MFF, 2016 – Films You Should Not Miss (Part 2)

Posted: October 16, 2016 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, Movie Recco, Mumbai Film Festival, World Cinema
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Our MFF-Recco post continues. If you missed the 1st part of ‘Films You Should Not Miss’ at Mumbai Film Festival, click here. The post covers reccos from World Cinema, International Competition, Rendezvous, and After Dark category.

This is the last part of the series by Shazia Iqbal.

THE WAR SHOW

Director: Andreas Dalsgaard, Obaidah Zytoon. Country: Syria, Denmark. Language: Arabic

The Arab Spring changed Syria and the Middle East forever. In March 2011, radio host, Obaidah Zytoon decided to capture the significant historical change along with her friends, and began filming their lives and events around them. But as the regime’s violent response spirals the country into a bloody civil war, their hopes for a better future are tested by violence, imprisonment and death.

There are a thousands stories in every corner in Syria. Alan Kurdi’s lifeless body and Omar Daqneesh’s traumatised motionless face created international media wave though eventually we will forget them. That is why we need more documentaries, more reminders of the ongoing conflict in Syria. So the world doesn’t forget the numb faces of Syrian children.

The jury at Venice Film festival called, The War Show, a must see movie that “provoked an impassioned response from the jury. We were immediately struck by the political and social significance and urgency of the film, while also appreciating its daring and innovative approach to filmmaking.” It will be a difficult watch but a must see. It won the won the Venice Days Award, the top nod in Venice’s independently run section.

THE BAULKHAM HILL AFRICAN LADIES TROUPE

Director: Ros Harin. Country: Australia. Language: English

The world is facing its biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War. Apart from housing people, largely from the Middle East and Africa, how do you rehabilitate and heal people hurting from the post-war trauma and integrate them into a peaceful society. Ros Harin found dramatic Art as a way for these refugee women to liberate themselves of their suffering.

The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe is based on an Australian theater production of the same name and features four refugee women who fled conflict, rape and brutality in Africa -including a former child soldier in Eritrea and another who trekked across the Sahara to escape war – who play themselves on stage.

 Trailer here

APPRENTICE

Director: Boo Junfeng. Country: Singapore, Germany, France, Hongkong, Qatar. Language: English, Malay

Boo Junfeng’s prison drama dealing with Capital punishment and its stringent laws in Singapore is country’s Foreign Language film entry to Oscars – a story that not only explores the psychology of executioners but also the suffering of the criminal’s family.

Aiman, a correctional officer is transferred to a maximum-security prison. He strikes up a friendship with Rahim, who is revealed to be the chief executioner of the prison, the longest serving and the most prolific one. When Rahim’s assistant suddenly quits, he asks Aiman to become his apprentice. Aiman has to overcome his conscience and a past that haunts him to become the executioner’s apprentice, the same man who executed his father.

Was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Trailer here

DIAMOND ISLAND

Director: Davy Chou. Country: Cambodia. Language: Khmer

Davy Chou’s feature debut, Diamond Island is a coming-of-age story of an adolescent boy from Cambodian provinces, who moves into a big city to do a menial construction worker job at the titular luxury complex. Here he is reunited with his missing older brother. Hollywood reporter reviewed it as “Reminiscent of both Satyajit Ray’s Aparajito in its fish-out-of-water account of a kid trying to make it in the city and of Tsai Ming-liang’s Rebels of the Neon Gods in its portrayal of disaffected Asian youth”. A Critics’ Week selection at Cannes, it won the SACD prize for the Best Screenplay.

Trailer here

GODLESS (Bezbog)

Director: Ralitza Petrova. Country: Bulgaria, Denmark, France. Language: Bulgarian

Gana, a morphine addict medical aid, steals ID from her vulnerable elderly patients suffering from dementia, and traffics them in the black market along with her boyfriend with whom she is in a sexless relationship that doesn’t have love as well. The post-communist Bulgarian world of depression, apathy and corruption has no effect on her conscience, not even an incidental death of a patient. But things change when she meets a new patient, Yoan.

