Archive for September, 2015

First Look : Kanu Behl’s “Titli” (Trailer & Poster)

Posted: September 29, 2015 by moifightclub in cinema, first look, Indie, Poster, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Trailer
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The much awaited trailer of Kanu Behl’s debut feature ‘Titli’ is finally out. The film has been doing the fest rounds for quite some time, and has been talked about since its Cannes premiere last year. Finally,  it’s all set to release on October 30th, 2015.

Produced by Dibakar Banerjee Productions and Yash Raj Films, Titli features Ranvir Shorey, Amit Sial, Lalit Behl, and newcomers Shashank Arora and Shivani Raghuvanshi in lead roles. And here’s the official synopsis of the film –

In the badlands of Delhi’s dystopic underbelly, Titli, the youngest member of a violent car-jacking brotherhood plots a desperate bid to escape the ‘family’ business.
His struggle to do so is countered at each stage by his indignant brothers, who finally try marrying him off to ‘settle’ him.

Titli, finds an unlikely ally in his new wife, caught though she is in her own web of warped reality and dysfunctional dreams. They form a strange, beneficial partnership, only to confront their inability to escape the bindings of their family roots.  But is escape, the same as freedom?

The makers also released a new poster of the film for its India release.

TITLI

Chaitanya Tamhane’s ‘Court’ Is India’s Entry For The Foreign Language Oscar

Posted: September 23, 2015 by moifightclub in cinema, Indie, News
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Court

Finally, the Film Federation Of India Jury has made a choice that most people will agree with. The FFI has been getting lot of criticism in the last few years for their weird choices. When it comes to picking films for Oscar, it’s not only about the best film, but also about the right film – one which has made international noise, got some awards, got rave reviews, local subject with global appeal (glo-cal), and little bit of desi exotica that white Academy members can watch and get. And Chaitanya Tamhane’s debut feature Court ticks all the right boxes.

Court premiered at Venice Film Festival where it picked up two important awards, a rare achievement for a desi film/filmmaker. The film went to complete a dream festival run and also picked up the top prize at Mumbai Film Festival.

The film was picked up by 16 member jury of FFI which was headed by Amol Palekar. The other films which were in running included Masaan, PK, Haider, Kaakaa Muttai, Haider.

The kind of spotlight an Oscar win brings, in the last few years, this section has become the toughest one with some of the best films from across the world. 53 films have been officially entered in this year’s foreign-language Oscar race so far. The number is expected to go 80 plus. The first shortlist will be out in January next year.

All the best to Chaitanya Tamhane and his ‘Court’ team!

 

Fund A Film (FAF) Project : Bollywood’s German Origins – A Collector’s Edition Photobook

Posted: September 20, 2015 by moifightclub in cinema, Crowdfunding, FAF (Fund A Film)
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Never seen before photographs of the early Indian film industry from the late German cinematographer Josef Wirsching are being compiled into a photobook

(This is one of the rarest and earliest images of Himanshu Rai, Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar, the early doyens of the “Bombay Talkies” Film studios, together in one single image. Taken during a lunch break on an outdoor shoot from the filming of “Izzat” in 1937)

 The Wirsching family, who are the only heirs to the late German cinematographer Josef Wirsching, have been in possession of Josef’s extensive personal photographic collection comprising of thousands of photographic negatives and prints from Josef’s years of work in the German and Indian film industries and many hundreds of images specifically depicting the early years of “Bollywood”. They want to compile these into a one of a kind photo book.

The family is crowd funding this project through the Mumbai based crowd funding website “Wishberry” and they are looking to raise funds to publish and print a minimum production run of 500 collector’s edition books which will be launched at a public exhibition in Goa by December 2016. The exhibition will comprise of 100 A1 sized Art prints of the best images which will be included in the book.

“After years of inventorying and archiving the images in the collection; we are now putting together a highly detailed and visually rich collector’s edition picture book which will have never seen before images of publicity and production stills from most of the “Bollywood” related movies that my Grandfather has worked on through his film making career.” Georg Wirsching, Grandson and artist elaborates.

