Archive for the ‘Press release’ Category

Netflix Announces Eight New Original Films And One New Original Series From India

Posted: November 11, 2018 by Amit Sharma in cinema, film, Press release
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Netflix concluded its inaugural content event in Asia, “See What’s Next: Asia” with a celebration of the company’s rapidly growing diverse content slate in India. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and chief content officer Ted Sarandos joined performers and creators from India to announce eight original films and a new original series. The showcase also included updates on four Indian original series that were previously announced.

“We celebrate India today with an incredible line-up of original films and series that are right now filming across India. This line-up cuts across genres from horror to fantasy and in locations from Leh to Mumbai. The breadth of stories with its local settings and complex characters is incredible and we can’t wait for people to discover and fall in love with them,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer for Netflix.

The “Celebrating India” session at the event saw media and influencers from 11 countries across Asia witness the breadth and depth of Netflix Indian Originals. The updates on four original series include:

  • A trailer for Rajma Chawal, a humorous family drama set in Chandni Chowk, New Delhi, which is set to release globally on Netflix on November 30, 2018. Rishi Kapoor, Amyra Dastur, Aparshakti Khurana and Anirudh Tanwar act in the film, directed by Leena Yadav.
  • A teaser trailer for Selection Day, a series based on Aravind Adiga’s book of the same name. Produced by Anil Kapoor Film Company and Seven Stories Ltd, Selection Day is a coming-of-age drama about two brothers who are raised by their strict, obsessive father to be star cricket players.
  • The cast of upcoming series Baahubali: Before the Beginning, with Mrunal Thakur as Sivagami, Rahul Bose as Skandadasa, Atul Kulkarni, Vaquar Shaikh, Jameel Khan, Siddharth Arora and Anup Soni.
  • The cast of Leila, a dystopian fiction series produced by Deepa Mehta, including Huma Qureshi in the title role and Siddharth Suryanarayan.

Netflix rounded off these updates with the announcement of a new original series:

Typewriter is about a haunted house and a haunted book that stir the imagination of a group of young, wannabe ghost hunters, and a dog, determined to capture the ghost that plagues the notorious home in their neighbourhood in Goa. When a new family and their captivating daughter move into the haunted home, the crew finds it difficult to balance the demands of school and chores with the renewed urgency to capture the neighbourhood ghost before it is too late.

Underlining its investment in original films in India, Netflix unveiled eight new original Indian films spanning genres and involving the best of established and new Indian talent:

Chopsticks is about an under-confident but talented girl, sidestepped at every stage of her life, who seeks out an enigmatic con to help recover her stolen car from a goat-loving, crazy Mumbai gangster. In the process, she finds her confidence and place in the sun. Along with Mithila Palkar who won hearts in Netflix series Little Things 02, Abhay Deol and Vijay Raaz will act in the film. Chopsticks is produced by Ashvini Yardi of Vineyard Productions and directed by Sachin Yardi.

Bulbul, produced by Anushka Sharma and Karnesh Sharma’s Clean Slate Films, is a period piece set in a vibrant atmosphere amidst age-old beliefs and superstitions. Satya and his brother’s child bride, Bulbul, were inseparable until he was sent to England for his education. On his return, he finds Bulbul has been abandoned by his brother and now lives a solitary existence as the enigmatic lady-of-the-palace, dedicating herself to the welfare of the people. But their ancestral village is plagued by mysterious deaths and stories of a haunting by a woman who lives in the trees. Satya must find the truth behind the lore and save his village from the evil “chudail with the inverted feet”.

Upstarts is a bromance about three college graduates from small-town India, captivated by the startup mania sweeping the country. As they enter the rollercoaster startup ecosystem of big dreams, big money and bigger sharks, they are faced with a big choice – their dreams, or their friendship. Directed by Udai Singh Pawar, Upstarts is produced by Raja Menon, Janani Ravichandran and Jawahar Sharma of Bandra West Productions. This film is supported by real-life heroes from the startup world in Bengaluru.

Cobalt Blue, based on the best-selling novel of the same name, is the story of a brother and sister who fall in love with the same man, and how a traditional Marathi family is shattered by the ensuing events. This story brings out the pain and the beauty of forbidden love, and is written and directed by Sachin Kundalkar.

15th August, produced by Madhuri Dixit, is set in a Mumbai chawl, and follows the course of a single day as its residents prepare for the flag-hoisting ceremony. This Marathi film is about the struggles of middle-class India and in a soaring climax, it is about how love sets us free.

Music Teacher, directed by Sarthak Dasgupta, is a story about an emotionally troubled music teacher, essayed by Manav Kaul, who gets a chance to come to terms with his bitterness with an estranged student, now a renowned celebrity singer of Bollywood. The music teacher vows to get back everything he lost in the past risking all his achievements in the present day.

Hotel Mumbai tells the astonishing true story of the victims and survivors of the devastating attacks on Mumbai in 2008. The film directed by Anthony Maras stars Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, Anupam Kher, Jason Isaacs. This film is available on Netflix in the SAARC region only.