Irena Ivanova won the best actress at Locarno Film festival for her catatonic, hardened portrayal of Gana, while Petrova got the Golden Leopard along with the Best Director prize.

 Trailer here

HOUNDS OF LOVE

Director: Ben Young. Country: Australia. Language: English

Ben Young in his debut feature takes real life inspiration from serial killer, Eric Edgar Cooke, and more directly from David and Catherine Birnie, the couple who abducted and mutilated four young women in the 1980s, Perth, Australia.

The story follows a serial killer couple, Evelyn and John White, who hunts down young women from neighbourhood, abducts and kills them brutally. A rebellious teenager, Vicky reeling from separation of her becomes their latest victim and her only way out is to create rift between the predating couple.

Hounds of love scouts twisted understanding of human psychology and falls under torture-porn genre and had maximum walkouts during its premiere at Venice Film festival. But it’s been getting good reviews and Variety said, “with a harrowing ride that morphs from discrete horror to probing character study and back again in a vivid yet admirably restrained 108 minutes”. Like me, if you have a taste for gruesome serial killing horrors that questions human behaviour, don’t miss this one.

Trailer here

DOG DAYS

Director: Jordan Schiele. Country: China. Language: Chinese/ Mandarin

Jordan Schiele’s Chinese feature debut, Dog days got him nomination for best first feature at Berlinale. It is a social drama cum crime thriller about a single mother, lulu who works as a dancer at a sleazy nightclub. She comes home one night to find her boyfriend, Bai Long, missing along with their child. In her desperation to get her child back, she strikes a deal with Bai Long’s drag queen lover, Sunny to leave the couple alone once she gets her child back.

Dog days deals with single parenting in China amidst its one child policy, child trafficking and social incongruity between its affluent and lower class. Schiele was inspired to make this film after witnessing a fatal accident in Beijing, where a young mother looses her child while riding a bike in between cars.

SAND STORM (Sufat Chol)

Director: Elite Zexer. Country: Israel. Language: Arabic

Elite Zexer’s debut, Sand Storm is set in the southern part of Israel and is a story of two Bedouin women who struggle with sexist cultural traditions, where men and women both are largely regressive towards women. This compelling story about a women’s humiliation with the traditions of her husband’s second marriage to a younger women and its frustrated reflections on her daughter’s love affair with a boy outside her tribe, won it the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film festival.

 Trailer here

WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE

Director: Heidi Brandenburg, Mathew Orzel. Country: UK, Peru. Language: Spanish

 I am biased to stories where common people rebel against the establishment. The ‘Anti-Estd’ genre deals with the inspirational strength of what a group of commoners can achieve when greedy politician, bureaucrats threaten to affect and destroy their life.

This compelling activist documentary and winner of Special Jury Prize at Sundance, set in the Peruvian Amazon puts itself directly in the line of fire between the powerful government and indigenous tribes who are fighting over the future of the country. When President Alan Garcia attempts to extract oil and minerals from untouched Amazonian land with the hopes of elevating his country’s economic prosperity, he is met with a fierce, violent opposition from local tribe led by indigenous leader, Alberto Pizango. This leads to a conflict that quickly escalates from a heated war of words to one of deadly violence.

Trailer here

ELLE

Director: Paul Verhoeven. Country: France. Language: French

In reviewing Paul Verhoeven’s Elle, most reviewers have called it a ‘rape – revenge – comedy’. Now that’s three words you will never see put together in life or in movies. That’s what makes the plot of Elle so powerful, so fascinating.

 Michèle is the CEO of a leading video game company, who is raped in her house by an unknown assailant. Instead of being the ‘victim’ she tracks the man down and they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling game. Elle is a thrilling character study as it subverts behavioral pattern, you know or expect of a rape victim. Thought provoking, gripping, brutal and laded with dark humour, this deeply disturbing psychological thriller is France’s Foreign Language Film entry to Oscars.

