Archive for the ‘film’ Category

Vasan Bala’s Peddlers selected for Cannes Critics’ Week 2012

Posted: April 24, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, film, Film Festival, first look, Indie, News, pics
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I am not sure how and where to start this post. Still too excited about the news. But let’s get the news first. Vasan Balan‘s debut feature Peddlers has been selected to premiere at Cannes International Critics’ Week. Yay! And since this is his first feature, it’s also going to compete for Camera D’Or. Every year only seven films are selected for Critics’ week and this year Peddlers is one of them.

To quote the official synopsis, Peddlers – A ghost town, Mumbai, inhabited by millions. A lady on a mission, a man living a lie, an aimless drifter. They collide. Some collisions are of consequence, some not, either ways the city moves on.

And here’s the cast and credit list..

Director : Vasan Bala
Screenplay : Vasan Bala
Cinematography : Siddharth Diwan
Editing : Prerna Saigal
Sound : Anthony B.J. Ruban
Music : Karan Kulkarni

Cast: Gulshan Devaiah, Siddharth Mennon, Kriti Malhotra, Nimrat Kaur, Murari Kumar, Sagai Raj, Megh Pant, Nishikant Kamat, Neeraj Ghaywan and Anubhuti Kashyap.

And here are some stills from the film..

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And now the news bit is over, i am going to write and behave like Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

It seems like yesterday. Vasan pinged me on gmail and then shared some pics. I said, wow, this guy looks like Andrew Garfield. Vasan – fuck, you got it so bang on.  I have been telling all about the Garfield thing. When it comes to cinema, this wasn’t the first time we were on the same page instantly. May be that’s why we bonded so well since we first bumped into each other at a blogging site called passionforcinema. Now it’s dead. Me, him and Kartik Krishnan – it’s been quite a love-hate equation between the three of us since last few years. Except participating in an orgy, i guess we have shared everything else.

And as i sit down to write this post and look back now, i know why i feel so bloody happy for him. Not sure when was the last time i was so happy for someone else. May be because i know how his sweat smells.

By bollywood rule book, Peddlers wasn’t a dream launch. There was no fancy announcement, no articles in newspapers, no big stars to talk about. No posters were designed and no title was thought about. He had assisted Anurag Kashyap for long and was back after  assisting Michael Winterbottom on Trishna. He was getting restless to make his movie but Kashyap wasn’t exactly sure about the script. One script out, another came in, that also went out and he wrote a third one. This went on for some time and then he decided to go ahead and prove it to himself. Whatever happens, he was going to direct. It was going to be a true “indie”. On behalf of Kashyap, Guneet Monga produced it by raising funds from everyone possible. Low budget, low on resources, cast friends and family members, everything on “jugaad“. Come what may, he had to make this film. To prove it to himself, to Kashyap, to us and to people around him.

I went to meet him the day before he was starting his shoot. He looked tired, almost dead. I hugged him, and prayed that he doesn’t fall sick during the shoot. He has a record of falling sick while ADing on films and we always used to joke about it. I had read the script and really liked it too. Was confident about his direction after seeing the two shorts he had directed. Not saying this because he is dear friend. Harsh truth has never been a barrier between our friendship. We have ripped apart each others work many a times in the past. As always, me and KK argued with Kashyap too. Why can’t he see what we are seeing? As always, he also argued, gave his reasons and it was a dead end.

The shooting got over and we saw the rough cut. I wasn’t expecting something like this. This was a new language – minimal approach to filmmaking, if i can call it so. Hadn’t seen something like this in any desi debut film. Everything was pitch perfect except his jeera rice indulgence. I thought if nothing happens, at least this is a great CV to have. Kashyap saw the film and he loved it. And to give credit where it’s due – he publicly announced on twitter that Vasan has proved him wrong. We were relieved. As the inside joke goes, Rahul aur Anjali me phir dosti ho gayee.

By that time we all were getting too excited about it – what can be done to this, where should he send it, the usual gyaan gurus that we all are. Kashyap assured everyone that he really loved it, he means it and he is hoping for the best for this one. He told us to wait, the best will happen soon.

And then, it did happen.

CANNES!

For so much blood, sweat and tears, what else does a filmmaker want?

And once you look at the names in the Critics’ Weeks archives, you realise what it means. Bernardo Bertolucci, Jean Eustache, Otar Iosseliani, Ken Loach, Wong Kar Wai, Jacques Audiard and Arnaud Desplechin to name a few. Or just look at some of the features selected last year – Las Acacias, The Slut, Snowtown, Take Shelter.

