Archive for the ‘FAF (Fund A Film)’ Category

Fund-A-Film : Renowned Cinematographer Ranjan Palit’s Orphan

Posted: October 31, 2016 by moifightclub in Bengali, cinema, FAF (Fund A Film), Indie
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We have always tried to spread the good word about various crowd-funded projects through our blog. Here’s one more film which looks interesting and you can contribute to its making. In today’s Fund A Film (FaF) initiative, we are putting the spotlight on renowned cinematographer Ranjan Palit’s film, Orphan.

ranjan-palit

Orphan is a English-Bengali bilingual feature film. It is the story of a family-clan spread over 5 generations and 150 years. Check out the pitch video.

 

About the project

Orphan – Award winning Cinematographer’s directorial debut that chronicles the lives of members of a clan in West Bengal over the last 100 years. This feature film promises to be a never seen before epic saga.

What is Orphan all about? 

Orphan is a story of my wacky and historically unique family. It will showcase the lives of my family members through the last century, go on to show my life in the present day and a glimpse of my daughter’s life who is the last member in the Palit clan.

It will take the viewers on a unique journey with a family that has a river pirate, a yogini, a World War soldier, a naxalite and more!

-Ranjan Palit (from wishberry.in)

To read more about it and to contribute, click here.

Fund A Film : Marathi Horror Film “Episode 13”

Posted: February 28, 2016 by moifightclub in FAF (Fund A Film), Indie, Marathi
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We have always tried to spread the good word about various crowd-funded projects through our blog. Here’s one more film which looks interesting and you can contribute to its making. In today’s Fund A Film (FaF) initiative, we are putting the spotlight on Marathi horror film, Episode 13.

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Episode 13 is a Marathi horror film in found-footage genre. According to its makers, it’s a first of its kind in Marathi language.

Episode 13 revolves around a TV crew who are in a village to shoot their non-fiction TV show. The 13th episode of the show is about a family who has not come out of their house since the last 8 years. There are various myths, versions, and rumors in the village about this family and the haunted house. The TV crew is there to unravel the mystery and expose the truth.

Yogesh Raut, producer-director of this film, raised shooting funds by himself. Now, after completing the shooting and editing, the makers are crowdfunding through Wishberry to finish the posrt-production. You can contribute to the film and make it happen.

Here’s the pitch video of the same

And click here to go their wishberry page for more details and to make a contribution. You can contribute from Rs 2000 up to Rs 2.5 lakh.

 

Fund A Film (FaF) – Ashvin Kumar’s Noor

Posted: January 30, 2016 by moifightclub in Crowdfunding, FAF (Fund A Film), film, Indie, News
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We have always tried to spread the good word about various crowd-funded projects through our blog. Here’s one more film which looks interesting and you can contribute to its making. In today’s Fund A Film (FaF) initiative, we are putting the spotlight on Ashvin Kumar’s Noor.

Noor

Director

Ashvin Kumar is the director of Road to Ladakh (Irrfan Khan), The Little Terrorist (Oscar nominated), Dazed in Doon, Inshallah, Football (banned in India), Inshallah, Kashmir (also banned) and now he is planning his next, Noor.

Film

Noor is a story about a teenage girl from Britain trying to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance in Kashmir. Based on true events, it is a story about hope in the middle of a seventy year long conflict, which has left over 100,000 people dead.

It will be a feature length narrative film about the human impact of the crisis in Kashmir. It’s the story of three generations of women who are trapped in one of the world’s forgotten conflicts. All this may sound very dark and serious, but in fact, Noor is filled with light-heartedness and optimism, hope, and the belief in the goodness of the world that informs those teenage years.

Pitch

Target

The makers have less than 30 days from now to reach the target of £74,000.

Information

To know more about the film, the makers, his roadshow in UK, how you can contribute and make a difference, click here.

FB page is here, Twitter is @Noor_movie.

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)

Fund A Film (FAF) : Rudro Bhandary’s Hopanta

Posted: August 7, 2015 by moifightclub in FAF (Fund A Film), film, Indie
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Through this blog, we have always tried to spread the good word about various crowd-funded (Kickstarter, wishberry and such) projects. Here’s one more film which looks interesting and you can contribute to its making.

HOPANTA POSTER 1

SYNOPSIS

Whether Hopanta is mad or not is not the question: his existence in the village is a story by itself. Hopanta is a very young man, he lives in a typical village of West Bengal with mud houses and thatched roofs. A village that is untouched by city life ; a village that is self-sufficient in growing and producing vegetables, crop and oil.

Hopanta may have come from some other village, no one has bothered to question and no one in the village cares, but these same villagers provide him with everything for his survival.

