama that was shortlisted for a Student Academy Award®.
Kush
Shorts Program 1
India/2013/25min
Director: Shubhashish Bhutiani
Producer: Shubhashish Bhutiani
A bus full of schoolchildren boisterously makes its way back from a field trip when the news of Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards breaks. As violence quickly erupts across the country, Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, must find a way to escape the unquenchable fury of retribution, in this gripping drama that was shortlisted for an Academy Award®.
Little Gypsy (Kachho Gadulo)
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2012/6min
Directors: Saptesh Chaubal, Pranay Patwardhan, Shivangi Ranawat
Producer: D.S.K. Supinfocom
Inspired by the folk traditions of various parts of India, this stunning animated film sweeps us into a mythical journey that celebrates the power of play and imagination.
Love.Love.Love.
Shorts Program 2
Los Angeles Premiere
Russian Federation/2013/12min
Director: Sandhya Daisy Sundaram
Producers: Tanya Petrik, Guillaume Protsenko
An intimate ode to the wondrous force of love, as it takes new shapes and forms through the endless Russian winters. Love. Love.Love. won the Short Film Special Jury Award for Non-Fiction at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
Outpost
Shorts Program 1
U.S. Premiere
India-usa/2013/17min
Director: Shiva Shankar Bajpai
Producer: Aditi Anand
In the barren desert of the India-Pakistan border, two lone army guards on the opposite sides of the line yearn for booze, mosquito repellent and some human contact, in this humorous glimpse into the absurdity of rigid immaterial divides.
Presence
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/17min
Directors: Ekta Mittal, Yashaswini Raghunandan
Producers: Ekta Mittal, Yashaswini Raghunandan
Long days and nights spent within the bellies of the rising structural beasts that rapidly transform the city of Bangalore bring on visions of ghosts that speak of the construction workers’ memories, longings and fears, in this haunting meditation on the migrant experience.
Skin Deep
Screens with Writers
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/20min
Director: Hardik Mehta
Producers: Devang Bhavsar, Niraj Kothari
Sanjay and Sushma plan to elope to escape a looming arranged marriage. They are in love and their future together shines bright and perfect and filled with possibility--that is, as long as an extra piece of skin that complicates their sex life gets fixed in what should be a routine medical procedure. But Mumbai’s electricity gods have other plans in store for them.
Small Yellow Field (Tau Seru)
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
Australia-India/2013/8min
Director: Rodd Rathjen
Producer: Rodd Rathjen
In the remote vastness of the Himalayas, a young nomad's curiosity lies beyond the horizon. This stunningly photographed film made its world premiere at Cannes Critics’ Week.
The Puppet (Tamaash)
Screens with Shepherds Of Paradise
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/32min
Directors: Devanshu Singh, Satyanshu Singh
Producers: Datta Dave, Chaitanya Hegde, Omar Nissar Paul, Devanshu Singh, Satyanshu Singh
A mysterious puppet offers young Anzar the chance to escape his father’s relentless punishments over his poor school grades by granting him the power to inflict misfortune on his nemesis, his brilliant classmate, Sadat. However, his newfound peace is short-lived as Sadat falls severely ill and Anzar comes to realize that the puppet’s powers are spiraling out of his control...
The festival is widely recognized as the premiere showcase of groundbreaking Indian cinema globally. Iffla will run April 8-13 at ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles, the festival’s home since its inception. Jadoo, an exploration of family bonds amidst two feuding brothers’ restaurants in England, will screen as the festival’s Closing Night Gala. The film is written and directed by Iffla alum Amit Gupta, and first premiered at the 2013 Berlinale. It features a wonderful ensemble cast that includes Kulvinder Ghir, Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Tom Mison, and Madhur Jaffrey. As previously announced, Iffla will open with Jeffrey D. Brown’s Sold, produced by Jane Charles and executive produced by Emma Thompson.
Iffla 2014 wil l present more than 33 films, including three world premieres, six North American premieres, six U.S. premieres, and 16 Los Angeles premieres. The films feature 10 different languages, from Hindi to Marathi, to Russian to Bengali. Additionally, Iffla supports American, Australian, British, Canadian, and European diaspora filmmakers from nine different countries telling their stories.
“I'm thrilled and proud that Iffla's line-up this year includes an especially diverse range of cinematic experiences, covering many regions of India and the diaspora,” said Iffla’s Artistic Director Jasmine Jaisinghani. "We would like to thank our Programming Advisor in India, Uma Da Cunha, for helping our programming team source some of these exceptional films."
Program highlights include: the North American premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s latest, Ugly an intense, masterfully directed psychological thriller that premiered in the 2013 Director’s Fortnight section of Cannes; Liar's Dice, the remarkable directorial debut of South Indian actress Geetu Mohandas that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; Anup Singh’s latest feature Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost, starring Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire), winner of Netpac Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Dioraphte Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam; the Audience Award winner at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival Hank and Asha , an exploratory, romantic look at two people bonding in the digital age by newcomer James E. Duff; Nagraj Manjule’s Fandry, a highly praised debut feature for its multilayered emotion and realism on the subject of caste discrimination; Brahmin Bulls starring Roshan Seth (Gandhi, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Mississippi Masala) and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Beauty and the Beast, Heroes) as an estranged father and son unexpectedly brought together to confront the family’s past; and Siddharth, a nuanced look at a family whose son goes missing, by lauded Canadian director and Iffla alum Richie Mehta (Amal).
The festival's feature documentary competition includes an eclectic mix of films from established and upcoming filmmakers that consider India's unique traditions and dynamic future. The films include: the world premiere of
The Auction House , an intimate and funny look at two brothers trying to keep their anachronistic family business going in the digital age; festival favorite Powerless, which depicts intense struggles over electricity in a mid-size Indian city; Faith Connections, Iffla alum Pan Nalin's beautiful and rare look at the Kumbh Mela; and the National Award-winning Shepherds of Paradise, about an arduous, mountainous trek through an animal drive in the Kashmiri winter.
The Bollywood by Night series returns this year with Bombay Talkies and Monsoon Shootout. Premiering at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Bombay Talkies is a quartet of short films that celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema. The omnibus film features work by four of India’s most exciting contemporary directors: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Anurag Kashyap, as well as a stellar cast that includes Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, and Katrina Kaif. Monsoon Shoutout is a thrilling debut by Iffla alum writer/director Amit Kumar about how a split-second decision made by a rookie police officer has rippling effects in his life and the lives of those around him.
The shorts competition showcases a diverse selection of 15 films that include narrative, documentary, experimental, and animated works. Highlights of this year’s program include Academy Award® shortlisted Kush; Sundance award winner Love.Love.Love.; and the world premiere of acclaimed director Umesh Kulkarni’s The Fly.
Festival Passes and Gala tickets are currently on sale at the festival's website.
For more information, please visit:
Website: www.indianfilmfestival.org.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ indianfilmfestival
Twitter: https://twitter.com /iffla
Tumblr: http://indianfilmfestival.tumblr.com/
About Iffla
Now in its 12th year, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla) is a nonprofit organization devoted to a greater appreciation of Indian cinema and culture by showcasing films, honoring entertainment industry business executives, and promoting the diverse perspectives of the Indian diaspora.
