Archive for the ‘Film Festival’ Category

Danis Tanovic’s desi film Tigers starring Emraan Hashmi will have its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival this year. Synopsis, cast & crew, and other details of the film is out.

Film

Director: Danis Tanovic
Country: India/France/United Kingdom
Year: 2014
Language: Hindi/English/Urdu/German
Premiere Status: World Premiere
Runtime: 90 minutes
Rating: 14A

Synopsis (from TIFF)

Devastated when he discovers the effects of the infant formula he’s peddling, a young salesman challenges the system and the powers that be, in this based-on-fact drama from Academy Award-winning director Danis Tanovic (No Man’s Land).

Multinationals’ activities in the developing world come under harsh scrutiny in Danis Tanovic’s hard-hitting new drama Tigers. No stranger to controversy, the Academy Award-winning director is unafraid to stick his nose into contentious subject matter. Here, he explores Pakistan’s fascination with Western drugs, basing his film on a true story — its real-life protagonist lives in Toronto — involving a corporation aggressively trying to increase its market share through the sale of baby formula to new mothers.

Ayan (Emraan Hashmi) is a young, recently married salesman who gets a job peddling locally made drugs to pharmacies and doctors. Despite the fact that the Pakistani-manufactured pharmaceuticals he sells are much cheaper than those sold by Western competitors, no one will trust or buy products that lack major brand names. His wife encourages him to apply for a job with Lasta, a large multinational, and Ayan is hired on a trial basis. It’s not long before his natural charm and knack for glad-handing make him into a minor star, and Lasta expands his responsibilities. However, one day he is devastated to see first-hand what the selling of baby formula really means in certain cases. Shocked, Ayan sets out to challenge the system and the powers that be.

In a neat piece of narrative structuring on Tanovic’s part, this David-and-Goliath story is told partially through the eyes of a film crew making a documentary on Ayan’s astonishing findings. But the power of Tigers lies in his willingness to push his film out onto the streets of Pakistan and into the face of a system where narrow interests prevail, and an honest man doing the right thing is castigated and threatened, and finally sees his life endangered.

Cast & Crew

Executive Producer: Karen Tenkhoff, Michael Weber, Praveen Hashmi, Achin Jain
Producer: Prashita Chaudhary, Kshitij Chaudhary, Guneet Monga, Anurag Kashyap, Cedomir Kolar, Marc Baschet, Andy Paterson, Cat Villiers
Production Company: Cinemorphic Pvt Ltd, Sikhya Entertainment Pvt Ltd, A.S.A.P. Films
Principal Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Geetanjali, Danny Huston, Khalid Abdalla, Adil Hussain, Maryam D’Abo, Satyadeep Misra, Heino Ferch, Sam Reid, Supriya Pathak, Vinod Nagpal
Screenplay: Danis Tanovic, Andy Paterson
Cinematographer: Erol Zubcevic
Editor: Prerna Saigal
Sound: Anthony B J Ruban
Music: Pritam
Production Designer: Rachna Rastogi, K.K Muralidharan

Danis Tanovic was born in Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and attended l’Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle in Brussels. His feature films include No Man’s Land (01), which won Best Screenplay at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; L’enfer (05) and Triage (09), both of which premiered at the Festival; and An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (13), which screened at the Festival and won the Silver Bear at Berlin. Tigers (14) is his latest film.

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The 2014 edition of Toronto International Film Festival has added 2 more Indian films in its schedule.

Margarita, with a Straw directed by Shonali Bose will have its world premiere Contemporary World Cinema section.

From fest site – In this inspirational love story, a Delhi university student and aspiring writer afflicted with cerebral palsy (Kalki Koechlin, Dev.D, That Girl in Yellow Boots) leaves India for New York University, where she falls for a fiery young activist.The programme presents the latest works of some of the most provocative and important voices in cinema from around the globe. Bose’s debut film Amu had also been screened at Toronto in 2005.

Cast, Credit and other details

Country: India
Year: 2014
Language: Hindi/English
Premiere Status: World Premiere
Runtime: 100 minutes
Rating: 14A
Producer: Shonali Bose, Nilesh Maniyar
Production Company: Ishan Talkies, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, Jakhotia Group
Principal Cast: Kalki Koechlin, Revathy, Sayani Gupta, William Moseley, Hussain Dalal
Screenplay: Shonali Bose, Nilesh Maniyar
Cinematographer: Anne Misawa
Editor: Monisha Baldawa
Sound: Resul Pookutty, Amrit Pritam
Music: Mikey McCleary, Prasoon Joshi
Production Designer: Somenath Pakre, Prasun Chakraborty

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The second film is Megha Ramaswamy’s Newborns. It’s part of the inaugural Short Cuts International programme.