Add Vasan Bala and Peddlers to the list now. It can’t get bigger than this for a film where money and resources hardly mattered. Passion and sweat was all that counted – of his and people around him. Because without expecting anything, there are many (cast & crew) who made this film happen as their only motivation was “this is Vasan’s film, this has to be done”. Blame it on his friendship and good will.

And google cache is going to mark it. Because it’s history now.

Cheers, Vasan. ( It’s time to return the favour – don’t you forget to get me a Cannes T-shirt :-))

( PS – And as i have said always, here’s the best film school in this country ——-> @ankash1009)

(PS1 – For more info about Critics week selection, click here.)

(PS2 – Click here to read an interview of Vasan Bala on DearCinema and click here for an interview by Mihir Fadnavis.)

First Look : Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely (3 Teasers)

Posted: April 23, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Film Festival, first look, Indie, News, songs & videos, Trailer, video
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Sorry to flood the blog with so many back to back posts on Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely. But two reasons – Cannes doesn’t happen everyday. Nor do Indian films qualify there regularly. Also, the information is coming out bit by bit.

First came the news of its selection at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. Then, the official synopsis and stills (Click here). And now the teasers of the film.

TDP + I & B = KLPD?

Posted: April 22, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, film, News
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If you are baffled by the equation in the header, let me dissect it one by one.

TDP – The Dirty Picture

I & B – Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

KLPD – That’s easy. And if not, google. One should know it.

So what really happened?

Last year’s one of the biggest hits, The Dirty Picture was suppose to be aired today on Sony TV at 12 and 8pm. Since the film was rated Adult, there was a petition against the film to stop its telecast. But the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court cleared its screening after the film went through 56 cuts. The PTI report which was carried in TOI is here.

Then last night (21st april) at about 11pm, the I & B Ministry sent a notice and asked Sony to stop the telecast. Print Ads were out in the newspapers today. Promos were running. All of a sudden it was a KLPD. Nobody knows exactly why.

What’s baffling is the way the notice was sent in last minute. Also, once the Court has cleared it, can the Ministry stop it? Am not sure how does it work. If someone knows, please do enlighten us in the comments.

And this comes at a time when the Censor Board is really trying to push the envelope and is in favour of a new rating system. With new members on board, there’s an approach to give more freedom to the filmmakers. It’s like one step forward and two backwards.

This can happen only in this country – the lead actress gets the National Award for the film but the film isn’t allowed to be telecast. May be because the government has better Dirty Pictures to offer, like this one.

First Look : Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely (Stills + Official Synopsis)

Posted: April 22, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Film Festival, first look, Indie, News, pics, Story / Plot / Synopsis
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What we know – Ashim Ahluwalia’s debut feature Miss Lovely is going to Cannes in Un Certain Regard section this year. The film is set in Bombay’s B/C grade film industry and it stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Niharika Singh and Anil George.

What we don’t know – what does the film look like? No stills/clips/trailer available on the net so far. What’s it all about?

And so we have got it all. The official synopsis and some stills from the film.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS

Bombay, 1988. Vicky and Sonu are brothers and partners in crime. They produce “C” grade films in the lower depths of Bollywood – lurid horror films, erotic bandit pictures, sleazy social dramas. From a humid one-hour hotel, amidst spilled whisky and bouts of womanizing, Vicky churns out illicit titles like “Dolly Darling” and “Lady James Bond” for India’s small-town picture houses. He leaves the donkey-work to Sonu, his withdrawn, dim-witted younger sibling, who often cleans up after him.

Returning exhausted from a sales trip peddling erotic reels in the hinterland, Sonu encounters a mysterious girl on the train and is drawn to her fragile beauty. She’s only just arrived in Bombay and her vulnerability soothes his own sense of despair. Her name is Pinky and she appears to be a struggling actress.

Vicky dismisses the girl as a gullible piece of flesh but Sonu is desperate, bewitched by Pinky’s silent radiance. He knows that only she can save him; make his emptiness disappear.

As the seasons change, Sonu begins to resent his hard-edged brother. He no longer wants toslave for Vicky’s lawless operation and decides to make a film of his own, with Pinky in the lead. A double debut – producer and star. It’s a reckless, nihilistic venture with no story and no crew in place. But he has a title – the film will be called ‘Miss Lovely’ and Sonu will do whatever it takes to make it.

