Archive for September 17, 2014

Mumbai Film Festival unveils its 2014 line-up

Posted: September 17, 2014 by moifightclub in Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, News
7

MFF2014  Mumbai Film Festival has unveiled its first line-up for this year’s edition. Though the festival is yet to get its full funding, and you can contribute to it (click here), the organisers are going ahead with the plan of having the fest in whatever budget they manage. And like every year, this year’s first impression is good too.

Key Points

– Date : 14-21st October, 2014

– Venue : PVR Cinemas, Juhu as the main venue and Liberty Cinemas at Marine lines as the satellite venue

– Over 185 films from more than 65 countries to be screened

– USD 200,000 to be awarded as cash prizes

– Celebrated French Actor Catherine Deneuve to be conferred with the Lifetime Achievement award. 

– Special Master Classes by internationally acclaimed cinematographer Christopher Doyle and director-writer Mahamat Saleh Haroun

– Fest to screen Xavier Dolans’ ‘Mommy’ , Mike Leigh’s ‘Mr.Turner’, Ken Loach’s ‘Jimmy’s Hall’, ‘Boyhood’ by Richard Linklater, Dardenne brothers’ ‘Two days, One Night’, Kim Ki Duk’s ‘One on One’, Yoji Yamadas ‘The Little House’, Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Goodbye to Language’ and ‘Party Girl’ by Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq

List of films for 16th Mumbai Film Festival

International Competition

  1. Difret

Dir.: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari (Ethiopia / 2014 / Col / 99)

2. History of Fear (Historia del miedo)

Dir.: Benjamin Naishtat (Argentina-France-Germany-Qatar-Uruguay / 2014 / Col / 79)

3. With Others (Ba Digaran)

Dir.: Nasser Zamiri (Iran / 2014 / Col / 85)

4. The Tree (Drevo)

Dir.: Sonja Prosenc (Slovenia / 2014 / Col / 90)

5. Next to Her (At li layla)

Dir.: Asaf Korman (Israel / 2014 / Col / 90)

6. Schimbare

Dir.: Alex Sampayo (Spain / 2014 / Col / 87)

7. Fever

Dir.: Raphaël Neal (France / 2014 / Col / 81)

8. Court

Dir.: Chaitanya Tamhane (India (Marathi-Gujarati-English-Hindi) / 2014 / Col / 116)

9. Macondo

Dir.: Sudabeh Mortezai (Austria / 2014 / Col / 98)

 

Above The Cut

 1. What’s The Time In Your World? (Dar donyaye to sa’at chand ast?)

Dir.: Safi Yazdanian (Iran / 2014 / Col. / 101)

2. She’s Lost Control

Dir.: Anja Marquardt (USA / 2014 / Col. / 90)

3. The Night Is Still Young (La nuit est encore jeune)

Dir.: Indika Udugampola (France-Sri Lanka / 2014 / Col. / 82)

4. Queen Antigone (Vasilissa Antogoni)

Dir.: Telémachos Alexiou (Germany-Greece / 2014 / Col / 93)

5. Musiek vir die Agtergrond

Dir.: Sallas de Jager (South Africa / 2014 / Col. / 124)

6. Party Girl

Dir.: Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq (France / 2014 / Col. / 96)

7. The Ambassador To Bern (A berni követ)

Dir.: Attila Szász (Hungary / 2014 / Col / 76)

8. The First Summer (O Primeiro Verão)

Dir.: Adriano Mendes (Portugal / 2014 / Col / 105)

 

World Cinema

 1. Field of Dogs

Dir.: Lech Majewski (Poland / 2014 / Col / 97)

2. Corn Island (Simindis Kundzuli)

Dir.: George Ovashvili (Georgia-Germany-France-Czech Republic-Kazakhstan / 2014 / Col / 100)

3. Early Spring, Kyoto (Kyoto, Sosyun)

Dir.: Hiroshi Toda (Japan / 2014 / BW / 90)

4. I Am Not Him (Ben o değilim)

Dir.: Tayfun Pirselimoğlu (Turkey-France-Germany-Greece / 2013-NOV / Col / 127)

5. Gett, The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (Gett)

Dir.: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz (France-Germany-Israel / 2014 / Col / 115)

6. Weekends in Normandy

Dir.: Anne Villacèque (France / 2014 / Col / 90)

7. Snow (Barf)

Dir.: Mehdi Rahmani (Iran / 2014 / Col / 90)