From fest site – A hauntingly beautiful documentary that follows female survivors of acid attacks, who bravely defy the trauma and fear that will always accompany them.

Cast, Crew and Other Details

Country: India
Year: 2014
Language: Hindi
Premiere Status: World Premiere
Runtime: 8 minutes
Rating: STC

Producer: Anand Gandhi, Sohum Shah, Ruchi Bhimani
Production Company: Recyclewala Labs
Principal Cast: Laxmi, Nasreen, Sapna, Daya Kishan, Usha, Rupesh Tillu, Heena Agrawal
Screenplay: Megha Ramaswamy
Cinematographer: Satya Rai Nagpaul
Editor: Anand Gandhi, Rohit Pandey
Sound: Ajit Rathore, Aditya Jadav
Production Designer: Megha Ramaswamy

Trailer

The Festival will run from September 4 to 14, 2014.

Mary Kom

A quick update on three fest news.

Omung Kumar’s directorial debut Mary Kom will have its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this year. Not really unexpected as TIFF has been picking every kind of bollywood films in the last few years, from Dil Bole Hadippa to Singh Is Kingg. It’s less about the quality of the film, and more to do with the diaspora crowd in Toronto. The fest runs from September 4-14, 2014.

Another directorial debut, Chaitanya Tamhane’s indie feature Court has been selected for the prestigious Venice Film Festival. The film will have its premiere in Orizzonti section of the fest. This competitive section is dedicated to films that represent the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in international cinema section which aims to spot new trends in cinema. Court had also received Hubert Bals fund for script and project development.

LOL

Another indie feature, Labour Of  Love by Aditya Vikram will be at Venice Days. It’s an independent section at the Venice Film Festival which is promoted by the Italian Association of Filmmakers and authors. The idea was to develop a parallel sidebar on the lines of Directors Fortnight at Cannes.

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ROME FILM FESTIVAL
(FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE DEL FILM DI ROMA)

Calls for Entries in all categories for 2014.

DATE : The 9th Rome Film Festival will be held from October 16-25, 2014.

SECTIONS :

Artistic Director, Marco Müller has announced the following sections for the 9th edition of the festival:

1) New International Cinema | Cinema for Today
A selection of a maximum of 14 feature films of young or already successful directors. The Festival will give priority to feature films that are world premieres.

2) Gala
A selection of some of the year’s most important films, for a maximum of 11 titles. Only feature films that are world premieres, international or European premieres will be considered for selection.

3) Mondo Genere
A selection of 7 films belonging to different film genres. Only feature films that are world, international or European premieres will be considered for selection. The Festival will give priority to feature films that are world premieres.

4) Prospettive Italia
This section aims to highlight the new trends in the Italian cinema. It will present a selection of maximum 8 feature films. Only films presented as world premieres will be considered for selection.

AWARDS :

– Each of the sections carries a People’s Choice Award based on the majority of the audience’s preferences, along with 4 Lifetime Achievement Awards assigned by the President and the Board of Directors.

– In addition to this, TAODUE International Jury will assign the TAODUE Award for first or second film, whereas DOC.IT Association will give out the Prospettive Italia Award for the Best Italian Documentary.

– Films will also be offered the possibility to participate in The Business Street (October, 17-21), Rome Film Festival program dedicated to the circulation, acquisition and sale of audiovisual products

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA :

Rome Film Festival will only consider feature length films as submissions.

– All submitted films must be recent productions completed not prior to Monday 1st December 2013.

– They must not have been presented in any other format or length, not even as works-in-progress, for submission to previous editions of the Festival.

– With the exception of Out of Competition films, under no circumstances may films that have had prior public screenings, have participated in other international festivals or are available on the Internet, be presented at Rome Film Festival

SUBMISSION

To submit a film to the selection, one has to fill out a pre-selection entry form on the official festival website after which the preview DVDs should be sent to Deepti DCunha, the India Consultant to Artistic Director, Marco Müller.

– The DVDs should reach her before 10th August 2014 as the Artistic Director will be visiting India for selections.

– Filmmakers with films in post-production are requested to contact Deepti.