But nothing is what it seems in this garish underworld of shifting alliances, double dealing, and quivering flesh. Out on the streets three years later, Sonu realizes that his whole world has turned upside down.

A baroque tale of betrayal and doomed love, the animal instincts of the struggling actress prove to be the most cutthroat of all. As paranoia and violence spiral out of control, brother turns on brother, and blood spills like water. Sonu, now alone and abandoned, aimlessly wanders the streets, junkyards and film studios, aching for one last glimpse of Pinky.

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Click here to read an interview of Ashim on the making of Miss Lovely.

The Joy Of Crying At The Movies

Posted: April 21, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, film
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This post was suppose to be on something else. But as it happens with hindi films and matters of heart, mostly we land up somewhere else. And it started with the gorgeous Namesake tribute video posted below. Jahan Bakshi writes on the matters of heart and the magic of silver screen that let the salty waters flow.

Watch the video first and then read the post.

Ever since I posted the video tribute to Mira Nair’s beautiful adaptation of ‘The Namesake’ on Twitter and Facebook, at least 7-8 people wrote back to me with thanks, saying how it made them cry. One of them had recently lost his father. In fact, as I was watching it myself with what seemed like a boulder in my throat, a friend of mine who also lost his father a year back sat quietly, tears streaming down his face. It was absolutely heartbreaking.

One of the many great things cinema has to offer us is a sense of catharsis, and that is a special feeling that becomes increasingly difficult to experience as one watches a lot films and reads a lot about them, becoming more aware of their manipulations and craft. It becomes even harder for a film to overwhelm you when you see it with all the distractions and thoughts that accompany you watching a film at home. I try to watch most films in theatres these days for this very reason, but like we all know, sadly and most often, the only option we cine-buffs have is this.

I miss crying at the movies. I think the last time I sat teary-eyed at a cinema hall was watching ‘The Help’ on an evening that found me in a particularly vulnerable emotional state. I was walking down the road outside my house when a group of guys I don’t know began calling me some names (which I’ll not bother mentioning here).

Not a big deal, really- but for some reason it just deeply upset me. Part of the reason is that while I am no saint or an Aamir Khan, I have never really understood the desire in human beings to hurt others deliberately for no reason at all. All bitching and snarky talk aside, and at the risk of sounding righteous and all, the urge to harm someone is something I have genuinely never felt in my life.

I know this sounds idiotic but while watching the film I thought a lot about why people want to hurt other people, about why people are hated just for being who they are and the general injustice of it all and blah, blah.

It also reminded me of my own nanny, my Didi, who literally brought me up along with my mother as a child, giving me more time than her own children perhaps. I remembered resenting my mother a little when she would tell her off because of anything. Of course my mother cared for her too, and still does, but for me she wasn’t hired domestic help. She was my second mother.

Till date, MilkaDidi– as I call her- sends me a Rakhi every year by post, and sends me birthday cards that probably cost her a lot. I remember her every now and then and think of calling her, but unlike my mother who speaks to her every now and then, I conveniently forget to. Maybe it’s also because I’ve grown up too much and find it hard to make conversation with her as effortlessly as my mother can. Right now, again I am feeling those familiar pangs of guilt. Maybe after I write this, I’ll call her. Maybe… if I haven’t forgotten to store her number again or something.

Now some of you might figure one of the many reasons I love Swades so much.

Anyway, when I came back from the film, I let out all the tears that I was trying to hold back at the movie theatre or as Subhash K Jha would put it: all the liquid contents of my eyes spilled out in a torrential tumble of tantalizing tears.

And I felt lighter. TheHelp is not a ‘great’ movie. It has one of the most cringe worthy scenes I’ve seen in a film in some time, won’t even figure in my Top 15 films of last year. But it made me cry, and for that I am grateful.

At other times when I am not feeling so low and my defenses are not as down like when I wrote this post (Yes, shameless plug, bitchezz!), I’m not as lucky. I saw Weekend recently, an outstanding film that I cannot recommend enough and that I intend on writing about soon. The film is beautiful and heartbreaking… but it didn’t make me cry. It should have, really. Sitting next to me was a friend who doesn’t watch too many films and probably didn’t ‘appreciate’ the film(making) as much as I did. But he had tears in his eyes.

I could have given anything to have that, I tell ya.