Opening Night Gala
Sold
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2014/97min
Director: Jeffrey D. Brown
Producer: Jane Charles
Executive Producer: Emma Thompson
Screenwriters: Joseph Kwong, Jeffrey D. Brown
Composer: John McDowell, Sammy Chand, Salim & Sulaiman Merchant
Cast: Susmita Mukherjee, Seema Biswas, Tillotama Shome, Niyar Saikia, Priyanka Bose, Ankur Vikal, Parambrata Chatterjee, Gillian Anderson, David Arquette
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Jeffrey D. Brown adapts Patricia McCormick’s novel Sold – a National Book Award finalist – into a vivid, harrowing and inspiring story of a young girl’s resilience in the face of unspeakable cruelty.
Closing Night
Jadoo
Los Angeles Premiere
UK/2013/84 mins
Director: Amit Gupta
Producers: Amanda Faber, Isabelle Georgeaux, Richard Holmes, Nikki Parrott
Screenwriter: Amit Gupta
Composer: Stephen Warbeck
Cast: Kulvinder Ghir, Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Tom Mison, Madhur Jaffrey
Set in Leicester, England, Amit Gupta’s culinary comedy charts the chaos that ensues when young Shalini gets engaged to her longtime boyfriend Mark. The fact that Mark is not Indian is the least of Shalini’s concerns. Her father Raja and uncle Jagi have been at war for years. After a legendary falling out that caused them to close their family restaurant, each man opened his own establishment – directly across the street from one another! Shalini’s dream wedding would see both men put aside their differences and prepare the feast together, but resentment runs deep and neither man can hear mention of the other’s name without a spike in blood pressure. Both the prospect of disappointing their beloved Shalini and the threat of a new, hip restaurant opening in the area force Raja and Jagi to work together – but for how long? In this uproariously funny and heartfelt exploration of family bonds, shared history and gastronomic perfection, Gupta’s cast is endlessly appealing. Plus, there’s enough mouth-watering Indian food on display to have your stomach growling before the credits roll.
Feature Films
Before My Eyes (Ankhon Dekhi)
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/107min
Director: Rajat Kapoor Producer: Manish Mundra
Screenwriter: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Sanjay Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa, Rajat Kapoor, Taranjeet, Maya Sarao
Celebrated writer, director, and actor Rajat Kapoor (Midnight’s Children, Monsoon Wedding, Mixed Doubles, Mithya) paints an offbeat yet thought-provoking portrait of domestic life in modern day Delhi when an incident prompts head of the family Bauji to reject anything he himself has not experienced, much to the exasperation of his extended family but to the delight of his newfound philosopher disciples. Balancing the comical and the existential, both Bauji and the film ask the basic question, ‘Can you know truth without true experience?’
Brahmin Bulls
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/96min/2013
Director: Mahesh Pailoor
Producer: Yoshinobu Tsuji
Screenwriters: Anu Pradhan, Mahesh Pailoor
Cast: Sendhil Ramamurthy, Roshan Seth, Mary Steenburgen, Justin Bartha, Cassidy Freeman, Monica Raymund, Michael Lerner
Mahesh Pailoor's tender, funny, and touching debut tells the story of estranged father and son Ashok and Sid, who reunite at Sid's Los Angeles home when Ashok arrives unexpectedly. Each man is keeping secrets from one another, and when the truth is revealed, parent and child must work even harder to close the rift between them.
Fandry
North American Premiere
India/2013/103min
Director: Nagraj Manjule
Producers: Vivek Kajaria, Nilesh Navalakha
Screenwriter: Nagraj Manjule
Cast: Kishor Kadam, Chhaya Kadam, Somnath Awghade, Suraj Pawar, Rajshree Kharat, Sakshi Vyavhare, Aishvarya Shinde, Nagraj Manjule
Marathi poet Nagraj Manjule's impressive debut feature tells the story of Jabya, a Dalit boy, and his family's struggle against daily prejudice in their Maharashtra village. Jabya's carefree childhood desires and antics are soon stifled by his family's "untouchable" status, and the film's gradual transformation into an insightful and damning look at caste discrimination builds from a murmur to a defiant roar. Refusing to reduce his Dalit characters to victims – most explicitly at the film's explosive conclusion - Manjule's socially reflective film has received critical acclaim in India.
Hank and Asha
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2013/73min
Director: James E. Duff
Producers: James E. Duff, Julia Morrison
Screenwriters: James E. Duff, Julia Morrison
Cast: Mahira Kakkar, Andrew Pastides
James E. Duff's feature directorial debut, the Audience Award winner at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival, is an endearing tale of a long-distance connection in the digital age. Hank and Asha, two aspiring filmmakers separated by an ocean, connect with one another through video messages and quickly find themselves heading towards romance. That is, until Asha reveals some surprising news. Duff has created a captivating ode to the new possibilities open to us now that the world's gotten smaller.
Liar's Dice
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/104min
Director: Geetu Mohandas
Producers: Alan McAlex, Ajay G. Rai
Screenwriter: Geetu Mohandas
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Geetanjali Thapa, Manya Gupta
Established actress Geetu Mohandas steps behind the lens for her bracing directorial debut. A woman named Kamala and her daughter journey from their remote Himalayan village to Delhi in search of Kamala's missing husband. They find a guide in an unfriendly wanderer whose interest may lie more in his personal gain than in any help he can offer them. Beautifully shot by Rajeev Ravi (Gangs of Wasseypur), Mohandas' film evokes a hazardous world where answers may never be clear and a helping hand always comes at a price.
Phoring
North American Premiere
India/2013/128min
Director: Indranil Roychowdhury
Producers: Anasua Roychowdury, Sugata Bal
Screenwriters: Indranil Roychowdhury, Sugata Sinha
Cast: Akash Adhikary, Sohini Sarkar, Sourav Basak, Ritwick Charaborty, Shankar Debnath, Senjuti Roymukherjee
Indranil Roychowdhury's stunning feature debut is an evocative, unpredictable tale of confused adolescence in a struggling North Bengal town. Phoring, an imaginative adolescent boy, and his beautiful new teacher Doel form a close friendship that soon arouses doubt and suspicion when Doel's presence in the town is revealed to have less-than-noble origins. Roychowdhury accomplishes a tricky feat with his first film by luring us with the promise of an inspirational teacher-student story before ultimately delivering a much more complex and truthful account of the joys and pains of growing up.
Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost (2013)
Los Angeles Premiere Germany-India-Netherlands/2013/109min
Director: Anup Singh
Producers: Bero Beyer, Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper, Thierry Lenouvel
Screenwriter: Anup Singh, Madhuja Mukherjee
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Tisca Chopra, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal
Set in 1940s Punjab, Anup Singh’s latest feature Qissa details the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistan Partition through the experiences of one Sikh family, headed by Umber (Irrfan Khan). Following the family’s forceful displacement from their village, Umber’s desire for a male heir is stronger than ever. When his wife gives birth to their fourth daughter, Kanwar, Umber makes the fateful decision to raise her as a boy. This tragic choice ends up dividing the family in violent ways, and provokes a series of increasingly unsettling situations for Kanwar as she grows up. While in a sense a ghost story, the source of pain and suffering is all too real.
Siddharth
Los Angeles Premiere
Canada-India/2013/96min
Director: Richie Mehta
Producers: David Miller, Steven N. Bray
Screenwriter: Richie Mehta
Cast: Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee
A celebrated Iffla alum, Canadian director Richie Mehta returns to the festival with a heartbreaking story of parents Mahendra and Suman, whose son goes missing after being sent to work 200 miles north of Delhi. Carried by powerful yet restrained performances from Rajesh Tailang and Tannishtha Chatterjee as the parents, Mehta and cast capture the dignity of those facing the unthinkable. Mehta's chance encounter with a man searching for his lost son alerted him to the underreported plight of the families of 44,000 children estimated missing in India every year.