ADDRESS :

All submissions (duly subtitled in English) should be sent to the contact details given below.

Deepti DCunha, 23 – Gautam Niwas, 7-Bungalows, Andheri West, Mumbai 400 053, India

Contact Number: (+91)9820522468 (SMS only), Email: deepti.dcunha@gmail.com

 

RULES & REGULATIONS

– For complete rules and regulations please visit the Festival website at www.romacinemafest.org

– In 2013, ‘Rangabhoomi’ by Kamal Swaroop had its World Premiere at the 8th Rome Film Festival and Amit Dutta’s ‘The Seventh Walk’ was the closing film of the CinemaXXI Section. There was a Special screening of ‘Om Dar B Dar’ by Kamal Swaroop on the occasion of 100 years of Indian Cinema. Prantik Basu’s ‘Makara’ was in CinemaXXI competition.

 

 

Kanu Bahli’s Titli premiered at Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard section. Here’s all the buzz from the Cannes.

(click on any pic to start the slide show)

An enjoyable, character-driven Indian yarn about an emotional family of criminals gets better as it goes on…. Behl shows talent directing a largely non-pro cast, situating them carefully in the squalor of their Delhi surroundings. The family’s cramped apartment is the theater of many domestic dramas but also symbolizes the close ties that bind everyone together, like the humorous intimacy of their noisy tooth-brushing.

All the technical work is top quality. Namrata Rao’s editing keeps the rhythm flowing, while sound effects and music (uncredited) are used to great effect to pump up the mood.

– From The Hollywood Reporter. Full review is here.

To Behl’s credit, as wretched, repulsive and disgusting as his characters often are, it’s impossible to ignore them, because there is a spark of human grace even in the least appealing ones. His cast, mostly consisting of inexperienced actors, instill lots of fiery passion  in their respective roles, with a couple of remarkably intense scenes between Arora and Raghuvanshi standing out among others.

– From Screen Daily review, it’s here.

– Screen Daily interview is here.

– Film critic Anupama Chopra tweeted about it

– A Variety feature on “Titli’s challenges” is here.

– To know more about the film (synopsis, cast, crew, poster, trailer), click here.

(pics from various sources)

Killa

WHAT : A discussion with Indian filmmakers whose films were selected for the Berlin Film Festival 2014. The conversation will include short clips from the selected films, and will be moderated by the Berlin Film Festival’s India Consultant Meenakshi Shedde.

WHEN : Friday, April 25, 6.30 pm

WHERE : Galerie Max Mueller, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, K Dubash Marg, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai 400001.​​ Tel.: +91 22 2202 7542​

​​PANEL : The participants include directors Avinash Arun, Pushpendra Singh and Kush Badhwar; producers Alan McAlex and Sanjay Shah. Directors Jessica Sadana and Samarth Dixit, as well as Rajeev Masand, Entertainment Editor and Film Critic, CNN-IBN, will participate via video clips.

– Killa (The Fort) directed by Avinash Arun, Generation section: Winner, Crystal Bear for Best Film, Generation K-plus section for children. Debut feature. A superb coming-of-age story of young Chinu, whose mother keeps getting transferred, and making peace with the past.

– Alan McAlex of Jar Pictures (with co-founder Ajay G. Rai), has produced/co-produced Killa, Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur 1 and 2, which were at Cannes, and Liar’s Dice, which was at Sundance.

– Lajwanti (The Honour Keeper) directed by Pushpendra Singh (Forum section): Debut feature. A poetic, avant garde Rajasthani love story, between a village woman in a veil and a man obsessed with pigeons.

– Blood Earth directed by Kush Badhwar (Forum Expanded section): The film explores the political resistance of the adivasis in Odisha against a mining venture, through the perspective of their songs, music, noise and silence. Badhwar belongs to the collective Word Sound Power.

– Sanjay Shah: Creative Producer, participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus. His films include Miss Lovely, which was at Cannes. Former Supervising Producer at NFDC, he organized the Co-Production Market at its Film Bazaar last year.

– Jessica Sadana and Samarth Dixit, co-directors of Prabhat Pheri (Journey of Prabhat), Forum section. Debut feature. A fascinating documentary-myth of the FTII campus, previously owned by the Prabhat Film Company Studio, replete with stories of a director reborn as a snake.

– Rajeev Masand, Entertainment Editor and Film Critic, CNN-IBN: he has extensively covered the Berlinale.