PS: Apologies to Kaka…

So when was the last time you cried at the movies?

Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely selected for Cannes 2012

Posted: April 19, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Film Festival, Indie, News
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Cannes film festival has just announced its list for films for competition, out of competition and Un Certain Regard category. And an Indian film has made the cut.

Ashim Ahluwalia’s debut feature film Miss Lovely has been selected in the Un certain regard section. The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Niharika Singh and Anil George. According to imdb, this feature is set in the lower depths of Bombay’s “C” grade film industry. It follows the devastating story of two brothers who produce sleazy horror films in the mid-1980s.

Click here to read an interview of Ashim on the making of Miss Lovely.

And click here for the complete list of the line-up announced so far.

Baboo Band Baaja – Poetic and poignant portrayal of an impossible life

Posted: April 18, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, film, film review, Movie Recco, movie reviews, Regional, reviews
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We first heard about Baboo Band Baaja when it bagged three national awards – for Best First Film of a Director, Best Actress and Best Child Artist. The film has been ready for quite sometime and it finally released last friday. Some of the theatres are screening the film with  subtitles. Here’s Mohit Patil‘s recco post for the film.

This is Mohit‘s first post here. When he isn’t busy attending engineering college, he worships Kaufman, Bhardwaj and Scorsese.In the very first scene in director Rajesh Pinjani’s Baboo Band Baaja, we are given a glimpse of the life led by Baboo (played brilliantly by Vivek Chabukswar) – that his family must bank on the deaths/births happening in their village in order to make a living. His father Jaggya (Milind Shinde) is a band player. Once a band party owner, he now earns a (rather lumpish) living by playing at modest wedding processions and cortegès. His mother Shirmi (Mitali Jagtap) works as a Bohareen – selling utensils in exchange for old, used garments. The story begins as Baboo finds his rucksack missing, and so does an endless struggle of this family to change things.

Jaggya wants Baboo to become a band member like him. The reason for this call isn’t a father wanting to see his son to be like him, but his presumption that there is no other way out. “We villagers are in no way helped by the technological advancements,” he argues, “All that has changed is the number of airplanes flying above our heads”. Throughout the film, we see his mother as a heterodox in a comparatively orthodoxical society. She wants to educate her son and goes to great lengths to earn money to buy books for Baboo, whose school master won’t allow him in without books and uniform. She’s elated when she gets a pair of khaki shorts in exchange for a larger vessel, which can be used as her son’s school uniform. And she is enraged when she discovers that the reason for her husband’s anger is the fact that Baboo has lost his rattle and not that he has lost his school bag.

One of the film’s biggest triumphs is that it sticks to its business and tells the story of the family’s endeavor with great simplicity and without diverting its focus towards “shocking the viewer with the appalling reality…” etc. I did find the emotions exaggerated at places with the lurid low angle shots of the school master punishing Baboo or the histrionics of the wily politician, and wished it weren’t as overstated, but it all works nevertheless.

Another very impressive thing about Baboo Band Baaja is that it has a very keen eye for detail. Not a single thing here seems unauthentic or out-of-place. Especially, the language used here, is pure gold. If you couldn’t buy the Hindi speaking characters in some of our recent urban rom-coms, or the characters not referring to Mumbai as Bombay or Bambai in Dhobi Ghat, you are bound to be more than satisfied with the language and the actors’ inch perfect dialect here. The instruments that the bandwallahs play in the film, the songs that they play, selecting the dress code for the grand wedding they are appointed for, the astute observations about the local life in Vidarbha… Discovering these rural life vignettes first hand is pure joy, so I’d rather not spoil it for you.

The characters are very well written, and the actors who play them are terrific for the most part, save for the school teacher who is baselessly portrayed as an evil baddie, as opposed to someone who is just doing his job. Watch Mitali Jagtap and Vivek Chabukswar speak through their eyes in one of the best moments in the film; the scene which has hardly any dialogue, in which Shirmi readies Baboo for school.

<Mild spoilers>

The film uses all its subplots, which rather smartly towards the culmination. There is metrical dichotomy in the way things fall back into place towards the end. The beautiful symmetry between the first and the last scene of the film more than made up for my feeling of redundancy after the final blow.

<Spoilers end>

Baboo Band Baaja is a simple, heartfelt story of what appears to be parents’ struggle to make things better, and turns into something so painful, it takes a piece of your heart.