Firebrand, directed by Aruna Raje and produced by Priyanka Chopra, Firebrand is a Marathi Film that follows a successful lawyer, a sexual assault victim played by Usha Jadhav, as she tackles difficult family cases while also dealing with intimacy issues in her own marriage. Girish Kulkarni essays the role of her husband Madhav Patkar, an architect by profession. Sachin Khedekar and Rajeshwari Sachdev play a couple in the movie which is high on drama.

About Netflix

Netflix is the world’s leading internet entertainment service with 130 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.

Call For Entries: Global Dialogues Contest

Posted: March 6, 2014 by moifightclub in Call For Entries, cinema, Contests, Press release
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What’s the Global Dialogues contest all about?
Global Dialogues invites you to come up with an original idea for a short film about HIV/AIDS, sexuality, violence against women, or alcohol, drugs & sex. The best ideas will be turned into films by some of world’s greatest directors and young cinema talents. The Global Dialogues films, each proudly displaying the young authors’ names, are viewed by millions of people every year on TV and on the Internet. You can see the films they’ve produced so far at http://www.youtube.com/globaldialogues

Who can participate?
The Global Dialogues contest is open to all young people worldwide who will be under the age of 25 on 31 March 2014. (If you are older than that, you may participate by working in a team led by someone who is under 25.)

When’s the deadline?
All entries must be submitted by midnight GMT on 31 March 2014.

What are the contest prizes?
The contest entries will be examined by a series of juries. There will be 20 winners of the international contest. Each of these winners or winning teams will receive a cash prize of US$125, as well as the possibility of having a film based on their idea made and shown on TV and the Web. In addition, the top 3 winners or winning teams will receive special cash prizes:

Grand Prize: US$2,500
Second Place: US$1,250
Third Place: US$625

Winners of the international contest will receive their prizes on or before 31 July 2014 at the address they give on their Participant Questionnaire. Only one prize will be given to each winning team.

How to participate?

Topics: Your idea can be about any topic related to HIV/AIDS, sexuality, violence against women, or alcohol, drugs & sex. On the next page, you’ll find a list of suggested topics that you can use if you wish.

Story form and language: It’s up to you to decide what form your idea will take. Most participants in Global Dialogues contests write short stories, but you can also send in a video, a theatre play, a comic strip, a song, a poem.… Anything is possible as long as the text is in one of the official Global Dialogues languages: English, French, German, Hindi, Bahasa Indonesia, Kiswahili, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish. Length. If you write a story, it may be up to 10 pages long (maximum). Recorded songs or videos may not be longer than 10 minutes.

Resources: As you create your idea, please talk to organisations or individuals in your community who can provide you with good information on the contest issues, or visit credible sources of information online. You can take part alone or in a team.

For more info, get in touch with the Global Dialogues team on Twitter, Facebook or on their Official Website.

Nisha Pahuja’s Award-Winning Docu “The World Before Her” Gets a Release Date

Posted: March 5, 2014 by moifightclub in cinema, Documentary, film, News, Press release, Trailer
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Some of us had the privilege of watching Nisha Pahuja’s critically-acclaimed, controversial and undoubtedly brilliant documentary “The World Before Her” last year, and had nothing but praise for it. In fact, we even wrote about it at length and put it on our Must Watch film recco list. We’re now delighted to announce that after having a theatrical release in US and Canada, and winning accolades and top awards in the prestigious International film festivals, the film will get a release in India via PVR Director’s Rare in 6 cities — Bombay, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad and Bangalore — on April 25. More about the film below.

the-world-before-her-copy

Synopsis

The World Before Her tells the story of girls competing in the Miss India Pageant and those taking part in the VHP’s Durga Vahini camps. It is a tale of two Indias. In one, Ruhi Singh is a small-town girl competing in Bombay to win the Miss India pageant—a ticket to stardom in a country wild about beauty contests. In the other India, Prachi Trivedi is the young, militant leader of a fundamentalist Hindu camp for girls run by Durga Vahini, where she preaches violent resistance to Western culture, Christianity, and Islam. Moving between these divergent realities, the film creates a lively, provocative portrait of the world’s largest democracy at a critical transitional moment—and of two women who hope to shape its future. The film also features former Miss India Pooja Chopra who was a near victim of female infanticide. Watch the trailer below:

The writer and the director of the film, Nisha Pahuja who is the first filmmaker to get inside a Durga Vahini camp says,

“I am thrilled to finally present the film to audiences in India!  Although we’ve had a great run with it abroad, I’ve always felt that it needs to be seen in India because it is first and foremost an Indian story.  And sharing it now is key since women’s rights has become an issue that is front and centre in the public consciousness.”

The award winning film is shot by the ace cinematographer and FTII graduate, Mrinal Desai and Derek Rogers.