– Meenakshi Shedde, India Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival: An independent film festival consultant and film curator, she has curated for festivals worldwide, including Locarno, Toronto (TIFF Bell Lightbox) and Busan. She won the National Award for Best Film Critic.

TOPIC : The Berlin Film Festival, also known as Berlinale, is considered one of the top international film festivals in theworld today. It has also selected far more Indian films than any other A-list festival over the years—includingfeatures, documentaries, short and experimental films. This year was exceptional, as the Berlinale selected a record 12 Indian films, including international films by directors of Indian origin. This reflects the exciting vitality of Indian cinema today, as well as its young talent: three directors, who were selected by Berlin for their first feature films, are still in their 20s. The Marathi film Killa won the Crystal Bear! What was it like, being at the Berlin Film Festival? How did the audience respond? Could this mean an international career? These are some of the questions that will be discussed.

True Love Story

After Titli, one more Indian film is going to Cannes this year. Gitanjali Rao’s 19 min animation short film True Love Story has been selected for Canes Critics Week.

Her earlier short film Printed Rainbow premiered in the same section of Cannes in 2006 and had won three awards. She was also on the jury of Critics Week Short films in 2011.

In her words, True Love Story is a journey through the seductive, treacherous streets of Bombay. In a city soaked in Bollywood dreams, it moves from the fantastical to the viscerally real. True Love Story is a painted ode to romance.

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Time to say we told you so. Here – where we wrote that we are going to hear a lot about Kanu Behl’s Titli in the coming days. And much before anyone else, it was our Varun Grover who saw the film at Goa’s Film Bazaar, wrote about it’s brilliance and predicted that the film has all the potential to travel far. He got this one bang right.

So here’s the big news – Kanu Behl’s debut feature Titli has been selected for this year’s Cannes and will premiere in Un Certain Regard section.

Produced by Dibakar Banerjee Productions and Yash Raj Films, Titli features Ranvir Shorey, Amit Sial and newcomer Shashank Arora 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?

Kanu is an almunus of SRFTI, worked with Dibakar Banerjee on Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, and co-wrote Love, Sex Aur Dhokha.

Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan and Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely had premiered in the same section of Cannes.

And this is what Varun Grover wrote about the film in our year-end post

The best Indian film I saw this year, and hopefully the whole of world will see soon, is Kanu Behl’s ‘Titli’. Seeing it on a desktop computer in IFFI, Goa’s ‘viewing room’ should be counted as an underwhelming, far from ideal setting, and still, this very dark very funny very depressing dastaavez on patriarchy BLEW ME AWAY like nothing this year. Stunning is the word. Breathless is another. Writing so sharp (Kanu Behl and Sharat Kataria co-wrote it) and performances so bang-on, not to mention excellent edgy-gritty cinematography (Siddharth Dewan), this is our best bet for world cinema honors next year.

In what’s turning out to be a most heartening trend in recent years, yet another Indian film has made a name for itself at a prestigious International film festival. Avinash Arun’s directorial debut, the Marathi feature film Killa (The Fort) had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival (better known as the Berlinale). The film was selected in the Generation Kplus competitive category and has won a Crystal Bear from the Children’s Jury and a Special Mention from the International Jury.

About the Prize

In the Generation Kplus section the jury members are no older than those of the audience. Eleven children and seven teens award the best films with Crystal Bears. Special Mentions are given for outstanding achievements. Two international juries present further prizes in the Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus competition.

The film received glowing reviews from both juries. The Children’s Jury, awarding the Crystal Bear said:

“This film convinced us in all respects: with his good camera work and the great actors, but also because of its incredibly beautiful nature images which blend perfectly with the music. This film made us all want to discover India.”

Interestingly, the film also received a Special Mention from the International Jury too:

“A beautifully photographed story about the challenges of being a boy. This film had wonderful pace and rhythm. Never reverting to clichés, the fresh performances left us feeling we were right there with the characters.”

About the Film

Coping with the recent death of his father, Chinu, 11- year old boy moves to a small Konkan town from a big city because of his mother’s job transfer. He finds it difficult to adjust to the new place and finds himself alienated and reluctant to open up to its people. Both Chinu and his mother grapple with their own individual struggles and anxieties in the new town. In the process, they emerge with newer experiences and as newer people, both healed and enriched.

Produced by Madhukar R Musle, Ajay G Rai, Alan McAlex under the banner, Jar Pictures and presented by M R Filmworks, the film was a part of NFDC Film Bazaar’s Work-in-Progress (WIP) Lab in 2013.