Ugly
North American Premiere
India/2013/128mins/Dcp
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Writer: Anurag Kashyap
Producers: Vikas Bahl, Madhu Mantena, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vivek Rangachari, Arun Rangachari
Cast: Rahul Bhatt, Ronit Roy, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Anshika Shrivastava
When ten-year-old Kali disappears from her father Rahul's car on the busy streets of Mumbai, the events that follow quickly spiral out of control and plunge into a morass of corruption and violence. Rahul and Kali's mother, Shalini, are divorced. Shalini is now married to Shoumik, the local police chief. When Shoumik learns that his stepdaughter is missing, he and Rahul clash in a breathless race to find the girl. With intricate plotting and vivid characterizations, Iffla alum Anurag Kashyap fashions a story that's sure to keep the heart racing.
Writers (Sulemani Keeda)
North American Premiere
India/2013/90min
Director: Amit V Masurkar
Writer: Amit V Masurkar
Producer: Datta Dave
Cast: Naveen Kasturia, Mayank Tewari, Aditi Vasudev and Karan Mirchandani
Writing partners Dulal and Mainak dream of shaking up Bollywood in director Amit Masurkar's slacker comedy. The two young men take a job from the wealthy, oddball son of a famous B-movie producer, but soon fear they're on the path to selling out. Masurkar's film captures the creative spirit of Andheri West, a Mumbai suburb where writers, directors, and actors come from all over India with the dream of working in the film industry, and is a sweet taste of things to come from the new "hindie" cinema.
Documentary Features
The Auction House: A Tale of Two Brothers
World Premiere
UK/2014/85min
Director: Ed Owles
Producers: Ed Owles, Giovanna Stopponi
The auction houses of Kolkata used to be where the rich and famous found the right high-end objects to decorate their homes. Today, the family-owned Russell Exchange is the last, and oldest, one to remain in India. Director Ed Owles follows two brothers, with the older brother moving back to Kolkata from London with hopes of using his Western business acumen to bring the Exchange into the 21st century. However, in a country radically transformed by technology and a rising youth culture, it may already be too late.
Faith Connections
Los Angeles Premiere
France-India/2013/115min/Dcp
Director: Pan Nalin
Producers: Raphaël Berdugo, Gaurav Dhingra, Pan Nalin, Virginie Lacombe
Every three years, Hindus gather at one of four rotating sites for Kumbh Mela, a religious celebration of faith and devotion marked by bathing in the sacred waters of the Ganges. With 100 million people at the 2013 Kumbh Mela, the pilgrimage is said to be the largest gathering on the planet. Iffla alum Pan Nalin crafts a moving and unique view of the mass gathering and presents unique stories of how individuals came to be there to share in the belief of the divine.
Powerless (Katiyabaaz)
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/82min
Director: Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar
Producers: Fahad Mustafa, Deepti Kakkar, Judy Tam, Leopold Koegler
Screenwriter: Fahad Mustafa
In Kanpur, a city of three million that has seen better days, one of the only ways for many residents to get electricity is to steal it. Co-directors Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar focus their attention on the likes of pirate engineers like Loha Singh and first female CEO at the local power authority Ritu Maheshwari. Coupled with beautiful photography of the intricately tied together powerlines of the city and a pulsating original score, they present a unique documentary about current-day India and its future battles over limited resources.
Shepherds of Paradise
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/50min
Director/Producer/Screenwriter/Cinematographer/Editor: Raja Shabir Khan
Composer: Bilal Iran
Nomadic herder Gafoor has to lead his large flock of goats, sheep, cows and horses across Jammu all the way to Kashmir so they can graze. Director Raja Shabir Khan presents lives few have ever seen, let alone lived, with simple beauty and real terror in a film that has won major National Awards in India. A cinematic wonder that must be seen to truly understand, Shepherds of Paradise is a testament of the power of film to transport us to other lands and experiences.
Bollywood By Night
Bombay Talkies
North American Premiere
India/117min/2013
Directors: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap
Producers: Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Guneet Monga
Screenwriters: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan , Rani Mukerji, Katrina Kaif, Randeep Hooda, Saqib Saleem, Nawazuddin Siddiqui
A quartet of short films directed by four of India’s most exciting contemporary filmmakers celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema in this omnibus film. Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap crafts a tale of ordinary people whose love of movies profoundly alters the course of their lives. Each story beautifully captures how lovers of cinema can’t help but carry that fascination into their day-to-day life. Haven’t we all wished, at one time or another, that our lives were more like a film?
Monsoon Shootout
Los Angeles Premiere
India-uk-Netherlands/2013/88min
Director: Amit Kumar
Producers: Trevor Ingman, Guneet Monga, Martijn De Grunt
Screenwriter: Amit Kumar
Cast: Vijay Varma, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Geetanjali Thapa
A split-second decision made by a rookie police officer propels writer/director Amit Kumar’s debut feature, which fascinatingly splinters into three separate, equally pulse-pounding scenarios. In a secluded alley drenched in the pouring rain, principled cop Adi aims his gun at Shiva, a vicious gangster on the run. What Adi decides to do next will reverberate throughout his personal and professional life in ways he could never imagine. Kumar thus explores the ripple effect our choices have, and how we unknowingly alter the lives of those around us.
Shorts
Aarti
Shorts Program 2
World Premiere
USA/2013/4min
Director: David Walter Lech
Producer: Terrie Samundra
A hypnotic look into the nightly “ceremony of light” ritual in a Hindu temple in Sheikhupur, Punjab.
Alchemy
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/5min
Directors: Pranay Patwardhan, Shivangi Ranawat, Janmeet Singh
Producer: Pritesh Varia
A bold and vibrant song to the intricate fabric of modern day India, a kaleidoscope of voices, colors and traditions.
Bhiwani Junction
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2013/18min
Director: Abhi Singh
Producer: Abhi Singh
A poignant documentary portrait of Himanshu, a 12-year old boxer, whose formidable commitment to the sport makes his lofty dreams to become an Olympic champion appear well within reach.
Black Rock (Kaatal)
Shorts Program 1
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/22min
Director: Vikrant Pawar
Producer: Film and Television Institute of India
Two young lovers spend one last afternoon together. A beautiful meditation on the ephemeral nature of young love that has won three of India’s National Film Awards.
The Fly (Makhi)
Shorts Program 2
World Premiere
India/2013/31min
Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Producer: Film and Television Institute of India
Employed as a Fly Killer in an upscale restaurant, Pipal must ensure a fly-free environment by smacking dead the flies that buzz over the patrons’ heads. When a nearby drainage is closed and the source of the fly infestation eradicated, Pipal must find a way to produce enough live flies to save his job, in this delightfully absurdist commentary on urban India’s emerging work culture.
Beloved (Humsafar)
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/6min
Directors/Writers: Swapnil Awate, Laura Erbacher
Producer: Dsk Supinfocom
A sweeping single shot takes us on the breathtaking animated journey of two lovers and their eternal pursuit of harmony.
Jaya
Shorts Program 2
USA/2013/19min
Director: Puja Maewal
Producer: Puja Maewal
Young Jaya is able to survive the gruesome gang life in the unforgiving streets of Mumbai by posing as a boy. When she meets a wealthy businessman who looks like he could be the father who abandoned her, she sets out to reclaim her identity, in this engrossing drama that was shortlisted for a Student Academy Award®.
