Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Anurag Kashyap’s Mukkabaaz, Hansal Mehta’s Omerta, & Bornila Chatterjee’s The Hungry To Premiere At TIFF, 2017

Posted: July 25, 2017 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, first look, Indie, News, pics
Tags: , , , , , , ,
2

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has unveiled the first set of film titles premiering in the Gala and Special Presentations programmes in this year’s edition of the fest. Three Indian films will have there world premiere at Toronto. All the three films are part of Special Presentations.

Anurag Kashyap’s latest film Mukkebaaz is titled The Brawler for the fest edition. The 145-min long film is about a lower caste boxer struggling to make his mark on the boxing world. The film stars Vineet Singh in the lead role.

Hansal Mehta’s Omerta recounts the story of infamous British-born terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who kidnapped and murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002. It stars Raj Kummar Rao in the lead and is 96 minutes long.

The third one is Bornilla Chatterjee’s The Hungry. It relocates Shakespeare’s bloody tragedy Titus Andronicus to modern-day India, where corruption, greed, and revenge run rampant at an extravagant wedding.

Ritesh Batra’s ‘Our Souls At Night’ at Venice, Anup Singh’s ‘The Song of Scorpions’ at Locarno

Posted: July 17, 2017 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, News
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

Ritesh Batra’s new film, Our Souls at Night, will have its world premiere at Venice International Film Festival in an out-of-competition slot. The film stars Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. Both the actors will also be honored with Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement at the 74th edition of the fest.

Based on the novel by Kent Haruf and adapted for screen by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, Our Souls At Night is set in Colorado, and begins when Addie Moore (Fonda) pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor Louis Waters (Redford). Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town, they’d been neighbors for decades but had little contact. Netflix is launching the film globally next year. (via Deadline)

The fest will run from Aug. 30 till Sept. 9, 2017

The Song of Scorpions directed by Anup Singh, starring Irrfan Khan and Golshifteh Farahani will have its world première at Locarno Film Festival. The festival is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.

The Song of Scorpions is a story of twisted love, revenge and the redemptive power of a song. Nooran, carefree and defiantly independent, is a tribal woman learning the ancient art of healing from her grandmother, a revered scorpion-singer. When Aadam, a camel trader in the Rajasthan desert, hears her sing, he falls desperately in love. But even before they can get to know each other better, Nooran is poisoned by a brutal treachery that sets her on a perilous journey to avenge herself and find her song.

The Locarno Film Festival runs from Aug. 2-12, 2017.

Call For Entries : Film Bazaar’s Co-Production Market, 2017

Posted: July 4, 2017 by moifightclub in Call For Entries, Indie, News
Tags: , , ,
0

The National Film Development Corporation officially announces Call for Entries for the 11th Year of Filmbazaar Co-Production Market.

The Co-Production Market presents a list of curated projects to the national and international film professionals attending Film Bazaar.

– The Market kicks off with Open Pitch where participants present their projects through Video Pitches to an audience of investors, producers and financiers.

– The four days of the market are earmarked for one on one meetings specially scheduled for each project.

Over the years, the dedicated team has honed its skills for matching projects with the right delegates. Dedicated online and print catalogues consisting of all project details are available for Film Bazaar attendees interested in Co-Production Market projects. The market also conducts an orientation session to familiarize participants to Open Pitch as well as the working of the Co-Production Market and Film Bazaar.

– Full length fiction feature projects with South Asian themes are invited to apply.

– The Early Bird Deadline for submissions is July 5th, 2017.

– The Regular Deadline is August 7th 2017.

– The Extended Deadline is August 21st 2017.

– The Market will be held between 20 – 24th November, 2017 at Film Bazaar, Goa.

– Click www.filmbazaarindia.com for Application Forms and more details

– For further queries, write to: coproduction@filmbazaarindia.com

– CPM Projects Over the Years:

 

Lipstick Under My Burkha (CPM 2013),  Newton, Amit Masurkar (CPM 2015), Mantra, Nicholas Khargaonkar, Song of the Scorpions (Anup Singh CPM 2013), Beyond the Known World (Pan Nalin, CPM 2012), Lady of the Lake, Manto, Court, Chauthi Koot, Titli, Liar’s Dice, Arunoday, Highway,Television, Chauranga, Qissa, LSD, Paltadacho Munis, That girl with Yellow Boots, Anurag Kashyap Deool, Karma, Shanghai, Miss Lovely, Mumbai Cha Raja, As the River Flows, Shor in the City, 28.