It stars Amruta Subhash, Archit Deodhar, Parth Bhalerao and Shrikant Yadav. Here are some stills from the film:

About the Director

Avinash Arun is a Director – Cinematographer from Maharashtra, India. Born in the textile town Solapur in 1985 in a middle class Maharashtrian family, he started assisting in FTII Diploma films at the age of 16. He eventually graduated in Cinematography from FTII in 2011. In 2010, his school project “The Light and Her Shadows” won him the cinematography award in Kodak film school Competition. His diploma film “Allah Is Great” was the official entry from India for Student Oscars. It also won several awards including the National award in 2012. Avinash has worked on “Kai Po Che!” (Berlinale Panorama section 2012), Deool (National Award winner 2011). Killa is his first feature film as director. He is also the cinematographer on this film.

Avinash has also shot Vasan Bala‘s short film ‘Geek Out’, which we’ve featured previously on this blog.

Watch the short below:

— Posted by @diaporesis

If you are regular reader of the blog, you probably know his name. Neeraj Ghaywan is part of the editorial team and is a regular contributor to the blog. So it’s a great news for all of us. Yay! Yay! Yay!

Sundance Institute and Mahindra today announced the winners of the 2014 Sundance Institute | Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, in recognition and support of emerging independent filmmakers from around the world. The winning directors and projects are Hong Khaou, MONSOON from Vietnam/UK; Tobias Lindholm, A WAR from Denmark; Ashlee Page, ARCHIVE from Australia; and Neeraj Ghaywan, FLY AWAY SOLO from India.

– Each of the four winning filmmakers will receive a cash award of $10,000, attendance at the Sundance Film Festival for targeted industry and creative meetings, year-round mentoring from Institute staff and creative advisors, eligibility to participate in a Sundance Institute Lab, and ongoing creative and strategic support from Sundance Institute’s renowned Feature Film Program.

More details about the winners and their films –

Hong Khaou / MONSOON (Vietnam/UK): Two young men visit present day Vietnam, and are confronted with the war’s ramifications nearly forty years after its end.

Hong Khaou’s debut feature film Lilting premiered in World Cinema Competition at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.  The film stars Ben Whishaw and Cheng Pei Pei. He is also the director of three short films, including Spring, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, and Summer, which premiered at the 2006 Berlinale. This year, Hong was named one of the Stars of Tomorrow by Screen International.

Tobias Lindholm / A WAR (Denmark):  The major of a Danish unit in Afghanistan faces the consequences of his actions in the aftermath of his most dangerous mission..

Tobias Lindholm graduated as a screenwriter from the National Film School of Denmark in 2007, and has collaborated with Thomas Vinterberg as co-writer on Submarino and Oscar nominee The Hunt. In 2010 he wrote and directed his first feature film in collaboration with Michael Noer, and in 2012 he wrote and directed the critical acclaimed A hijacking.

Ashlee Page / ARCHIVE (Australia): With the help of a supercomputer, an isolated 16-year-old girl grows plant life on Saturn’s moon Titan in the hope of one day restoring Earth’s ecosystems. But when an unexpected accident leads her to the moon’s surface, she discovers evidence that her mission is a lie and that her life is in danger.

Ashlee Page is an Australian writer and director. Her multi-award winning short The Kiss screened at Busan, Clermont-Ferrand, Palm Springs and Tribeca film festivals. Her most recent work is on the film compendium The Turning, adapted from the novel by Tim Winton. Archive is her first feature film.

Neeraj Ghaywan / FLY AWAY SOLO (India): Four lives intersect along the Ganges river: a lower-caste boy in a hopeless love, a daughter torn with guilt, a father sinking in greed, and a spirited kid craving a family, all yearning to escape the constrictions of a small-town.

Neeraj Ghaywan worked with Anurag Kashyap on the veteran director’s two-part opus Gangs of Wasseypur and as the second unit director on Ugly.  His short films as writer-director include Shor and The Epiphany. Shor won the grand jury prize at three International film festivals.

– The script of Fly Away Solo is been written by Varun Grover.

– You can watch Neeraj’s short films Shor and Epiphany here and here. And click here to read a post by him on the making of Shor.

– Also, Love.Love.Love, a short documentary directed by FTII student Sandhya Daisy Sundaram, won the Short Film Special Jury award for non-fiction at the ongoing Sundance Film Festival. More details here.