8. Clownwise (Klauni)

Dir.: Viktor Taus (Slovakia-Luxembourg-Czech Republic-Finland / 2013-NOV / Col / 120)

10. The Little House (Chiisai Ouchi)

Dir.: Yoji Yamada (Japan / 2014 / Col / 136)

11. One on One (Il-dae-il)

Dir.: Kim ki-Duk (South Korea / 2014 / Col / 122)

12. The Attorney

Dir.: Woo-seok Yang (South Korea / 2013-Nov / Col / 127)

13. Stations of the Cross (Kreuzweg)

Dir.: Dietrich Brüggemann (Germany / 2014 / Col / 107)

14. Jack

Dir.: Edward Berger (Germany / 2014 / Col / 103)

15. Jimmy’s Hall

Dir.: Ken Loach (UK-Ireland-France / 2014 / Col / 109)

16. Coming Home (Gui Lai)

Dir.: Zhang Yimou (China / 2014 / Col / 109)

17. Two Days, One Night (Deux jours, une nuit)

Dir.: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne (Belgium-France-Italy / 2014 / Col / 95)

18. The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla)

Dir.: Celina Murga (Argentina / 2014 / Col / 92)

19. Stratos

Dir.: Yannis Economides (Greece-Germany-Cyprus / 2014 / Col / 137)

20. Inbetween Worlds

Dir.: Feo Aladag (Germany / 2014 / Col / 98)

21. Turner

Dir.: Mike Leigh (UK / 2014 / Col / 150)

22. The Captive

Dir.: Atom Egoyan (Canada / 2014 / Col / 112)

23. Mommy

Dir.: Xavier Dolan (Canada / 2014 / Col / 139)

24. Still The Water (Futatsume no mado)

Dir.: Naomi Kawase (Japan-Spain-France / 2014 / Col / 121)

25. Norjmaa

Dir.: Bayaneruul Bayaneruul (China / 2014 / Col / 102)

26. Over Your Dead Body

Dir.: Takashi Miike (Japan / 2014 / Col / 93)

27. Refugiado

Dir.: Diego Lerman (Argentina / 2014 / Col / 93)

28. Farewell (A Despedida)

Dir.: Marcelo Galvão (Brazil / 2014 / Col / 90)

29. The Good Lie

Dir.: Philippe Falardeau (USA / 2014 / Col / 110)

30. Boyhood

Dir.: Richard Linklater (USA / 2014 / Col / 165)

 

Rendezvous

 

  1. French Riviera (L’homme qu’on aimait trop)

Dir.: André Téchiné (France / 2014 / Col / 116)

 

  1. Metamorphoses

Dir.: Christophe Honoré (France / 2014 / Col / 102)

 

  1. Girlhood (Bande de filles)

Dir.: Céline Sciamma (France / 2014 / Col / 112)

 

  1. Goodbye To Language – 3D (Adieu Au Langage)

Dir.: Jean-Luc Godard (France / 2014 / Col / 70)

 

 

  1. The Search

Dir.: Michel Hazanavicius (France-Georgia / 2014 / Col / 149)

 

  1. The Blue Room (La chambre bleue)

Dir.: Mathieu Amalric (France / 2014 / Col / 76)

 

  1. Clouds Of Sils Maria (Sils Maria)

Dir.: Olivier Assayas (Switzerland-Germany-France / 2014 / Col / 124)

 

  1. Saint Laurent

Dir.: Bertrand Bonello (France / 2014 / Col / 135)

 

  1. Life of Riley (Aimer, boire et chanter)

Dir.: Alain Resnais (France / 2014 / Col / 108)

 

The Real Reel

 

  1. Red Army

Dir.: Gabe Polsky (USA-Russia / 2014 / Col / 76)

 

  1. The 50 Year Argument

Dir.: Martin Scorsese, David Tedeschi (USA / 2014 / Col / 97)

 

  1. The Master Shyam Benegal

Dir.: Khalid Mohammed (India / 2014 / Col / 60)

 

  1. Mashti Esmaeil

Dir.: Mahdi Zamanpoor (Iran / 2014 / Col / 60)

 

  1. Mission Rape – A Tool of War

Dir.: Annette Mari Olsen, Katia Forbert Petersen (Denmark / 2014 / Col / 61)

 

  1. Altman

Dir.: Ron Mann (Canada / 2014 / 95)