– Some of the people who have attended the Co Production Market at Film Bazaar are Chedomir Kolar [ Producer No Man’s Land], Mustofa Sarwar Farooki [Director Television], Michael Werner [Fortissimo Films ], Chris Paton [San Sebastian Film Festival], Christian Jeune [Cannes Film Festival], Kristen Niehuus [Medien Board, Berlin-Brandenburg] Remi Burah [Arte France Cinema], Anurag Kashyap, Madhu Mantena, Manish Mundhra, Sooni Taraporewala, Sabiha Sumar [Director Khamosh Pani], Guneet Monga, Nandita Das, Govind Nihalani, Shyam Benegal, Pablo Bertolini [Venice Film Festival], Charles Tesson [Cemaine de la Crtique Cannes Film Festival], Aviva Silver [NEA cinema, Belgium], Anup Singh [Director Quissa],Catherine Dussart [Producer Chautih Koot France], Ramesh Sippy, Kabir Khan, Sheeladitya Bora, Marco Muller, [Beijing Film Festival], Benjamin Illos [Director’s Fortnight, Cannes]

 

Abhishek Verma’s “Maccher Jhol” Bagged “City Of Annecy” Award

Posted: June 17, 2017 by moifightclub in animation, Film Festival, News, short film
Tags: , , , ,
0

Abhishek Verma’s 12-minute long animated film Maacher Jhol (The Fish Curry) has won the “City Of Annecy” Award at the prestigious Annecy International Animated Film Festival. The award was started last year and was set up to support new filmmakers or films from emerging film markets, collaborative films or films that offer unique perspectives on the world we live in or the state of animation. It was selected in the “Perspectives” section of the fest. It also bagged the best short film award at the 8th Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival.

Here’s the fest synopsis of the film –

Lalit, 28, decides to come out to his parents. In order to reveal his sexuality, seeking acceptance, he cooks his father’s favourite fish curry. Will his dad love the delicious dish?

Click here to read an interview of the filmmaker. And here’s the film’s trailer –

 

 

 

 

Payal Kapadia’s short ‘Afternoon Clouds’ Selected For Cannes Cinéfondation

Posted: April 13, 2017 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, News, short film
Tags: , , , , , ,
1

Cannes Film Festival has announced the official selection of shorts for the 70th edition of the festival. Payal Kapadia’s short film, Afternoon Clouds, has been selected for the Cinéfondation forum.

Payal is a third-year student of direction at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. Her 13-minute short film is among 16 films chosen, from among 2,600 works submitted this year.

Afternoon Clouds depicts a 60-year old widow, who lives with her Nepali maid, Malati. The entire movie revolves around a single afternoon in their house. This film features Usha Naik and Trimala Adhikari.

A jury presided over by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu will decide the winners. The three Cinéfondation prizes will be awarded at a ceremony preceding the screening of the prize-winning films on Friday 26th May in the Buñuel Theatre.

The Story Is Lady Oriented. Their Fantasy Above Life – WTF Is CBFC Smoking?

Posted: February 23, 2017 by moifightclub in film, Indie, News, WTF
Tags: , , , ,
1

Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) has refused to certify Alankrita Srivastava’s film Lipstick Under My Burkha. And the reason given are pure WTF. Here is the letter issued by CBFC. Do read.

5f47e6f6-9ceb-4fd1-b0e2-391b6bb4b5e1

Click here to read the full report. This is not the first time that they have been so dumb about certifying a film. And this surely won’t be the last. With bonafide morons at the helm of affairs, what else can one expect.

And the best part is the film has been doing the fest rounds for quite some time and has been getting some great reviews.

 

Amit Masurkar’s Newton & Amar Kaushik’s Aaba Won Awards At Berlinale, 2017

Posted: February 19, 2017 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, Indie, News
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

The 2017 edition of Berlin International Film Festival has come to an end and the awards were declared tonight. Some good news for two Indian films at the Berlinale – Amit Masurkar’s Newton and Amar Kaushik’s Aaba.