The film premiered in competition for the Palme d’Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Trailer here

NOCTURAMA

Director: Bertrand Bonello. Country: France. Language: French

Nominated thrice for Palme d’Or, Saint Laurent Director, Bertrand Bonello comes up with a controversial film on a bunch of angry and angsty Parisian adolescents, from different origins about to execute a series of terror attacks in the city. After planning the attacks, they meet at a Departmental store in the night, where one of them is missing.

Apparently the script was written five years ago, prior to Charlie Hebdo and horrifying attacks in November last year. Because the film doesn’t portray the characters as black or darker shades of grey, and kind of make terrorism look ‘cool’, it is being called out as irresponsible. The world is not getting better by bombing places that gives birth to terrorists so Bonello tries a different route by entering an anti social element’s psyche.

Trailer here

MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE (Ma View De Courgette)

Director: Claude Barras. Country: Switzerland, France. Language: French

Switzerland’s Foreign Language film entry for Oscars, Director Claude Barras’, My life as a Courgette is written by Celine Sciamma (Screenwriter of the critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama, Girlhood). The film uses gorgeous stop-motion animation to delicately tell the story of a shy 9 years old who ends up with other orphaned misfits after causing the accidental death of his alcoholic mother, only to find solace and acceptance in their troubled company. A Director’s fortnight selection at Cannes, the story dwells on the theme of life isn’t easy for anyone and seems to be a kid’s movie meant for adults.

Trailer here

THE RED TURTLE (La Tortue Rogue)

Director: Michael Dudok de Wit. Country: France. Language: French

Oscar winning director of wordless short ‘Father and Daughter’, Michael Dudok de Wit partners with Studio Ghibli, Japan’s top animation company founded by Master filmmaker Harao Miyazaki. The result is what is unanimously being called the ‘Wordless masterpiece’. The Red Turtle is story of a man shipwrecked on a tropical island inhabited by turtles, crabs and birds. This dialogue free journey recounts the milestones in the life of a human being, its explorations about the deeper truth of life and its contentment at every turn.

This powerful journey of images won it the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film festival.

 Trailer here

THINGS TO COME (L’Avenir)

Director: Mia Hansen love. Country: France. Language: French

Mark Kermode reviewed Slack Bay and wrote half a page praising Isabelle Huppert for her magnificent acting journey, her reputation for going the extra mile and “understated talent, conveying complex conflict through restrained physical gesture”.

In Mia Hansen love’s post divorce drama, Things to come, Huppert Plays 50 something Natalie, who teaches philosophy at a high school in Paris. Her life circles around her work and her former students, her family and a possessive mother. She needs to reinvent her life after getting dumped by her husband for another women. A woman liberating herself after divorce is an idea done to death but Mia Hansen takes a fresh approach to a women at the onset of old age about to question human existence and her own relationship with life. The film won her the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Director.

Trailer here

PERSONAL SHOPPER

Director: Olivier Assayas. Country: France. Language: English

Olivier Assayas, director of the enigmatic Cloud of Sils Maria, and five time Palme d’Or nominee, teams up again with Kirsten Stewart who plays Maureen, an American women who works as a fashion assistant to a celebrity in Paris. Like her dead twin brother, Lewis, she has psychic abilities to communicate with spirits. She starts receiving ambiguous messages from an unknown source.

A film that cuts across many genres is hailed as ‘horror-meets-Devils-Wears-Prada’, has divided critics though mostly in favour of its bewitching unconventional horror story. This character study of a psychic’s response to being stuck at a morose job in the midst of losing someone very close won Assayas the Best Director Award at Cannes.

Trailer here

UNDER THE SHADOWS

Director: Babak Anvari. Country: UK, Qatar, Jordan. Language: Farsi

What could be most horrifying than living in a place that is constantly under threat of being attacked by a bomb or a missile? Ever wondered how people live and function in a war zone knowing their family, children can be dead any moment? Babak Anvari, Iran born British filmmaker and director of the extremely disturbing short ‘Two & Two’ needn’t even dwell on these questions. It must be within him.