Kush
Shorts Program 1
India/2013/25min
Director: Shubhashish Bhutiani
Producer: Shubhashish Bhutiani
A bus full of schoolchildren boisterously makes its way back from a field trip when the news of Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards breaks. As violence quickly erupts across the country, Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, must find a way to escape the unquenchable fury of retribution, in this gripping drama that was shortlisted for an Academy Award®.
Little Gypsy (Kachho Gadulo)
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2012/6min
Directors: Saptesh Chaubal, Pranay Patwardhan, Shivangi Ranawat
Producer: D.S.K. Supinfocom
Inspired by the folk traditions of various parts of India, this stunning animated film sweeps us into a mythical journey that celebrates the power of play and imagination.
Love.Love.Love.
Shorts Program 2
Los Angeles Premiere
Russian Federation/2013/12min
Director: Sandhya Daisy Sundaram
Producers: Tanya Petrik, Guillaume Protsenko
An intimate ode to the wondrous force of love, as it takes new shapes and forms through the endless Russian winters. Love. Love.Love. won the Short Film Special Jury Award for Non-Fiction at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
Outpost
Shorts Program 1
U.S. Premiere
India-usa/2013/17min
Director: Shiva Shankar Bajpai
Producer: Aditi Anand
In the barren desert of the India-Pakistan border, two lone army guards on the opposite sides of the line yearn for booze, mosquito repellent and some human contact, in this humorous glimpse into the absurdity of rigid immaterial divides.
Presence
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/17min
Directors: Ekta Mittal, Yashaswini Raghunandan
Producers: Ekta Mittal, Yashaswini Raghunandan
Long days and nights spent within the bellies of the rising structural beasts that rapidly transform the city of Bangalore bring on visions of ghosts that speak of the construction workers’ memories, longings and fears, in this haunting meditation on the migrant experience.
Skin Deep
Screens with Writers
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/20min
Director: Hardik Mehta
Producers: Devang Bhavsar, Niraj Kothari
Sanjay and Sushma plan to elope to escape a looming arranged marriage. They are in love and their future together shines bright and perfect and filled with possibility--that is, as long as an extra piece of skin that complicates their sex life gets fixed in what should be a routine medical procedure. But Mumbai’s electricity gods have other plans in store for them.
Small Yellow Field (Tau Seru)
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
Australia-India/2013/8min
Director: Rodd Rathjen
Producer: Rodd Rathjen
In the remote vastness of the Himalayas, a young nomad's curiosity lies beyond the horizon. This stunningly photographed film made its world premiere at Cannes Critics’ Week.
The Puppet (Tamaash)
Screens with Shepherds Of Paradise
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/32min
Directors: Devanshu Singh, Satyanshu Singh
Producers: Datta Dave, Chaitanya Hegde, Omar Nissar Paul, Devanshu Singh, Satyanshu Singh
A mysterious puppet offers young Anzar the chance to escape his father’s relentless punishments over his poor school grades by granting him the power to inflict misfortune on his nemesis, his brilliant classmate, Sadat. However, his newfound peace is short-lived as Sadat falls severely ill and Anzar comes to realize that the puppet’s powers are spiraling out of his control...
- 4/8/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
From April 8th to the 11th, Indian films will once again be showcased in the Us at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla). In its 12th year, Iffla boasts an incredible lineup of fabulous films that reflects the rich diversity of Indian cinema. Iffla’s Artistic Director Jasmine Jaisinghani says, “I’m thrilled and proud that Iffla’s line-up this year includes an especially diverse range of cinematic experiences, covering many regions of India and the diaspora.”
Iffla 2014 presents 33 films that include feature films, documentaries and shorts. The festival will have three world premieres, six North American premieres, six U.S. premieres, and 16 Los Angeles premieres. The films feature 10 different languages, from Hindi to Marathi, to Russian to Bengali. Additionally, Iffla supports American, Australian, British, Canadian, and European diaspora filmmakers from nine different countries telling their stories.
Bollywood will be well represented with three outstanding films all showing during the festival’s run.
Iffla 2014 presents 33 films that include feature films, documentaries and shorts. The festival will have three world premieres, six North American premieres, six U.S. premieres, and 16 Los Angeles premieres. The films feature 10 different languages, from Hindi to Marathi, to Russian to Bengali. Additionally, Iffla supports American, Australian, British, Canadian, and European diaspora filmmakers from nine different countries telling their stories.
Bollywood will be well represented with three outstanding films all showing during the festival’s run.
- 3/21/2014
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
‘Shoot a short’, a workshop on short filmmaking conducted by acclaimed filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni will be held from December 5-8, 2013 at the National Film Archive of India (Nfai) in Pune.
This is the third edition of the workshop after its inception in January 2013. The second edition was conducted in Thane.
The workshop will primarily aim at guiding film enthusiasts to make short films. The three stages of film making such as pre-production, shooting and post-production will be explained thoroughly. Translating an idea into a script and then to a screenplay, cast and crew management, dealing with actors are some of the core areas the workshop focuses upon. Anyone above 18 years is eligible for this workshop.
This workshop will be primarily in Marathi. Candidates interested in English workshop may also enroll their names at Arbhaat Films Pvt.
Ltd. - 020-25433549, 8007893572, 9881463169 and email- arbhaat@gmail.com
Umesh Kulkarni, a prolific short filmmaker,...
‘Shoot a short’, a workshop on short filmmaking conducted by acclaimed filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni will be held from December 5-8, 2013 at the National Film Archive of India (Nfai) in Pune.
This is the third edition of the workshop after its inception in January 2013. The second edition was conducted in Thane.
The workshop will primarily aim at guiding film enthusiasts to make short films. The three stages of film making such as pre-production, shooting and post-production will be explained thoroughly. Translating an idea into a script and then to a screenplay, cast and crew management, dealing with actors are some of the core areas the workshop focuses upon. Anyone above 18 years is eligible for this workshop.
This workshop will be primarily in Marathi. Candidates interested in English workshop may also enroll their names at Arbhaat Films Pvt.
Ltd. - 020-25433549, 8007893572, 9881463169 and email- arbhaat@gmail.com
Umesh Kulkarni, a prolific short filmmaker,...
- 11/30/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
H ighway is one of the twenty-three films selected for the co- production market of Film Bazaar 2013. We spoke to the director Umesh Kulkarni:
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Tell us about your project. What language will it be in?
Highway is a story of a journey- a journey of several characters from different walks of life from one metro city to another. Like every real journey, it changes something within. People start coming out of their shells to experience freedom. It is an attempt to look at ourselves in today’s time. It’s not a straightforward narrative and we are trying to question our own way of looking at things. The different colourful characters one will see in the film will try to find unknown paths, which they have not travelled. One will hear different dialects of Marathi language with a little bit of Hindi, English, Gujarati, Sindhi, Telugu, Punjabi and Tamil.
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Tell us about your project. What language will it be in?
Highway is a story of a journey- a journey of several characters from different walks of life from one metro city to another. Like every real journey, it changes something within. People start coming out of their shells to experience freedom. It is an attempt to look at ourselves in today’s time. It’s not a straightforward narrative and we are trying to question our own way of looking at things. The different colourful characters one will see in the film will try to find unknown paths, which they have not travelled. One will hear different dialects of Marathi language with a little bit of Hindi, English, Gujarati, Sindhi, Telugu, Punjabi and Tamil.