 

  1. Iranian

Dir.: Mehran Tamadon (France-Switzerland-Iran / 2014 / Col / 105)

 

  1. Playing with Fire (Paizontas me ti fotia)

Dir.: Anneta Papathanasiou (Greece / 2014 / Col / 80)

 

  1. Lessons in Dissent

Dir.: Matthew Torne (UK-Hong Kong / 2014 / Col / 98)

 

  1. Vessel

Dir.: Diana Whittien (USA / 2014 / Col / 88)


Retrospective of Russian films

 

  1. Alexander Nevsky

Dir.: Sergei Eisenstein (Russia / 1938 / B&W / 112)

 

  1. Ballad of a Soldier

Dir.: Grigoriy Chukhray (Russia / 1959 / B&W / 88)

 

  1. Dersu Uzala

Dir.: Akira Kurosawa (Russia-Japan / 1975 / Co / 144)

 

  1. Andrei Rublev

Dir.: Andrei Tarkovsky (Russia / 1966 / Col & B/W / 205)

 

  1. Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears

Dir.: Vladimir Menshov (Russia / 1979 / Col / 142)

 

  1. Rider Named Death

Dir.: Karen Shakhnazarov (Russia / 2004 / Col / 106)

 

  1. The Fought for Their Land

Dir.: Sergey Bondarchuk (Russia / 1975 / Col / 137)

 

  1. War and Peace

Dir.: Sergei Bondarchuk (Russia / 1968 / Col / 427)

 

  1. Several Days of Oblomov’s Life

Dir.: Nikita Mikhalkov (Russia / 1979 / Col / 140)

 

  1. White Tiger

Dir.: Karen Shakhnazarov (Russia / 2012 / Col / 104)

 


India Gold 2014

 

  1. The Fort (Killa)

Dir.: Avinash Arun (India (Marathi) / 2014 / Col / 107)

 

  1. Unto the Dusk

Dir.: Sajin Baabu (India (Malayalam) / 2014 / Col / 118)

 

  1. Names Unknown (Perariyathavar)

Dir.: Dr. Biju (India (Malayalam) / 2014 / Col / 110)

 

  1. Buddha In a Traffic Jam

Dir.: Vivek Agnihotri (India (Hindi) / 2014 / Col / 107)

 

  1. Fig Fruit and The Wasps (Attihannu mattu kanaja)

Dir.: M S Prakash Babu (India (Kannada) / 2014 / Col / 90)

 

  1. Rangaa Patangaa

Dir.: Prasad Namjoshi (India (Marathi) / 2014 / Col / 105)

 

  1. Siddhant

Dir.: Vivek Wagh (India (Marathi) / 2014 / Col / 130)

 

  1. Chauranga

Dir.: Bikas Mishra (India (Hindi) / 2014 / Col / 88)

 

  1. Munnariyippu

Dir.: Venu (India (Malayalam) / 2014 / Col / 118)

 

  1. The Pulsating Mindscape (Jeeya Jurir Xubax)

Dir.: Sanjib Sabhapandit (India (Assamese) / 2014 / Col / 134)


New Faces In Indian Cinema

 

 

  1. An Obstacle (Khwada)

Dir.: Bhaurao Karhade (India (Marathi) / 2014 / Col / 117)

 

  1. The Punishment (Kuttram Kadithal)

Dir.: Bramma G. (India (Tamil) / 2014 / Col / 116)

 

  1. Dombivli Return

Dir.: Mahendra Teredesai (India (HindI-Marathi) / 2014 / Col / 129)

 

  1. Teenkahon

Dir.: Bauddhayan Mukherji (India (Bengali) / 2014 / Col & B/W / 120)

 

  1. Nagrik

Dir.: Jayprad Desai (India (Marathi) / 2014 / Col / 120)

 

Dimensions Mumbai

 

  1. Short Film

Dir.: Sagar Kolte

 

  1. Zor Lagake Haisha

Dir.: Rithvik Dilip Joshi

 

  1. Selfie

Dir.: Ramchandra Gaonkar

 

  1. Bombay 70

Dir.: Nisha Rindani

 

  1. The Crowman

Dir.: Pratik Shetty

 

  1. Marine Drive

Dir.: Romil Dilip Motta

 

  1. Interval

Dir.: Utkarsh Raut

 

  1. Sawari

Dir.: Pushpak A Jain

 