These images span right from Josef’s work in the iconic silent film “The Light of Asia” shot in 1925 continuing on through the start of the talkies era with “Bombay Talkies” Film studios in Bombay during the mid 30’s till the last production he was involved with for “Kamal Amrohi” Film studios’ landmark film “Pakeezha”.

The images in the book will be supported by detailed historically accurate essays being contributed by a trio of writers who are well versed with the history of this genre. These essays will touch upon the personal aspects of Josef’s life as detailed by his only son Wolfgang Peter Wirsching, while the renowned former editor of the Times of India- Dileep Padgaonkar will be detailing the history of Josef’s work, life and times based on his years of extensive research into the genre. Assistant professor of Asian studies at New York’s Columbia University- Debashree Mukherjee will be detailing Josef’s cinematic contributions and how his work decades ago helped influence our present view of “Bollywood”.

– For further details regarding the project please check out the family’s web site www.wirschingarchive.com and their Facebook page www.facebook.com/wirschingarchive Or their twitter account at www.twitter.com/WirschingArch

 – The crowd funding project is currently live until 14th Nov 2015 at this link www.wishberry.in/campaign/bollywoods-german-origins/

(Pic Courtesy – From Wirsching Archive FB page)

Call For Entries : Producer’s Lab (NFDC Film Bazaar, 2015)

Posted: September 20, 2015 by moifightclub in Call For Entries, cinema, Workshop
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WHAT : NFDC Film Bazaar 2015 is calling for entries for the third edition of Producer’s Lab, a training platform introduced in 2013 to help emerging producers cultivate a sense of vision and learn the art of balancing the creative and financial aspects of filmmaking.

WHEN/WHERE : This year, the NFDC Film Bazaar will be held from November 20-24, 2015 at the Goa Marriott Resort alongside the International Film Festival of India 2015.

DEADLINE : The deadline for submission of application is 30th September 2015.

LAB : Multiple sessions on the different facets of producing films are conducted by key industry experts and professionals at the lab which is aimed at providing training and networking opportunities to upcoming Independent Producers from across the world.

FEES : The application fee for the Producers’ Lab is INR 25,000 (Rupees Fifty Thousand). Only applicants who have been shortlisted to participate at the Lab will need to pay the fees (which excludes cost of travel and accommodation, but includes the registration fees for Film Bazaar). NFDC will intimate the shortlisted applicants via email by the end of October 2015.

QUALIFICATION : Applicants should have worked as Producers or Line/Supervising/Executive producers in either one of the following and completed the same: Feature-length film | Short film | Documentary film | Television Commercial | Television Serial. The Lab is open to applicants from across the world but they should be proficient in English.

HIGHLIGHTS :

The highlights of Producer’s Lab 2014:

In 2014, Kirsten Niehuus, Managing Director, Film Funding, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and Isabel Davis, Head of International, British Film Institute discussed the dynamics of public funding in and co-production with Germany and the United Kindgom, respectively. Viola Fugen, Head of Co-Productions at The Match Factory conducted a session on working with international co-producers and brought in her perspective of what an international co-producer looks for in a project creatively. Also present at the Lab was Marco Muller, the Artistic Director of Rome Film Festival who conducted a session on the importance of film festivals and how they can shape the journey of a film.

Another session, focusing on newer modes of engaging audiences through non-conventional platforms, was conducted by Aanchal Bahadur, Youtube Partner-Manager at Google India and Manan Singhi, Head of Music Partnerships, Youtube — India & South Asia. Pratiksha Rao, Head of TV & Entertainment, Twitter was present to speak about newer, more creative ways of reaching audiences through Twitter and the power of storytelling that transcends duration and medium of exhibition.

The 2014 edition of Producers’ Lab also witnessed sessions on film marketing by Rudrarup Datta, Head of Marketing and Operations, Viacom 18 India and on content creation for youth audiences by Ashish Patil, Business and Creative Head, Youth Films, Brand Partnerships, Talent Management, Yash Raj Films.

CONTACT : Participants can write to producerslab@filmbazaarindia. com to apply. Please visit http://www.filmbazaarindia.com for the Application Form and more details.