- 11/16/2013
- by Editorial Team
- DearCinema.com
Veteran Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal and Qissa director Anup Singh are among the filmmakers who have had projects selected for the Co-production Market at this year’s Film Bazaar in Goa, India.Scroll down for full list of projects
Benegal has been making award-winning films since the 1970s – most recently satires Welcome To Sajjanpur and Well Done Abba. Singh’s Qissa: The Tale Of A Lonely Ghost is currently having a successful run on the festival circuit.
International projects at Film Bazaar include Amok, from Chilean director Valeria Sarmiento and produced by the UK’s Anna Holburn; UK filmmaker Robert Mullan’s Son Of India; Malabar Court, directed by Niara Modi and produced by Canada’s Paul Scherzer; and Polish director Piotr Trzaskalski’s Incredible.
The line-up also include one project in partnership with the Netherlands’ Boost programme, Bikas Mishra’s Wild Fire, and one project with Ifp, Varenya directed by Shripriya Mahesh.
Organised by the...
Benegal has been making award-winning films since the 1970s – most recently satires Welcome To Sajjanpur and Well Done Abba. Singh’s Qissa: The Tale Of A Lonely Ghost is currently having a successful run on the festival circuit.
International projects at Film Bazaar include Amok, from Chilean director Valeria Sarmiento and produced by the UK’s Anna Holburn; UK filmmaker Robert Mullan’s Son Of India; Malabar Court, directed by Niara Modi and produced by Canada’s Paul Scherzer; and Polish director Piotr Trzaskalski’s Incredible.
The line-up also include one project in partnership with the Netherlands’ Boost programme, Bikas Mishra’s Wild Fire, and one project with Ifp, Varenya directed by Shripriya Mahesh.
Organised by the...
- 10/22/2013
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Nfdc Film Bazaar has announced 28 selected projects for co-production market 2013. The seventh edition of Film Bazaar will take place from 21 – 24 November, 2013 in Goa.
Every year, the Co-Production Market invites a select number of directors and producers to present their projects to international producers, distributors, sales agents, funding representatives and other financial partners from across the world.
Sr. no. Project Name Applicant Name 1 28-Sri Prasanna Jayakody 2 Dawaat Nama Sabiha Sumar 3 Homestay Blues Miriam Chandy Menacherry 4 Pac-Man Anirban Datta 5 Incredible Piotr Trzaskalski 6 Scorpion’s Song Anup Singh 7 When Mirza Comes Back Kamal K.M. Karamattathil 8 Warm Bread & the Nipple’s Circle Roya Sadat 9 Son of India Robert Mullan 10 Circle of Fire Arnab Chaudhuri 11 Amok Valeria Sarmiento 12 Malabar Court Niara Modi 13 Oont
(The Camel Ride) Gaganvihari Borate 14 Taramandal
(Constellation) Rohit Pandey 15 Roads to Freedom Shyam Benegal 16 Lipstick Under My Burkha Alankrita Shrivastava 17 Bhiwani Mahendra Jakhar 18 The Watchmaker Must Die Again Jogavindra S. Khera...
Every year, the Co-Production Market invites a select number of directors and producers to present their projects to international producers, distributors, sales agents, funding representatives and other financial partners from across the world.
Sr. no. Project Name Applicant Name 1 28-Sri Prasanna Jayakody 2 Dawaat Nama Sabiha Sumar 3 Homestay Blues Miriam Chandy Menacherry 4 Pac-Man Anirban Datta 5 Incredible Piotr Trzaskalski 6 Scorpion’s Song Anup Singh 7 When Mirza Comes Back Kamal K.M. Karamattathil 8 Warm Bread & the Nipple’s Circle Roya Sadat 9 Son of India Robert Mullan 10 Circle of Fire Arnab Chaudhuri 11 Amok Valeria Sarmiento 12 Malabar Court Niara Modi 13 Oont
(The Camel Ride) Gaganvihari Borate 14 Taramandal
(Constellation) Rohit Pandey 15 Roads to Freedom Shyam Benegal 16 Lipstick Under My Burkha Alankrita Shrivastava 17 Bhiwani Mahendra Jakhar 18 The Watchmaker Must Die Again Jogavindra S. Khera...
- 10/22/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
The 17th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk) has announced its lineup. The festival will run from 7th to 14th December, 2012 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Some of the highlights of the lineup are festival favourites of the year Amour, Chitrangada, Samhita, The Sapphires, Drapchi, Miss Lovely, Me and You, Celluloid Man, and Baandhon.
Fourteen films will screen in the Competition section while seven contemporary films will be screened in “Indian Cinema Now” section.
Complete list of films:
Competition Films
Fourteen feature films from Asia, Africa and Latin America will compete for the coveted “Suvarna Chakoram” (Golden Crow Pheasant) and other awards.
Always Brando by Ridha Behi (Tunisia)
Inheritors of the Earth by T V Chandran (India)
A Terminal Trust by by Masayuki Suo (Japan)
Shutter by Joy Mathew (India)
Today by Alain Gomis (Senegal-France)
The Repentant by Merzak Allouache (Algeria)
Sta. Niña by Manny Palo (Philippines)
Present Tense...
Some of the highlights of the lineup are festival favourites of the year Amour, Chitrangada, Samhita, The Sapphires, Drapchi, Miss Lovely, Me and You, Celluloid Man, and Baandhon.
Fourteen films will screen in the Competition section while seven contemporary films will be screened in “Indian Cinema Now” section.
Complete list of films:
Competition Films
Fourteen feature films from Asia, Africa and Latin America will compete for the coveted “Suvarna Chakoram” (Golden Crow Pheasant) and other awards.
Always Brando by Ridha Behi (Tunisia)
Inheritors of the Earth by T V Chandran (India)
A Terminal Trust by by Masayuki Suo (Japan)
Shutter by Joy Mathew (India)
Today by Alain Gomis (Senegal-France)
The Repentant by Merzak Allouache (Algeria)
Sta. Niña by Manny Palo (Philippines)
Present Tense...
- 11/2/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Jahnu Barua’s Baandhon will open the Feature Film section of Indian Panorama 2012 at the International Film Festival of India. Celluloid Man will open the Non-Feature Film section.
The 43rd edition of the festival will be held from 20th – 30th November, 2012 in Goa.
The jury for the Feature Film section was headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta and comprised Pradip Biswas, Suresh Krissna Katte Ramachandra, Kireedam Unni, Munin Barua, Pawan Manavi, Ajay Sharma, Venita Coelho and Sibi Malayil. The jury selected 18 films from the 144 eligible entries.
The jury for the Non-Feature Film section is chaired by M.R. Rajan picked up 18 films from the 147 eligible entries. Other jury members are Bachaspatimayum Sunzu, Mohammad Ali Baig, Jasmine K Roy and Rajesh S Jala.
The films selected under Feature Film section are:
Baandhon by Jahnu Barua
Shabdo by Kaushik Ganguly
Chitrangada by Rituparno Ghosh
Elar Char Adhyay by Bappaditya Bandopadhyay
Deswa by Nitin Chandra...
The 43rd edition of the festival will be held from 20th – 30th November, 2012 in Goa.