  1. Jeevachi Mumbai “City of Life”

Dir.: Natasha Nayak & Riya Sharma

 

  1. Gilberi

Dir.: Omar Iyer

 

  1. Bumbhaiyya

Dir.: Kushagra Sharma

 

  1. Majha Honeymoon

Dir.: Karan Asnani

 

  1. Bollywood Bazar

Dir.: Shreyash Shinde

 

  1. Mahanagari-Super City

Dir.: Yashowardhan Mishra

 

  1. Time’s Equation

Dir.: Kavi Kumar Shrivastav

 

  1. Rumana Manzil

Dir.: Tanay Sarda

 

 

  1. Boundary

Dir.: Abhiraj Rajadhyaksha

 

  1. Dariyo

Dir.: Nihar Desai

 

  1. Unfit

Dir.: Srishti Jain

 

  1. Chataiwala

Dir.: Keyur Kajavadara

 

Film India Worldwide

 

  1. Amar Akbar & Tony

Dir.: Atul Malhotra (UK / 2014 / Col / 93)

 

  1. Amma & Appa

Dir.: Franziska Schönenberger, Jayakrishnan Subramanian (Germany / 2014 / Col / 89)

 

  1. Honeycomb Lodge

Dir.: Lesley Manning (UK / 2014 / Col / 93)

 

  1. Echoes

Dir.: Rajesh Shera (India-UK / 2014 / Col)

 

Crowd-sourced casting for “Your Chin” music video

Posted: September 17, 2014 by moifightclub in Indie
Tags: ,
0

Our friend and super talented Vijesh Rajan is planning a new project and is looking for actors. Read on for more details –

I’m shooting an indie music video soon with a bunch of friends. The band’s name is Your Chin and the song I’m making the video for is called ‘fingerprints and mugshots’. You can hear the song on this link:

And so I am looking for casting options for the same. As of now, we have a poster designed for the effort – which we put on nh7.in and rollingstone india. I have attached the poster herewith.

The plan is to shoot this by month end – 27th, 28th, 29th September.

About me:

I’m a Mumbai-based Vfx artist and director. Here’s a music video I directed recently for Karsh Kale –

Here’s the opening title for Dewarists season 3 that I had directed –

Here’s some of my Vfx work –

About the video:

The song I’m making this video for is called “fingerprints and mugshots”. The song is available on Your Chin’s SoundCloud.

The story revolves around a despondent man who lives alone and his friend who turns up to cheer him up.

The friend in question is a hybrid animation character, whose reference image I have attached. The character will be created using a hybrid of video footage of an upside-down chin + 2d animation elements for it’s body. This is to play on the name of the band and to lend some humour to it.

As for what an upside down chin looks like, singing lyrics – here’s a test I did sometime last year to understand upside down expressions:

(This is without the animated body, of course.)

The expressions are tricky because when you’re upside down, then you also have to do upside down expressions – a frown becomes a smile and a smirk looks like disappointment. But I’m expecting this to look pretty interesting.

We’re looking for at least 10 early /mid / late 20 somethings for a party sequence in the video.

Apart from crowd sourcing the cast, since this is a completely indie effort, we are also looking for help in terms of monetary contributions. Those interested in helping us in any way can contact us on mailyourchin@gmail.com

Haider Music Review – Right shades of dark

Posted: September 17, 2014 by moifightclub in bollywood, music, Music review
Tags: , , , ,
13

haider-movie-wallpaper-26

There is a distinct smell of honesty in things which are fundamentally correct. You have got to love anything when it is done with utmost sincerity and no sluggishness. This is why we wait for Vishal Bharadwaj’s films and music. His latest offering is out, and we strongly recommend you get a taste of it. Here’s why:

So Jao – The eerie calm of a dark night perpetuated by heavy bass notes and a near mourning dead voiced ensemble consisting of Bashir Lone, Bashir Bhawani, Muzamil Bhawani, Mayukh Sarkar, Aalaap Majgavkar and others take upon themselves to scare the life out of us in this calm yet intense song. The singers might all be mourning but they are in perfect sync and you will find yourself reaching for the repeat button without a doubt. The sound of shovels attacking mother earth is impactful, to say the least. Top class!