Shideh and her family live in Tehran amidst the Iran-Iraq war at its peak in 1988. Accused of rallying against the government, she is blacklisted from the medical college and falls into a state of depression. With Tehran under constant threat of aerial bombardment, her husband is called at the front-line leaving her and their daughter, Dorsa, alone. Soon after, a neighbour dies right after a missile hits their apartment and fails to explode. Dorsa’s erratic behaviour of seeing a mysterious entity concerns Shideh and threatens her own grip on reality. One by one, everyone deserts the building leaving the mother and daughter to confront these forces by themselves.

Under the shadow is hailed as a political allegory for feminist horror film that deals with female oppression in Iran’s post revolution sexist society. Like Anvari says, “If you grow up in Iran or live in Iran, everything you do becomes political.”

UK’s Foreign Language film entry to Oscars, this is definitely the film you don’t want to miss.

Trailer here

THE WAILING (Goksung)

Director: Na hong Jin. Country: South Korea. Language: Korean

Korean maestro director (of indigenous noir films like The Chaser and The Yellow sea) Na hong Jin’s horror-thriller, The Wailing is a monster hit in South Korea and has gathered tremendous curiosity at the festivals and among Cinephiles. Korean filmmakers have mastered the genre of horror thrillers without using the cheap thrills of jump scares.

The arrival of a mysterious stranger called ‘the Jap’ in an otherwise quiet village coincides with a rash of vicious murders, causing panic and suspicion amongst the villagers. When the daughter of investigating officer Jong-Goo falls under the same savage spell, he calls for a shamanic priest to assist in finding the culprit. The hair-raising trailer adds to the hype and looks like this is the kind of horror that will house in your subconscious and stay there for long.

Trailer here

THE LURE (Corki Dancingu)

Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska. Country: Poland. Language: Polish

Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczynska’s fantasy, horror-musical, The Lure is a modern fairytale for grownups with intriguing kitschy visual, set in a Warsaw nightclub. It premiered at Sundance and won the Jury Prize for “unique vision and design”.

Two vampire mermaid sisters – wild, beautiful, sexy and hungry for life, take human form to experience the terrestrial world. One of them falls in love with a handsome young bass player embroiling them in a love triangle that creates havoc in the sisters’ relationship.

Trailer here

And a few Special mentions:

Endless Poetry narrates Jodorowsky’s autobiographical journey as he liberates himself from his family and gets in the company of masters of Latin America’s modern literature.

Fatih Akin’s Goodbye Berlin is a coming-of-age story of two teenagers who take a road trip in a stolen car.

Werner Herzog’s Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World documents how the virtual world of Internet has drastically changed the real world – education, business, health care and our personal relationships.

Dilip Mehta’s Mostly Sunny is Sunny Leone’s biopic that traverses through her unknown journey from being a porn star to a Bollywood actress.

Andrei Konchalovsky’s Paradise is love drama about a Russian aristocratic emigrant whose life is intertwined with a French collaborator and a high ranking German Officer during the second World War.

Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon is a horror/thriller about a young model who has just moved in dark, dangerous world of LA fashion industry.

Nicolette Krebitz’s Wild is about an anarchist young woman’s strange encounter with a wolf that arouses the deepest and wildest forces within her to break free of the controlled world.

The Together Project is story of a man who would go any length to prove his love for a Swimming instructor. He seduces her and pretends he can’t swim only to be caught later and lose her.

If you have some movie recco that we missed in our posts, please do reply in the comment section and let us know.

If you still haven’t registered, click here, and do it now.

 

Mumbai Film Festival, 2016 – Screening Schedule Is Out

Posted: October 16, 2016 by moifightclub in Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, News
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The screening schedule of this year’s Mumbai Film Festival is out. And the best part – this year, it’s day-wise schedule instead of venue-wise. So we don’t have to make the effort to do the conversion. We are also hoping that the schedule will be out in excel format for easy navigation. So far it’s in pdf and we are embedding it in the post.

There’s a surprise too. The fest has added Manchester By The Sea as the closing film. As far as we remember, closing film at the fest used to be mostly a random one. It’s refreshing change in this regard.