The jury for the Feature Film section was headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta and comprised Pradip Biswas, Suresh Krissna Katte Ramachandra, Kireedam Unni, Munin Barua, Pawan Manavi, Ajay Sharma, Venita Coelho and Sibi Malayil. The jury selected 18 films from the 144 eligible entries.
The jury for the Non-Feature Film section is chaired by M.R. Rajan picked up 18 films from the 147 eligible entries. Other jury members are Bachaspatimayum Sunzu, Mohammad Ali Baig, Jasmine K Roy and Rajesh S Jala.
The films selected under Feature Film section are:
Baandhon by Jahnu Barua
Shabdo by Kaushik Ganguly
Chitrangada by Rituparno Ghosh
Elar Char Adhyay by Bappaditya Bandopadhyay
Deswa by Nitin Chandra...
- 10/26/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Jahnu Barua’s Baandhon will open the Feature Film section of Indian Panorama 2012 at the International Film Festival of India (Iffi). Documentary Celluloid Man will open the Non-Feature Film section.
The 43rd edition of the festival will be held from 20th – 30th November, 2012 in Goa.
The jury for the Feature Film section was headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta and comprised Pradip Biswas, Suresh Krissna Katte Ramachandra, Kireedam Unni, Munin Barua, Pawan Manavi, Ajay Sharma, Venita Coelho and Sibi Malayil. The jury selected 18 films from the 144 eligible entries.
The jury for the Non-Feature Film section, chaired by M.R. Rajan, picked up 18 films from the 147 eligible entries. Other jury members were Bachaspatimayum Sunzu, Mohammad Ali Baig, Jasmine K Roy and Rajesh S Jala.
Feature Films:
Baandhon by Jahnu Barua
Shabdo by Kaushik Ganguly
Chitrangada by Rituparno Ghosh
Elar Char Adhyay by Bappaditya Bandopadhyay
Deswa by Nitin Chandra
Byari by Suveeran
Lessons In Forgetting...
The 43rd edition of the festival will be held from 20th – 30th November, 2012 in Goa.
The jury for the Feature Film section was headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta and comprised Pradip Biswas, Suresh Krissna Katte Ramachandra, Kireedam Unni, Munin Barua, Pawan Manavi, Ajay Sharma, Venita Coelho and Sibi Malayil. The jury selected 18 films from the 144 eligible entries.
The jury for the Non-Feature Film section, chaired by M.R. Rajan, picked up 18 films from the 147 eligible entries. Other jury members were Bachaspatimayum Sunzu, Mohammad Ali Baig, Jasmine K Roy and Rajesh S Jala.
Feature Films:
Baandhon by Jahnu Barua
Shabdo by Kaushik Ganguly
Chitrangada by Rituparno Ghosh
Elar Char Adhyay by Bappaditya Bandopadhyay
Deswa by Nitin Chandra
Byari by Suveeran
Lessons In Forgetting...
- 10/26/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
The world premiere of Bedabrata Pain’s drama Chittagong featuring Manoj Bajpayee will open the 10th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. The film is set against the backdrop of 1930’s British-occupied Chittagong on the brink of a youth led revolution, and tells the story of 14-year-old Jhunka who comes of age as he is faced with the ultimate questions of sacrifice, love, and the quest for true freedom.
The award-winning film Patang by Prashant Bhargava will be the closing film of the festival. The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles announced its 2012 lineup comprising 33 features, documentaries, and short films.
The eight feature films to be screened at the festival include Salim Ahmed’s Abu, Son of Adam, Rajan Khosa’s Gattu, Karan Gour’s Kshay and Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s Deool.
Documentaries include the world premiere of Ruchika Muchhala and Faiza Khan’s look into Indian society with The Great Indian Marriage Bazaar...
The award-winning film Patang by Prashant Bhargava will be the closing film of the festival. The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles announced its 2012 lineup comprising 33 features, documentaries, and short films.
The eight feature films to be screened at the festival include Salim Ahmed’s Abu, Son of Adam, Rajan Khosa’s Gattu, Karan Gour’s Kshay and Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s Deool.
Documentaries include the world premiere of Ruchika Muchhala and Faiza Khan’s look into Indian society with The Great Indian Marriage Bazaar...
- 3/16/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Deool, Byari, Aaranyakandam, and the other winners of the 2011 National Film Awards have been announced. The 59th Annual National Film Awards, administered by the India’s Directorate of Film Festivals, is “the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administrated by the Indian government’s Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973. Every year, a national panel appointed by the government selects the winning entry, and the award ceremony is held in New Delhi, where the President of India gives away the awards.
This is followed by the inauguration of the National Film Festival, where the award-winning films are screened for the public. Declared for films produced in the previous year across the country, they hold the distinction of awarding merit to the best of Indian cinema overall, as well as presenting awards for the best films in each region and language of the country. Due to the...
This is followed by the inauguration of the National Film Festival, where the award-winning films are screened for the public. Declared for films produced in the previous year across the country, they hold the distinction of awarding merit to the best of Indian cinema overall, as well as presenting awards for the best films in each region and language of the country. Due to the...
- 3/8/2012
- by R.W.
- Film-Book
New Delhi, Mar 7: Jury members of the National Film Awards on Wednesday announced the winners of the 59th National Film Awards, with Vidya Balan bagging top honours for best actress for the film ' The Dirty Picture'.
The top honour in the Feature Film category, this time, was shared between two films, Deool (Marathi) directed by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni and Byari (Byari language) directed by Suveeram.
'Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai' (Tamil) won the award for the Best Wholesome Entertainment Film while 'Chillar Party' (Hindi) won Best Children Film.
The Best Director award went to Gurvinder Singh for Punjabi.
The top honour in the Feature Film category, this time, was shared between two films, Deool (Marathi) directed by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni and Byari (Byari language) directed by Suveeram.
'Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai' (Tamil) won the award for the Best Wholesome Entertainment Film while 'Chillar Party' (Hindi) won Best Children Film.
The Best Director award went to Gurvinder Singh for Punjabi.
- 3/7/2012
- by Machan Kumar
- RealBollywood.com
New Delhi, March 7: Marathi film "Deeol", about the dilemma of educated youth in villages, and Kannada movie "Byari", about Muslim girls trials and tribulations of in the Beary community, shared the best feature film award at the 59th National Awards announced here Wednesday.
"Byari" is the first film in the Beary language, spoken in coastal Kannada. It is about how girls in the small Muslim Beary community are mistreated in the name of marriage and divorce.
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni has directed "Deool", while "Byari" is by director Suveran.
Ians...
"Byari" is the first film in the Beary language, spoken in coastal Kannada. It is about how girls in the small Muslim Beary community are mistreated in the name of marriage and divorce.
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni has directed "Deool", while "Byari" is by director Suveran.
Ians...
- 3/7/2012
- by Meeta Kabra
- RealBollywood.com
The 41st edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam was a programme full of audience-friendly features, significant guest-directors, new festival locations, unexpected discoveries and even experimental productions, giving insight on what happens globally on the film market.
In such a formidable maze of screenings and events, first thing for every attendant would be to restrain the options and so I did: getting “specialized” for a few days in French, Canadian, Indian, Romanian, Hungarian and Portuguese productions, adding to it, just a few of those highlighted events that make any festival a festive occasion and some features of the Tiger Competition. So at the end of my stay I could sum up 26 movies, a few meetings and an interview with the most influential guest of the 41st Iffr, Takashi Miike.
I was glad to see that the public is taken seriously in Rotterdam offering them intriguing and valuable movies to watch. I...