Newton was given the CICAE Art Cinema Award in the Forum section of the fest. The “Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai” (C.I.C.A.E.), the International Confederation of Art House Cinemas, forms one jury for the Panorama and one for the Forum. Each jury awards one prize in its section. Pedro Barbadillo, Tanja Milicic and Rainer Wothe were in the jury panel for Forum section.

CICAE was founded in 1956 by the national art house cinema associations of Germany, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland as an international lobby or pressure-group in order to support the art cinema sector and to protect the cinematographic diversity against the supremacy of so-called commercial filmmaking. Since then it unites about 3000 independent as well as already nationally associated art house cinemas, 15 festivals and a certain number of film distributors from approximately 30 countries from all over the world in an international umbrella association.

The Art Cinema Award is awarded twelve times a year to art house films at certain cooperating festivals such as the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, Panorama and Berlin International Film Festival in Berlin and the Venice Film Festival.

Amar’s Kaushik’s Aaba has been awarded the Special Prize of the Generation Kplus International Jury for the Best Short Film. This includes cash award of  € 2,500 by the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk (The Children’s Charity of Germany). The jury noted that it tells a story of the circle of life in an elegiac and slow pace with a beautiful cinematography.

Vengeance Is All That They Are There For – Filmmaker Gurvinder Singh On The Latest FTII Controversy

Posted: February 17, 2017 by moifightclub in cinema, Indie, News
Tags: , , ,
2

Filmmaker Gurvinder Singh has been quite vocal about the steps that the Government has taken regarding Film and Television Institute Of India (FTII) in the last two years. He criticised Gajendra Singh’s appointment, and also refused the National Award last year in protest against the choices made by the jury. Now, there is another controversy regarding a diploma film which was being shot. Click here to read about it.

On his FB page, Gurvinder has clarified his stand on the controversy.

Some stills from ‘Sea of Lost Time’, the diploma film for acting students of FTII which I was directing but stopped midway due to exceeding the ‘shooting ratio’!

The real reasons though lie elsewhere. ‘Shooting ratio’ is a relic from the age of shooting on film stock. One student was rusticated just before the shoot started. He filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court challenging his rustication and pleading he be allowed to act in the film. I gave a statement stating if the court allows he can join the shoot. Which is what the court did. That made the FTII administration, and specially the Head of Department of Acting, Tom Alter, see red. And dutifully the axe fell on the shoot.

The reason: I had exceeded the shooting ratio! Yes, I did. But the norm was thrown at me after the shoot started. I even offered to delete the excessive footage and comply with the norm for rest of the shoot if the norm was so vital to the shooting of the film. But no. All pleas fell on deaf ears. I was given a letter asking to proceed with editing the half-shot film! The entire class and the crew of the film are being penalised for supporting the rusticated student. I wonder if the film will be completed ever.

But we shall fight! The work of the students and all of us who have worked hard on the film deserves to be seen. But the film under production is of no concern to the administration of the Institute. All they care for is ‘norms’ and ‘rules’, which helps them in their vendetta. Tom Alter, backed by the Director and the Chairman of the Institute, and I suppose with full backing of the I&B ministry, have all ganged up to stop this shoot. This is what happens when you appoint mediocre people who have no eligibility to head such institutes.

Vengeance is all that they are there for.

He also shared some stills from the shoot. Click on any still to start the slide show.

(PS – And if you are philistine like this current Government or Gajendra Chauhan, bit on Gurvinder here – An alumni of FTII, Gurvinder Singh is one of the most promising and fearless young filmmaking talent in the current generation. Chauthi Koot (The Fourth Direction) premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2015. His debut feature film, Anhe Ghorey De Daan, was selected to premiere at Venice International Film Festival. And it bagged 3 National Film Awards – For Direction, Cinematography, and for Best Punjabi Film)

Call For Entries : NFDC Screenwriters’ Lab

Posted: February 11, 2017 by moifightclub in Call For Entries, News, Screenwriting, Workshop, writing
Tags: ,
0

emb1

NFDC Screenwriters’ Lab, a 2-part workshop is designed to prepare screenwriters’ with original Indian stories for working with the international filmmaking market place. It aims at improving a completed screenplay in its final stages and to increase the international marketability of the same.