Hopanta, like any other person, has his own preferences and demands, the house he lives in is customized for his needs and daily chores, the food he begs from the villagers is eaten the way he prefers to. Hopanta likes to live his adventurous life in his own way, which is sometimes influenced by the world he sees around him.

Hopanta likes to worship gods, as he has seen people do so in their own houses. He does it not for what it is but for the way it is done. Similarly he is influenced in his take on politics, women and simpler things like the electric supply of the entire village. His innocence is his strength and source of happiness. He owns nothing but he probably believes he does, and maybe that’s why he is called mad.

FILM

The story of Hopanta is told through a Baul Song (a folk song form of Bengal). The film also depicts the story of the villagers who live with Hopanta, and how their lives entwine. It focuses on how Hopanta adopts a lifestyle from the village and the villagers, showing how every one of us is like him in our own way. We too do not bother to know anything about religion or politics etc. to follow them and live with them.

If you wish to donate, click here to go to film’s wishberry page, and make the donation. The page also has more details about the film, the director, the way they plan to spend the money and other info.

First Look : Documentary ‘Proposition For A Revolution’

Posted: April 7, 2014 by moifightclub in cinema, Documentary, FAF (Fund A Film), first look, Trailer, video
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PFR

Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla have documented one of the most exciting political turn of events in recent times – the making of AAP and the rise of Arvind Kejriwal. They have just released the first look of the documentary titled ‘Proposition For A Revolution’. They are also looking for post-production funds. So do check this out and if you like, do contribute.

– To contribute, you can go to their official site here.

WATCH : 2 clips from ‘The World Before Her’ & CONTRIBUTE for its India campaign

Posted: April 6, 2014 by moifightclub in cinema, Clips, Crowdfunding, Director's Note, Documentary, FAF (Fund A Film), Indie, video
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After doing the fest rounds, Nisha Pahuja’s critically acclaimed documentary, ‘The World Before Her’ is all set to release on May 16th, 2014. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is presenting it and PVR Directors Rare is releasing the film. Moving between the worlds of a Durga Vahini training camp and the beauty boot camp of the Miss India Pageant, the film is a powerful story that could not have come at a better time. Some of us managed to watch the film earlier and we have put it in MFC’s Must Watch recco list. Click here to read our recco post on the film.

We are posting two clips from the film – one from the film, and one that did not make the cut. We also got Nisha to write on these two clips.

1. Pooja’s story

Director’s Note – I remember when Pooja told me the story of almost being killed at birth for being a girl..that moment became a turning point for me in terms of the focus of the film. I knew it had to be about the struggles that so many Indian women continue to face. It also changed the way I looked at Miss India–suddenly it was no longer passe or just simply derogatory..it was so much more complex. I had to ask myself “Given the Indian context, can I disregard my Western prejudices and see a beauty pageant as “empowering.” It’s something I still grapple with..

2. Tulsi’s story

Director’s Note – When I began the research in 2008, I was determined to find a young woman from a village who harboured dreams of becoming a Miss India.  Somehow I did. Meet Tulsi – achingly lovely..a symbol of “aspiring India.” Tulsi’s story was incredible, she comes from a village in UP that got electricity in 2009, and that only intermittently. Her grandfather was a freedom fighter and and there was a temple that had been built in his honour. Tulsi’s mother did not want to get married but was forced to.  So in an act of defiance on her wedding night she chopped off all her hair and began to dress like a man. Somehow she was accepted. She decided she would allow her daughter to do as she wished. When Tulsi told her parents she wanted to move to Bombay and pursue her Miss India dream, they sent her off with the money they had been saving for her dowry.  The Miss India team never responded to her application or her pics and when I last saw her in 2010 she was having a hard time and it seemed clear to me that she was being exploited, but didn’t want to talk about it in too much detail. I still get the odd email from her but she never responds when I write her back. I had always wondered how her grandfather, who had fought for India’s freedom would feel about Tulsi’s dream of winning a beauty pageant. Was this the freedom he was prepared to die for?

TRAILER

FUND-A-FILM Project

The makers of the film are also running a kickstarter campaign with the goal of taking the film to a wider audience – schools, colleges, public screenings. Click here to read about their plan and do contribute if you want to support the initiative. The aim is to raise US$ 50,000 out of which they have already got $ 41,000. Now they have just a week left to achieve the target. So if you feel for it, do contribute generously. The film needs your support.

Fund A Film (FAF) – Pushpendar Singh’s Lajwanti (The Honor Keeper)

Posted: January 22, 2014 by moifightclub in cinema, FAF (Fund A Film), Indie
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We have always tried to spread the good word about various crowd-funded projects through our blog. Here’s one more film which looks interesting and you can contribute to its making.