In such a formidable maze of screenings and events, first thing for every attendant would be to restrain the options and so I did: getting “specialized” for a few days in French, Canadian, Indian, Romanian, Hungarian and Portuguese productions, adding to it, just a few of those highlighted events that make any festival a festive occasion and some features of the Tiger Competition. So at the end of my stay I could sum up 26 movies, a few meetings and an interview with the most influential guest of the 41st Iffr, Takashi Miike.
I was glad to see that the public is taken seriously in Rotterdam offering them intriguing and valuable movies to watch. I...
- 2/14/2012
- by Boglarka Nagy
- DearCinema.com
I’ll just fess up: Despite the fact that it’s in its 41st year, the International Film Festival Rotterdam is something I’ve kind of never heard about until today. (Let’s blame it on a slip in my geography skills.) This ignorance on my part notwithstanding, taking a look at their initial lineup for this year — when the event runs from January 25th to February 5th — has left me mightily impressed.
The biggest world premieres come from two directors on opposite ends of at least a few spectrum: Takashi Miike and James Franco. (Discounting the fact that they’ve both depicted amputations onscreen, in one way or the other.) The former is debuting his adaptation of the popular Nintendo DS game, Ace Attorney, while the latter will be exhibiting Francophrenia (Or: Don’t Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is). A movie based on a kid’s...
The biggest world premieres come from two directors on opposite ends of at least a few spectrum: Takashi Miike and James Franco. (Discounting the fact that they’ve both depicted amputations onscreen, in one way or the other.) The former is debuting his adaptation of the popular Nintendo DS game, Ace Attorney, while the latter will be exhibiting Francophrenia (Or: Don’t Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is). A movie based on a kid’s...
- 1/6/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
The International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced the lineup for its main section, Spectrum: 72 features and documentaries from 32 countries, with descriptions from the Festival, running January 25 through February 5:
World premieres
Cornelia frente al espejo (Cornelia at Her Mirror) - Daniel Rosenfeld, Argentina, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film. A "meticulous and stylish film based on the story by Silvina Ocampo (1903-1993)." Roman Diary - Michael Pilz, Austria. A "meditative film featuring images of a park in Rome." Rua Aperana 52 - Júlio Bressane, Brazil. A "musical film about a street corner in Rio, edited together from old photos and the maker’s own films from the period 1957-2005." Lacan Palestine - Mike Hoolboom, Canada. A "found-footage essay on a complex country and its love-struck inhabitants." 38 témoins (38 Witnesses) - Lucas Belvaux, France, Belgium. Opening Film Iffr 2012. Le reste du monde (The Rest of the World) - Damien Odoul, France. A "family considers issues of identity and relationships.
World premieres
Cornelia frente al espejo (Cornelia at Her Mirror) - Daniel Rosenfeld, Argentina, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film. A "meticulous and stylish film based on the story by Silvina Ocampo (1903-1993)." Roman Diary - Michael Pilz, Austria. A "meditative film featuring images of a park in Rome." Rua Aperana 52 - Júlio Bressane, Brazil. A "musical film about a street corner in Rio, edited together from old photos and the maker’s own films from the period 1957-2005." Lacan Palestine - Mike Hoolboom, Canada. A "found-footage essay on a complex country and its love-struck inhabitants." 38 témoins (38 Witnesses) - Lucas Belvaux, France, Belgium. Opening Film Iffr 2012. Le reste du monde (The Rest of the World) - Damien Odoul, France. A "family considers issues of identity and relationships.
- 1/6/2012
- MUBI
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni's Deool is a political satire that literally slays the sacred cows of Indian politics and devotion. Kulkarni's focuses his keen eye on rural Maharashtra and the speed with which corruption can move through a well-meaning community when wealth and power are involved. Strong performances from Nana Patekar and Dilip Prabhawalkar in the lead roles are a major part of Deool's success. Patekar is one of the many Indian character actors just waiting for an international production to boost his profile, I eagerly await the casting directors in the west to discover this gem. One day in rural Maharashtra, a regular guy is out searching for his lost cow. When he finds her, he is so exhausted from the quest, that he takes...
- 11/9/2011
- Screen Anarchy
I don’t want to get caught into the notions about myself. I want to continue to experiment and make films the way I want to make them: Umesh Kulkarni
The magnificent Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque served as the perfect backdrop for the grand screening of Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s third feature film “Deool” (The Temple). The sea breeze from the Persian Gulf greeted an enthusiastic crowd at the Swiss Open Air theatre of Fairmont Bab Al Bahr hotel. The 5th Abu Dhabi International Film Festival hosted the international premiere of the film, close on the heels of its world premiere at the Mumbai Film Festival. DearCinema Editor Bikas Mishra chatted with Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni before the screening of the film.
Where did the journey for Deool begin?
When the shooting for my first feature film Valu got over in a Maharashtra village, we wanted to express our gratitude to...
The magnificent Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque served as the perfect backdrop for the grand screening of Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s third feature film “Deool” (The Temple). The sea breeze from the Persian Gulf greeted an enthusiastic crowd at the Swiss Open Air theatre of Fairmont Bab Al Bahr hotel. The 5th Abu Dhabi International Film Festival hosted the international premiere of the film, close on the heels of its world premiere at the Mumbai Film Festival. DearCinema Editor Bikas Mishra chatted with Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni before the screening of the film.
Where did the journey for Deool begin?
When the shooting for my first feature film Valu got over in a Maharashtra village, we wanted to express our gratitude to...
- 10/21/2011
- by Bikas Mishra
- DearCinema.com
Still from Alms of the Blind Horse
The 16th Busan International Film Festival which will be held from October6-14, 2011 announced its lineup. Indian films will be presented across various sections of the festival.
Gurvinder Singh’s Anhey Ghorey Da Daan (Alms of the Blind Horse), Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish, Suman Ghosh’s Nobel Thief, Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s Deool (Temple), Santosh Sivan’s Urumi – The warriors who wanted to kill Vasco da Gama, and Amole Gupte’s Stanley Ka Dabba will be screened in the section– A Window on Asian Cinema.
Mangesh Hadawale’s Watch Indian Circus will be presented in New Currents.
Bikas Ranjan Mishra’s Dance of Ganesha will be screened in Short Film Showcase, while Venkat Amudhan’s Thug Beram will participate in Asian Short Film Competition.
Vijay Anand L.’s God’s Own Child will be presented in Open Cinema.
P. Kerim Friedma and...
The 16th Busan International Film Festival which will be held from October6-14, 2011 announced its lineup. Indian films will be presented across various sections of the festival.
Gurvinder Singh’s Anhey Ghorey Da Daan (Alms of the Blind Horse), Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish, Suman Ghosh’s Nobel Thief, Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s Deool (Temple), Santosh Sivan’s Urumi – The warriors who wanted to kill Vasco da Gama, and Amole Gupte’s Stanley Ka Dabba will be screened in the section– A Window on Asian Cinema.
Mangesh Hadawale’s Watch Indian Circus will be presented in New Currents.
Bikas Ranjan Mishra’s Dance of Ganesha will be screened in Short Film Showcase, while Venkat Amudhan’s Thug Beram will participate in Asian Short Film Competition.
Vijay Anand L.’s God’s Own Child will be presented in Open Cinema.