Apart from the theatrical release, the film will be screened in various cities, villages, schools and colleges across the nation as a part of its ambitious nation-wide campaign. The film is being shown at the prestigious educational institutes including Symbiosis,  IIT and IIM institutes across the country. Joining the campaign are women’s rights activist and some of the incredible women featured in the film including the former beauty queen Pooja Chopra.

Awards and Accolades

The award winning film which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2012 has been screened in more than 125 film festivals across the world and has won over 19 awards including best documentary feature at the Tribeca Film Festival 2012, best Canadian Feature, 2012 Hot Docs Film FestivaL, best Foreign Film, 2012 Traverse City Film FestivaL, best Canadian Documentary, 2012 Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards. It was recently featured in the ‘Film Forward’ program of the prestigious Sundance film festival and was part of Indiana University Cinema program where Pahuja was invited to present and speak about the film along with other speakers including Meryl Streep, Abbas Kirostami and Roger Corman.

About the director

Nisha Pahuja is a freelance filmmaker, writer, producer, and researcher who was born in India, but grew up in Toronto. Her third film, The World Before Her won the World Documentary Competition Award at Tribeca Film Festival, where it premiered. Though she grew up in Toronto, this is her second film focusing on India. She makes films that deal with social and political issues and are driven by character and narrative.

For further information on the film please log onto the website.

After Pancham Unmixed, Brahmanand Siingh working on Kaghaz Ki Kashti – biography film on Jagjit Singh

Posted: February 13, 2014 by moifightclub in cinema, Documentary, film, Indie, News, Press release
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After the success of Pancham Unmixed, the National Award-winning film on RD Burman, filmmaker Brahmanand Siingh is now working on another feature length biopic, this time on legendary ghazal maestro, Jagjit Singh, titled “Kagaz Ki Kashti…”

“Kaghaz Ki Kashti…” is planned to be an evocative account of a down-to-earth small town boy from Rajasthan who became a legend in no time, but not without his share of struggle. In the process, the film will capture that extra something in his music that gave his compositions a certain polish and a soul at the same time which delighted millions of listeners across countries, cultures and age segments.

Through visual and sensory experiences, the film intends to take us on a journey of his choice of poetry — simple but touching world of Urdu lyrics that he chose to sing (sometimes nazms, sometimes ghazals), setting them to soulful tunes and introducing western instrumentation to make them textured, contemporary, and rich. The film will also take us back in time and trace the zigzag marathon run by a man with passion, fire, and soulful melodies within him, which kept him alight all through his luminous career as well as in some difficult personal times, all with a seamless and gripping narrative.

The lyrical film aims to use his music and the poems he chose to tell his own story of love and loss, of tribulations and triumphs. In the process, the film creates a warm portrayal of the man behind the visible, and the artist behind his creations.

Brahmanand’s previous film “Pancham Unmixed” went on to become a big success at film festivals and won two National Awards, among many others, and was a big draw at over 40 International film festivals.

– For all the updates on the film, click here to go to its FB page.

(via press release)

NFDC Labs launches partnership with Venice Biennale, Venice Film Festival & Gucci

Posted: October 12, 2012 by moifightclub in Call For Entries, cinema, film, News, Press release, Workshop
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From press release

~ Three final projects will be funded with rupees one crore each~

~The completed projects will premier at the Venice Film Festival 2013~

NFDC Labs, the training and development division of NFDC (National Film Development Corporation), announces the launch of a very exciting partnership with Venice Biennale, Venice Film Festival and Gucci. This partnership has been formed with an objective to reach out to the filmmakers community across the globe, with NFDC Labs reaching out to the filmmakers in India.

While the entire initiative will be sponsored by Gucci and Venice Biennale, Gucci will fully cover lab costs and accommodations for the resident workshop(s) and include the possibility of travel scholarships for successful teams selected from outside of Europe.

The initiative is a unique incentive for micro budget films from across the world, which will support teams of directors and their producers to make their first or second feature length audio-visual work. A community of selected film makers from around the world will work alongside an invited team of international experts and tutors to the aesthetics of micro-budget filmmaking and the new integrated models of production, which engage with an audience from the outset.

Modalities: After a first 10-day workshop in Venice for 15 selected projects in January 2013, up to 3 teams will be invited to a second 15-day workshop between February and March and supported with 150.000€ in order to produce and screen the projects at the 2013 Venice International Film Festival.

Commenting on the launch of the partnership, Marten Rabarts, Head- Development and Training, said, “It’s a very exciting initiative that we at NFDC Labs have partnered for with Venice Film Festival, and Gucci. With this we will leverage our platform and network to reach out to filmmakers in India and give them a brilliant chance to get work with a international experts and get funding for their project, once selected. Venice

The Call for Applications is open from the 30th of August 2012 to the 22nd of October 2012 only to teams of directors making their first or second feature and producers with varying degrees of expertise who must have produced at least 3 short films distributed and/or presented at Festivals. 

To know more about all the details, click here.