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Film

Lajwanti (The Honour Keeper) directed by Pushpendra Singh has been selected for the 44th edition of the Berlinale Forum, a section of the Berlin International Film Festival that showcases independent, artistic filmmaking with a disregard for convention. Berlinale Forum will screen twenty-eight world and eight international premieres this year.

Official Synopsis

A group of women, in their daily long walk to collect water, recite songs and exchange words that reveal their hidden desires. But, one day, when a crazy dreamer whose only passion is collecting doves crosses their path, one of them, Lajwanti, starts a journey that will take her out of this closed world. She leaves the group when she cannot tolerate their banter and starts walking the long distance alone.

The silence and determination of the man with the doves becomes a curiosity for her and she decides to find more about him. But when the man does not show much interest in her advances, she feels betrayed by her beauty. Her dreams change from being driven by fear to dreams of courage. The veil starts disappearing and a new world opens to her. Will she overcome her dreams driven by fear to keep the honour of that man’s dream rather than that of the society? Will she be able to undo her social conditioning and find her true self?

Trailer

Filmmaker

An alumnus of the Film &Television Institute of India, Pune and Berlin Talent Campus, Pushpendra began his career as an actor playing one of the leads in AmitDutta’s Venice award winning film ‘Aadmi Ki AuratAur Anya Kahaniya’. He then went on to assist AmitDutta on his next feature ‘Nainsukh’ and the latest ‘SattviSair- The seventh walk’. He has also assisted Anup Singh on his award winning feature ‘Qissa- The ghost is a lonely traveler’.  His other credits include acting in the German feature ‘Asta Transfer’ directed by Maximilian Linz which is in its post-production and in the theatre with Barry John on his Honey Trilogy.

Currently he teaches at the Film & Television Institute of India, Pune. Lajwantiis his first feature film as a director.

Why they need the funding

– You can contribute anything between Rs 99 to 50,000. So far the film has managed to collect just 20% of the funding it needs. So do contribute to its making. Lets make it happen.

– Click here to go to its Catapooolt page where you can read more about the film and can make your contribution.

Fund A Film (FAF) Project – Dear Cinema

Posted: September 13, 2013 by moifightclub in cinema, Crowdfunding, FAF (Fund A Film), News
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We have always tried to highlight interesting crowdfunding projects on our blog. So far most of the posts have been on films. This one is a film related project. Over to Nandita Dutta (Associate Editor of DC) for more on it.

Dear CinemaDearCinema, India’s leading independent cinema portal, is crowdfunding to become faster, smarter and more resourceful for its readers.

Our crowdfunding campaign started on September 6 and so far we have been supported by 43 contributors from 17 cities, and 61% of the target amount has been raised.

We’re sure you want to know why we are going the crowdfunding way, so here you go-

In its lifespan of seven years, DearCinema has never compromised on its independence. We are sitting on several offers for sponsorship and acquisition but we prefer to be a user-funded website so that we can remain true to the interests of our readers.

With your contributions, we plan to introduce these new features:

India’s first Indie film and project database :

We have been dedicatedly covering all news related to Indian independent films and projects. Now our aim is to go a step ahead and launch India’s first Indie film and project database so that your films get discovered easily by festival programmers and distributors.

Festival and funding guide :

A new service that will guide Indian filmmakers in finding the perfect festivals, labs, markets and funds for their projects.  You will no longer need to hunt for information; it will all be up-to-date and listed for you.

Faster and smarter website :

With time our readership has increased to such an extent that our current server isn’t able to cope with the kind of traffic we attract. We need to upgrade so that you don’t ever have issues accessing our website. Also, to keep pace with technology, we intend to launch DearCinema Apps for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Rewards :

We appreciate the support of every contributor and so, we have some very cool rewards to offer :

– DearCinema Festival guide, a comprehensive directory of 100 film festivals

– DearCinema Market and Funding Guide

– An exclusive workshop on pitching your film and international funding by industry experts

– Invites for the opening or closing ceremony of the prestigious Mumbai Film Festival 2013

– A thank you video clip from one of our celeb friends in the film fraternity

– Having your name on the masthead of our website for one whole week and a host of other rewards!

So, what are you waiting for? Support the indie film movement by contributing to DearCinema.com. Click here and do your good deed for the day.

Fund A Film (FAF) – Docu “Beyond Bollywood”

Posted: July 25, 2013 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, Documentary, FAF (Fund A Film), Indie, News
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Through this blog we have always tried to spread the good word about various crowd-funded (Kickstarter, wishberry and such) projects. Here’s one more film which looks interesting and you can contribute to its making.