Bollywood’s Rape-O-Meter

Posted: April 10, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, film, pics, video
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Among many other things, his twitter bio includes a distinct aspiration – future porn filmmaker. And as we wish him all the best for it, who better than writer-filmmaker Suparn Verma to look back into Bollywood’s past which might have triggered off this aspiration of his. So here’s Bollywood’s Rape-O-Meter according to him. Read on.

Rape is an ugly word of a horrible and cowardly act.

But in Bollywood especially in the 70’s and 80’s it was actually considered as necessary as an item number.

The movie pitch went something like this ‘Sirji, Introduction of hero on a dark night, he saves the heroine from being raped and beats up 10 goons,  3 romantic songs, 1 religious song, 1 sad song and 1 item number, 4 action scenes, and Sir beat this our film will have not 1! Not 2! But 3 rape scenes!’

Why did we need those scenes?

Two reasons in my opinion. Firstly in those days the skin code was unimaginable, so only the vamp or the victim could show skin, even the heroine had to be shown as a bitch in a swimsuit before she was reformed by the man into a salwar or sari clad socially acceptable ‘bhartiya nari’.

Secondly, all action films followed a simple formula almost as if it was a game called Screw-the-hero!

So the villains would start by raping the bhabi and killing her husband, and putting the hero behind bars for the crime. In his absence his sister would be raped as well and his parents killed. The wife would be saved for the second act whereupon his release he would get one more romantic song with her before she too was raped and killed and then the hero would be tortured till the vamp let him out and he would take on the entire crew of villains beating them up as he would make each punch count.

‘Yeh meri abla bhabhi ke liye’ DISHOOM ‘Yeh mere bhai ke liye’ DISHOOM ‘Yeh meri behen ke liye’ DISHOOM ‘yeh mere bhoode maa-baap ke liye’ DISHOOM ‘yeh meri biwi aur uske pet ke andar panap rahe bacche ke liye’ DISHOOM! And then came the final blow ‘aur yeh insaniyat ke dushman tujhe jeene ka koi haq nahin….yeh….mere liye’ DISHOOM

But as the filmmakers tried and found new ways to create those item rape scenes, they actually invented a new form of comedy.

Truly! You would exclaim, how can such a disgusting act be made funny!

I will show you how today.

But before that I have to share certain statistics a fellow Bollywood fan and amateur statistician had put up on the net. I call it the Bollywood Villains Rape-o-Meter.

Top lining the gang of Rapists is

Rapist No. 1 – Prem Chopra with 250 rapes in his career….to quote the man the legend ‘Mera naam hai Prem….Prem Chopra’

Rapist No. 2 – Ranjeet with 150 rapes comes close. This man ruled the rape scene from 1970-1985

Rapist No. 3 – Danny Denzongpa has 110+ rape scenes to his credit. The reason why these guys also make it to the top is because in the 70’s and 80’s even the villains would be multi-starrers, so the above three or some combinations would indulge in group rapes so that they all could be killed in 10 minute intervals in the second half.

Rapist No. 4 – Shakti Kapoor with over 80 rapes to his credit

Rapist No. 5 – Amjad Khan with over 30+ rapes to his screen credit, in 1981 every film he acted in had a rape scene.

Rapist No. 6 – The original Bad Man of Hindi cinema – Gulshan Grover, with over 22+ rape scenes to his credit.

The others in this infamous list include The Lion – Ajit (12), Amrish Puri (9), Premnath (3), Rehman (7), Om Puri (6), the awesome Jeevan (6), Ruppesh Kumar never got a solo rape scene but only participated in a group (5), Kiran Kumar (4), K N Singh (3), Madan Puri (2) and finally Mac Mohan (1).

Presenting to you today are the funniest rape scenes from Bollywood. Let me prepare you for the climatic one. It is from Manoj Kumar’s cult movie Clerk!

To kick things off we have Ranjeet enacting the famous Bollywood group rape scene with quotable gems being spouted by them

On the subject of rapes, it is a very interesting fact to note that the ethereal Poonam Dhillon left the industry after her career got into this cycle of being raped in every second film. This scene is Bollywood creators favourite setting! A dark night, stock shots of lightning and rain and the rapists laughing like hyenas

Ever wanted to see how a date rape could kill you?…laughing I mean? Gullubhai will show you how it’s done in this howlarious sequence

While we are on the subject of Gulshan Grover, this one has him playing the flute to Divya Bharti, in a getup that screams I am gonna rape you, but still the lamb-like Bharti gets in the vanity van.