Jhelum – Yet another dark song where the music arrangement is spread out. The magical electric guitar surprises you as it creates an atmosphere of contemplation. Vishal, helped greatly by the words from Gulzar, paints a picture of grief, the kind that will suck you and might make you sad, very sad. I might be thinking too much but then I feel the words ‘jhelum hua kharaa’ came out right from Gulzar’s heart as he reflected on the massacres he witnessed, during partition. That perpetual sinking feeling owes a lot to the wonderful Simaab Sen who has produced this song in the album. Vishal Bharadwaj doesn’t sing much in films. We wonder why.

Gulon mein rang – The thing with good poetry is that it can never be badly performed (unless of course, KRK decides to rap it). To make it even better, words have been modified and what’s better than to see Gulzar and Faiz in one song! We honestly didn’t expect much from Arijit Singh, (who is breathing these days with microphone attached to his throat) because we knew, the sound would be indistinguishable from most of his songs off late. I won’t say we were shocked and surprised with his rendition here. It is strictly average but the music arrangement takes it a notch higher, especially the hopeful note on which the song ends. Talking of this iconic kalaam, even Mohit Chauhan did it nicely here.

Ek aur bismil – With an adorable arabian touch and sufi setting, this version paints a fantastic belly dance setting in the mind. The clarinet in the song is exact and lends much richness to the song. Unlike the ‘bismil’ song (to which this song owes its title and tune) which has a podium/stage setting, this feels more intimate, street like and humble.

Do Jahaan – Call me an incurable romantic, but I cannot wait for Suresh Wadkar singing a ‘suresh wadkar वाला’ song. No, I don’t mean ‘totey udd gaye’ (ek thee dayan) sort of song. I mean ‘tere liye’ (7 khoon maaf) sorts. A lazy setting that somehow has become Vishal Bharadwaj’s forte along with Suresh Wadkar’s depth is something to look forward to. This song is exactly like that. An added bonus is to hear Shraddha kapoor’s voice which doesn’t sound processed and adds a ‘real’ feel to the song.

Aaj ke naam – After her fantastic ‘har ghadi’ in D-Day, Rekha Bharadwaj gives us a ‘by the tabla’ ghazal that has ‘tragedy’ written all over it. This is also a work of Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Vishal Bharadwaj quietly sneaks in gentle keyboard notes to give a contemporary feel to the overall setting. Since the ghazal talks of so much sadness (With the excellent use of ‘new’ words for hindi film songs like – ब्याहता), extreme caution is advised because it will leave you sad, very sad.

Khul Kabhi – Good things were said about this song by Vishal Bharadwaj himself in a recent interview on Radio Mirchi, Bombay. Perhaps what Vishal Bharadwaj didn’t estimate was the flood of Arijit Singh’s songs with whom we are playing ‘catch up’ on daily basis. This song is good and we couldn’t help feel that this should have been sung by Vishal Bharadwaj himself. No doubt that would have been the thought at the time of composing it. It is a ‘FVBV’ song all the way (For Vishal, By Vishal). Arijit is efficient and average at best, what is lacking is the exclusive, infectious feel that this tune and crazy romantic song deserved.

Bismil – The ‘stage’ song! With Sukhwinder, there is always a danger that perhaps he will sound too ‘sukhwinder’ and hijack the song. It doesn’t matter in this case because there is an army of excellent back up vocalists, and a ‘beyond awesome’ rabaab at work along with him. The song paints a dark picture of deceit with an upbeat tune. The lyrics give away everything there is to correlate with Shahid Kapoor’s anger in the film. These days when music composers take pride in saying ‘ये गाना डांस फ्लोर पे महिना भर बजेगा’ , here is a song which might become a hot favorite of people who are into stage dramas. The overall feel reminded me of ‘Sheher’ of gulaal which can also be re-created on stage with impact, if only some people are up to it. A thunderous song that gives you a feel of large auditorium. Kudos!

Aao Na – I feel Vishal Dadlani somehow saves his ‘year’s best’ when he teams up with Vishal Bharadwaj. While I still maintain that ‘Dhan te nan’ is his best, this song stands right next to it. The passion, drums and singing, all are just top notch. Did I miss anything? Oh yes, that bloody mother of a tune on guitar. I cannot write enough good things about this song. Double thumbs up!

Vishal Bharadwaj and Gulzar have given us a brilliant album that has right shades of dark, much like the background and context of the film. In a year that has been marred with too much trash and vomit inducing tracks, Haider is what leaves a lasting sweetness on our taste buds.

As Vishal says, क्या बात है!

– by @rohwit