Have a look at this trailer –

And here’s one more clip –

If you find the trailer and the clip interesting, you can help the filmmakers complete the film. Click here to go their IndieGoGo page and fund the film.

If you want to know more the film and the filmmakers, over to the team for all the other details.

  1. design_final Who are we

Adam Dow (Co-Director, born and raised in Seattle, and is currently settled in Mumbai) has been making films since the age of twelve with his father’s old VHS camera. He has written and directed several short films that have been circulated in the US festival circuit. He received the Mary Gates Scholarship for leadership in 2001 and started the University of Washington’s first improvisational theatre troupe. Upon his move to Mumbai in 2007 he founded India’s first Improv Group known as Improv Comedy Mumbai and in 2011 was nominated as one of the people to watch in Mumbai by CNN.

Ruchika Muchhala, (Co-Director, is of Indian roots, born and raised in Indonesia and Singapore, and is currently settled in New York). She has worked on several documentary projects as an editor and television series as a writer and director. Her directorial debut was “The Great Indian Marriage Bazaar”, a documentary in which she navigates through the complex system of arranged marriages in modern-day India. The film aired internationally on various television channels, including BBC World, and at women’s and international film festivals in 2012.

 2. Story behind Beyond Bollywood

Both of us were complete “outsiders” to the world of Bollywood, when we came in 2007 to Mumbai to work on a web series about the different facets of Bollywood. During the making of the web-series, we came across 4 very interesting characters – Pooja Kasekar (dancer), Harry Key (Australian “white” extra), Ojas Rajani (make up artist) and Prem Singh Thakur (Union Leader) – and when we approached them with the idea of making a film on them/their lives, they readily agreed.

So, the Beyond Bollywood journey began in 2008 and we decided to finish shoot after 4 years of filming, in 2012, which is when we decided that it was time to now start putting the film together. We realized, while filming, that in order to capture their journey’s in the industry (and of their lives), we would need to spend time with them. Only then the audience will be able to see some character growth and development – but more than that, their real stories. Both of us truly believe in storytelling and wanted the audience to feel that they were watching a film, and not snippets of their lives, being narrated by a voice over.

3. Why should you support “Beyond Bollywood”?

 We decided to follow these characters because we felt a certain connect with them and found them to be extremely passionate about what they were doing – Pooja Kasekar, whose idol is Madhuri Dixit, came to Mumbai to become a dancer and through sheer hard work, moved on from being a background dancer to a lead dancer and also got a role in a film as the lead actress.

Prem Singh Thakur, who a lot of our filmmaker friends would know, is meant to be one of the most honest men in this profession and has been elected Vice Chairman of the Union over and over again.

Ojas Rajani has been in the film industry for more than 20 years now (is considered one of the top make up artists in the industry) and has done make up for some of the biggest names in the business.

Harry Key, a complete outsider, came to India to travel and possibly find some work, landed up on a film set the day he arrived in India. Initially it was tough for him to find work here, but again, through sheer hard work and perseverance, he decided to stick around, kept trying, and managed to do TV Commercials and Films (as an extra). He also got a major role in a small hindi film, which unfortunately didn’t release.

They all came from outside the film industry (most from outside of Mumbai), had a dream of making it BIG (a subjective term), were extremely passionate about what they were doing, and each one through sheer hard work and determination was able to do something that they (and everyone around them) would certainly be proud of. They did something BIG in their own right!

We want to tell their stories, which are similar to the stories of most people that come to Mumbai (from across India and the world) to try their luck in Bollywood! We also feel that this film will help a lot of people that are not part of the industry, understand the space better (especially our very own family members, who are asking us all the time – Beta, aap karte kya ho? / Child, what do you really do?)

 4. What do we need the money for?

So far, we have funded the production and post production on our own and now we have run out of funds (and our parents have stopped supporting us too!). We need US$ 12,000 to complete the film – sound, picture and some licensing fees for the film/music clips we are using in our documentary. We are running a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo (link here) to raise the funds to be able to complete the film. Please watch the trailer and visit our Facebook site and help us by contributing and/or passing on the trailer/fb link to your friends and family who might be able to contribute.

CREW:

Producer:                Manas Malhotra

Co-Producers:         Adam Dow & Ruchika Muchhala

Co-Directors:          Adam Dow & Ruchika Muchhala

Cinematographer:   Adam Dow

Editor:                    Monisha Baldawa

Sound:                    Kamood Kharade

Additional Editors:   Darren Lund & Atanu Mukherjee

Music Composers:  Tarun Shahani & Vinayak Manohar

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