One of my all time favourites with Shakti Kapoor and Anita Raaj. Did you know that she ended her career by being raped by Shakti Kapoor in 6 films in a row! This one has her tried to a fake wall actually asking ‘What are you doing?’

I know I promised you the most funny rape scene ever! Well this one is from Manoj Kumar’s Clerk, where the 100 year old Bharat Kumar plays a college student! He also manages to do the impossible – make Rekha look like a skunk – I do mean a skunk not a skank!!! If you don’t believe me check out that hideous wig or head gear long with the make-up. But coming back to the matter at hand…it has Omshiv Puri raping….once again Anita Raaj. One piece of advise, when you hear these six words again…RUN….’Sweety, Sweety, Sweety..Baby, Baby, Baby’

Call For Entries : International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala

Posted: April 10, 2012 by moifightclub in Call For Entries, cinema, Documentary, film, Film Festival, News, short film
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The 5th Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala will be held in the capital city Kerala ,Thiruvananthapuram (formely known as Trivandrum) from the 8th to 12th June 2012. The festival, a unique venture in India is being organized by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy for the Dept of Cultural Affairs, Govt of Kerala as part of its endeavor to catalyse a vibrant documentary and short film movement.

PROGRAMME:

The festival will have :

A. National Competition Section under the following categories:

1) Long Documentary (over 40mts)

2) Short Documentary

3) Short Fiction (under 70mts)

4) Animation

5) Music Videos

B. Campus films competition for films produced by students from Educational Institutions above Higher Secondary level based in Kerala:

1) Short Fiction works 20min and less.

C. National and International non-competitive sections with the following categories.

1) Long Documentary Section (over 40mts)

2) Short Documentary Section

3) Short Fiction section (under 70mts)

4) Public Interest spots

5) Music Videos

6) Animation Films

7) Student Productions (Director must provide proof of being a bonafide student)

– There will also be specially curated sections focusing on issues, themes, countries and the works of filmmakers. The programme will also include Interaction/Workshop Sections with Media and Professionals from all over India.

DEADLINE: Last Date for receiving the Completed Entry form and preview material is30th April 2012.

PRIZE MONEY :

A. There will be a National Level competition for long documentaries, short documentaries, Animation and short fiction films produced in India between May 1st 2011 and 30th April 2012. The following awards will be given:

a) Best Long Documentary (40mts and above) with a cash prize of Rs 1.00 lakh and a certificate.

b) Best Short Documentary (under 40mts) with a cash prize of Rs. 50,000/ and a certificate

c) Best Short Fiction (under 70mts) with a cash prize of Rs. 50,000/ and a certificate

d) Best Animation with a cash prize of Rs. 25,000/ and a certificate.

e) Best Music Video with a cash prize of Rs. 25,000/ and a certificate

– Navroze Contractor Award for the Best Documentary Cameraman: Rs. 10,000/

B. Campus films competition for films produced by students from Educational Institutions above Higher Secondary level based in Kerala:

– There will be a competition for short fiction films for bonafide students studying within Kerala .The films will have to be 20min or under in duration and produced between Jan 1st 2011 and 30th April 2012 . The director of the film has to be above 18years at the time of production. The jury will award the following prizes:

i) Best Campus Film (20min and below) with a cash prize of Rs. 20,000/ and a  certificate to the creative team.

RULES & REGULATIONS (for competitive sections):

1) Eminent Juries will be appointed by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy .No person with any involvement in the films will be present on the Jury.

2) Only films produced in India or with one Indian Director are eligible for the National level competition. All films participating in the competition have to present either a certificate from the Board of Film Certification or a signed notarized affidavit on Rs 50/ Stamp paper by the person entering the film that the film has been completed between May 1st 2011 and 30th April 2012 (both days inclusive)

3) Campus Films have to be made by students who were registered students at the time of the production of the film, in an educational institute above Higher Secondary level located within Kerala. The films have to be short fiction of under 20min duration. The films have to be produced between Jan 1st 2011 and 30th April 2012 (both days inclusive) .The age of the Director has to be above 18yrs at the time of production. A certificate from the Educational Institution stating both the above is required.

4) Films must be available for festival screening on one of the following formats : DV, Beta SP/PAL, 35mm

5) A selection committee appointed by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy will select films for the screening in the competition and non competitive sections.