P. Kerim Friedma and...
- 9/9/2011
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
National Film Development Corporation (Nfdc), concluded Film Bazaar India – 10.Director of Deool (Temple) Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni, won the Hubert Bals Award and a cash prize of Rs 5000 euros to develop his script and begin the pre-production. This award is given to one of the promising directors from the official selection of Film Bazaar co-production projects.CineMart, has selected four young producers - Guneet Manga for the film Urban Moon, Ritesh J Batra for the film Story of Ram, Rajesh Shera for Echoes, Priya Sreedharan for Shanghai ...
- 12/1/2010
- BusinessofCinema
Vihir (The Well) by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni was awarded the ‘German Star of India’ at the seventh edition of ‘Bollywood and beyond’ film festival at Stuttgart, Germany. The awards were given away on Saturday night. “The combination of philosophic element, the expressionist photography and the dramaturgy of the film results in a convincing portrait of society. The director manages tell the story in a very quiet yet touching manner”, the jury wrote in their justification for Vihir which won 4,000 Euros.
Nina Sabnani received a prize in the Best Short Film category for her animated film Tanko Bole Chhe (The Stitches Speak). In the category documentary film, Anandana Kapur was awarded for The Great Indian Jugaad. Lutz Kronermann received a special commendation of the jury for his documentary Dharavi – Slum For Sale.
For his debut feature film Road to Sangam, Amit Rai was honored with the ‘Director’s Vision Award’.
The...
Nina Sabnani received a prize in the Best Short Film category for her animated film Tanko Bole Chhe (The Stitches Speak). In the category documentary film, Anandana Kapur was awarded for The Great Indian Jugaad. Lutz Kronermann received a special commendation of the jury for his documentary Dharavi – Slum For Sale.
For his debut feature film Road to Sangam, Amit Rai was honored with the ‘Director’s Vision Award’.
The...
- 7/27/2010
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Stuttgart, July 25 (Dpa) A drama about a young man on the search for missing cousin earned top honours Saturday at an Indian film festival in the southern German city of Stuttgart.
‘Vihir – The Well’ won the prize at the annual Bollywood and Beyond festival. Its director Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni won the German Star of India award and a 4,000-euro ($5,160) prize.
The best documentary film went to ‘The Great Indian Jugaad’ for its portrayal of the resourcefulness of the Indian underclass in everyday life. Best animated film was awarded.
‘Vihir – The Well’ won the prize at the annual Bollywood and Beyond festival. Its director Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni won the German Star of India award and a 4,000-euro ($5,160) prize.
The best documentary film went to ‘The Great Indian Jugaad’ for its portrayal of the resourcefulness of the Indian underclass in everyday life. Best animated film was awarded.
- 7/25/2010
- by realbollywood
- RealBollywood.com
Ek Tho Chance, directed by Saeed Akhtar Mirza and Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s short film Gaarud have been selected for the 23rd Singapore International Film Festival that runs from 15th to 24th April 2010. Ek Tho Chance will be screened in the ‘Cinema Today’ section of the festival.
Ek Tho Chance tells the tale of Mumbai city and the millions who get off the train at Vt station every second of the day hoping to latch on to the magic of Mumbai. It is a colourful mural of the lives of individuals from the city’s diverse cultural, social and economic strata.
Gaarud is a twelve minute film about a room of a shady lodge near the railway station in a small town. It gives glimpses of the lives of people who are caught in the frame of the room, unable to escape.
Ek Tho Chance tells the tale of Mumbai city and the millions who get off the train at Vt station every second of the day hoping to latch on to the magic of Mumbai. It is a colourful mural of the lives of individuals from the city’s diverse cultural, social and economic strata.
Gaarud is a twelve minute film about a room of a shady lodge near the railway station in a small town. It gives glimpses of the lives of people who are caught in the frame of the room, unable to escape.
- 4/13/2010
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla) has announced the 2010 line-up of films for its 8th annual festival, which runs April 20-April 25 at ArcLight Hollywood. The six-day festival will showcase 33 films from 5 countries, including 4 world premieres and 7 Us premieres.
“This is a true celebration of the art and business of Indian film and culture as well as an opportunity to connect with the game changers and emerging filmmakers of Indian themed content,’ said Christina Marouda, Iffla’s Executive Director. “As filmmakers of Indian descent forge new relationships in Hollywood, we invite moviegoers and industry professionals to experience our unique and wide ranging program which includes thought-provoking dramas, engaging documentaries, along with a touch of light hearted fare and a taste of Bollywood.”
Kicking off the festival is the Los Angeles premiere and directorial debut of Dilip Mehta‘s Cooking With Stella, starring Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray, and Don McKellar.
“This is a true celebration of the art and business of Indian film and culture as well as an opportunity to connect with the game changers and emerging filmmakers of Indian themed content,’ said Christina Marouda, Iffla’s Executive Director. “As filmmakers of Indian descent forge new relationships in Hollywood, we invite moviegoers and industry professionals to experience our unique and wide ranging program which includes thought-provoking dramas, engaging documentaries, along with a touch of light hearted fare and a taste of Bollywood.”
Kicking off the festival is the Los Angeles premiere and directorial debut of Dilip Mehta‘s Cooking With Stella, starring Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray, and Don McKellar.
- 4/1/2010
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Cologne, Germany -- "Youth in Revolt," Miguel Arteta's romantic comedy starring Michael Cera and Portia Doubleday, is one of the higher profile titles screening at Generation -- the Berlin Film Festival's youth cinema sidebar -- but the title could be used for the 2010 lineup as a whole. For its 33rd edition, Generation has decided to stir things up, mixing genres and styles, big names and unknowns.
Acclaimed Indian filmmaker Dev Benegal will open Generation's main 14plus competition with his latest off-Bollywood production "Road Movie." "Alamar," a docu-drama from Mexican director Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio kicks off the Generation Kplus section of younger-skewing titles.
No longer a ghetto for kid flicks, Generation has established itself as a strong brand and platform for launching films in its own right -- a fact illustrated by the ten world premieres this year. These range from "Last of the Line" from Finnish directors Anastasia Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio,...
Acclaimed Indian filmmaker Dev Benegal will open Generation's main 14plus competition with his latest off-Bollywood production "Road Movie." "Alamar," a docu-drama from Mexican director Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio kicks off the Generation Kplus section of younger-skewing titles.
No longer a ghetto for kid flicks, Generation has established itself as a strong brand and platform for launching films in its own right -- a fact illustrated by the ten world premieres this year. These range from "Last of the Line" from Finnish directors Anastasia Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio,...
- 1/13/2010
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sudhir Mishra's Tere Kya Hoga Johnny/Ride The Wave Johnny will premiere at the London International Film Festival on October 13th and is scheduled for release in India on November 28th. The film stars Neil Nitin Mukesh, Soha Ali Khan and Shahana Goswami. Compared in style to Wong Kar-Wai's In The Mood For Love, the film is a visual feast and Soha Ali Khan a revelation as a girl whose life is running out of control. Neil Nitin Mukesh also establishes himself in the movie as one of the most magnetic of new wave Indian stars. The producers will be making the most of the opportunity by setting up camp in London.
The Festival also features Gulaal, perhaps one of the most under-rated and under-promoted movies of the year. Anurag Kahyap's political thriller about radical student politics stars Kk Menon and Piyush Mishra and starts its run on Saturday,...
The Festival also features Gulaal, perhaps one of the most under-rated and under-promoted movies of the year. Anurag Kahyap's political thriller about radical student politics stars Kk Menon and Piyush Mishra and starts its run on Saturday,...
- 10/2/2009
- Bollyspice
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