ELIGIBILITY
  • Open only for Indian citizens residing in India
  • Open only for feature length fiction films
HOW TO APPLY
  • Create a MyFilmBazaar Account.
  • Use this ID to access the online application form.
  • The Regular Deadline for applications is 3 March 2017 (6 pm IST).
  • The Extended Deadline for applications is 13 March 2017 (6 pm IST).
  • Applications will not be considered complete till the payment has been processed.
  • Email/hardcopy applications will not be accepted.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Before you begin, please make sure you have the following:

  • Logline
  • Short Synopsis (500 – 600 words)
  • Writer’s Statement (500 words)
  • Updated Bio

In addition, you have the option of submitting either

  • Full Screenplay

OR

  • Story Synopsis (6 -10 pages | 12 point font, single spaced, 1” margin)
  • First 20 pages of the Screenplay ( in industry accepted format)

Shortlisted applicants will be called for an interview, either in person or on Skype (in the month of April)

DATES FOR THE LAB
  • Session 1 – end of May 2017
  • Session 2 – 6 weeks after Session 1 concludes
  • Session 3 – 8 weeks after Session 2 concludes
  • 20 – 24 Nov, 2017 – Film Bazaar
FEE
  • INR 3000 for applications submitted on or before the Regular Deadline, 3 March 2017 (6 PM IST).
  • INR 5000 for applications submitted after the Regular Deadline from 4 March to 13 March 2017 (6 PM IST).
CONTACT
  • For further clarifications, write to screenwriters-lab@filmbazaarindia.com.
  • For more details, and to apply, click here.

Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s Sexy Durga Wins Hivos Tiger Award At International Film Festival Rotterdam

Posted: February 4, 2017 by moifightclub in Awards, cinema, Film Festival, Indie, Malayalam, News
Tags: , , ,
2

Great news coming from the ongoing International Film Festival Rotterdam. Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s film Sexy Durga has won the top award (Hivos Tiger Award) at the main competition section of the fest.

The Hivos Tiger Award is the festival’s flagship competition. This year, eight new films competed for the coveted Hivos Tiger Competition award, which is accompanied by a €40.000 cash prize. The jury admired the film Sexy Durga : “For its daring and resourceful approach in creating a mood of constant tension, providing an insight into multi-layered power dynamics of gender, class and authority.”

Trailer

Official Synopsis

Goddess or whore? Two extreme views of women intermingle in this largely improvised spine-chiller. During a nocturnal ride, a young woman and her lover encounter a cross-section of Indian male society. What starts out as an attempt to escape descends into a journey through hell – from which no escape is possible.

This ominous road movie about two lovers on the run is interspersed with footage of a Hindu festival in the southern Indian province of Kerala. Men dance ecstatically, walk across red-hot coals and push metal skewers through their faces. Some are hauled into the air on metal hooks stuck through the skin of their backs and thighs, dangling above the crowd like the mythical eagle Garuda. All in honour of Kali, embodiment of the rage of the mother goddess, Durga. Her likeness – four arms bearing her weapons and a severed head – is carried through the village in procession.

Durga is also the name of a young woman trying in the dead of night to take a train to a far-off destination with her lover, Kabeer. First they have to reach the station, for which they depend on the kindness of strangers. But the help offered to them quickly takes on dubious forms; the police are too involved in their own business and the isolation of the night completes the oppressive atmosphere.

Sanal Kumar Sasidharan made his previous feature film, An Off-Day Game, without a script; for Sexy Durga he even dispensed with a pre-set narrative. Here, he investigates how obsessiveness and worship can quickly degenerate in a patriarchal society into a mentality of oppression and abuse of power.

Director

After completing studies in Zoology and Law, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan (1977, India) started work as a lawyer. As a film fanatic, he used his network to found Kazhcha Film Forum, a crowdfunding platform for the production of independent films. This provided a financial basis to make his own films. Kumar Sasidharan’s short and feature films have received many awards in international film festivals.

Filmography

Wonder World (2001, short), Parole (2008, short), Frog (2012, short), Oraalppokkam/Six Feet Height (2014), Ozhivudivasathe Kali/An Off-Day Game (2015), Sexy Durga (2017)

 

Older Entries
Newer Entries