6) A director or production company may enter more than one film, provided a separate entry form accompanies each film.

7) No films as works in progress will be accepted. A film once entered cannot be re-entered in the competition.

7) Only selected films will be intimated by email. No letters of non- acceptance will be sent. All lists will be available on the website by 20th May 2012

8) Directors of films in competition will be invited to attend the festival with 2 Class AC Train fare and hospitality during the festival.

9) All non English-speaking projects must have English subtitles.

10) The Director of the festival has the power to include any film at his discretion.

ADDRESS :

Secretary, Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, Mani Bhavan, Sasthamangalam Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala –

695010

CONTACT : Ph – 0091-4712310323. Fax -0091-4712310322. Email – iffkoffice@gmail.com

For more information, please visit www.iffk.in or www.keralafilm.com or direct link to the page is here.

Tip : Sumit Purohit

Shame and The Swell Season : Stark nude portraits

Posted: April 9, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Indie, Movie Recco
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Shame and The Swell Season – like many other film buffs, I have been waiting for these two films for a long time. It’s finally out #YouKnowWhere (twitter code) or the place-that-shall-not-be-named.

Shame is Steven McQueen’s film with Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan in the lead. It premiered at the Venice Film festival where Fassbender bagged the top actors award and also the Fass-boner jokes started because of the explicit display of his monster in the sex scenes. The film made headlines for obvious reasons and most of us have been tracking the film since then.

The Swell Season (TSS) has no connect with Shame. It’s a documentary on the lives of indie musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, stars of the musical indie film, “Once”. It was a tiny film made on a shoestring budget and was shot in just 17 days where the lead stars were non-actors. But the sound was all soul and that thing called chemistry was in abundance between these two unassuming and talented artists . The film got rave reviews and the song “Falling slowly”went on to win the Oscar Award for the Best Original song. And their worlds changed forever.

She was just 18. He was 36. They fell in love. They made some great music and went on musical tours. But their worlds were different. And that bitch called age – love always doesn’t conquer it like they show in films and say in fiction. The Swell Season is the story from the other side of the camera. It captures their post-Oscar journey. Music bought them together, fame separated them – that would be too simplistic way to define their relationship. But a man, a woman and an Oscar makes a difficult threesome.

I saw both the films (Shame & TSS) back to back. And i felt they had lots in common in the way the characters gorgeously bared themselves in both the films – one real, another reel. Nothing dramatic happens in both, but with powerful visuals and ever lasting sound, they sketch stark nude portraits of the leads – both physically and emotionally.

Interestingly, when you watch Shame you will realise how asexual those sex scenes are, in their impact. I am not sure how to dissect it. Is it the sound? Is it the acting? The set-up or the guilt? It never gives you that vicarious pleasure which happens with other films, which is a great achievement in direction. I was underwhelmed with the film but director Steve McQueen is an artist to watch out for (Do watch his previous film Hunger too). The man doesn’t need words, he can do everything with visuals and music. There is a long sequence in a subway  – watch it to know what i mean. Aesthetics should be McQueen’s middle name.

Similarly, in The Swell Season, in one scene both Glen and Marketa undress and run naked into the sea. If you have seen Once, you would desperately want the couple to be together. And that feels like a great moment of joy – the couple whom you want to be together, they happily shed all their inhibitions in that moment and you are part of it. Physical inhibition is always the first barrier and the most visible one too. May be that’s why the first time when you see both the lead characters of Shame, they are completely naked. There is nothing left to imagination. And again, it’s not the nudity of pleasure but nudity that gives you intimacy.

I remember reading a great quote by a filmmaker who hates sex scenes in films. I don’t remember his name now but i vaguely remember the quote – in a film when you see two people getting nude and indulging in sex, as an audience, at that moment you forget that they are characters but you see them as actors. Agree. But these two films stands out in this context and proves that it’s possible otherwise too.

Directed by Chris Dapkins, Nick August-Perna and Carlo Mirabella, TSS has a completely non-intrusive approach and is shot in black and white. That automatically adds a bit of romanticism, right? Once and The Swell Season are companion pieces like Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. As one of their fans told them after a show, hope you two can make it to the end.

And there’s no “the end”in Shame. In contrast to the B&W, colour has never looked so dark, grey and grim as in Shame.

Both Shame and The Swell Season are honest and brave nude portraits of its characters. Where there is no inhibition and nothing is sacred, that’s a rare cinema genre. Watch it.

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