MFF, 2016 – Films You Should Not Miss (Part 1)

Posted: October 12, 2016 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, Movie Recco, Mumbai Film Festival, World Cinema
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It’s that time of the year when we spend our entire day running around from one theatre to another, staring at the big screen, to live inside different stories from different countries which are in various foreign languages. Yes, our annual movie ritual, Mumbai Film Festival, is here. And like every year, this year too the programming is quite strong. Most of them are festival winners from the top fests across the world. But there are some hidden gems and sleeper hits too. So instead of running around muddled with dilemma of not knowing what films to watch, Shazia Iqbal burnt her midnight oil googling and reading about all the films. And these are some of the most interesting ones from World Cinema, International Competition, Rendezvous, and After Dark category.

This is the 1st part of our MFF-Recco post.

Also, a big shout out for the all women MFF team for getting five films in the International Competition category by female directors, especially because it’s a competitive section. This is so rare for any festival around the world, and a huge encouragement for female directors.

BARAKAH MEETS BARAKAH

Director: Mahmoud Sabbagh. Country: Saudi Arabia. Language: Arabic

A Civil servant meets an internet star could be another boy meets girl story but add Saudi Arabia to that and you will know why Mahmoud Sabbagh’s Barakah meets Barakah will have the longest queue during the festival. With great buzz at the festivals, rave reviews, a Jury Prize at Berlin Film Festival, this sleeper hit is Saudi Arabia’s entry to the Oscars.

Trailere here

CLASH (Eshtebak)

Director: Mohamed Diab. Country: Egypt, France. Language: Arabic

Mohamed Diab got festival recognition with his first film 678, which was a horrifying tale of three women that deal with rampant sexual oppression and chauvinism in their everyday lives in Cairo. Clash is a one-location story set in a police riot wagon that struggles through the violence-ridden streets, after the ouster of Muslim brotherhood president, Morsi. Diab, a participant of the Egyptian revolution in 2011, puts together demonstrators from different political and religious background in a confined space to see if they can overcome their difference to survive the hegemonized state.

Was at Cannes Film Festival, 2016 and was the opening film of the Festival’s Un Certain Regard section.

Trailer here

AFTER THE STORM (Umi Yorimo Mada Fukaku)

Director: Koreeda Hirokazu. Country: Japan. Language: Japanese

Cannes darling, Koreeda Hirokazu – four times Palme d’or nominee, is the director of Like father like son, which picked up the Jury award in 2013. It is one of the most powerful parent – child drama that questions society and Hirokazu seems to be a master in dealing with complicated dysfunctional relationships closer to home. After The Storm is about a private detective, Ryota who dwells on his past glory as a prize-winning author, wastes his money on gambling and can hardly pay for child support. A stormy night gives him the chance to reconnect with his son, wife and widowed mother.

Screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Trailer here.

DEATH IN SARAJEVO (Smrt U Sarajevo)

Director: Danis Tanovic. Country: France, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Language: Bosnian

Danis Tanovic debuted with No man’s land, that won the Oscar for the Best Foreign language film in 2001. His latest, Death in Sarajevo is a compelling multi-layered political satire, where a host of diplomatic European union VIPs gather at the Hotel Europa to celebrate the centennial of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination (An incident that is said to have stirred the First world war) with the resentful hotel staff on the verge of striking.

Winner of Silver Bear Grand jury and FIPRESCI Prize at Berlin, Variety called it “An expertly modulated choral drama that is also one of the most clear-cut and boldly stated summations of Bosnia’s paralysing discord.” It is also Bosnia’s Foreign language film entry to Oscars.

Trailer here

GRADUATION (Bakalaureat)

Director: Cristian Mungiu. Country: Romania. Language: Romanian

Palme d’Or awardee Cristian Mungiu’s second feature ‘4 months, 3 weeks, 2 Months’ is the kind of devastating, chilling story that stays with you forever. It isn’t just a piece of cinema that you watched, it’s more like a story you have lived. His latest Graduation got him the Best Director prize at Cannes and is a complex psychological drama of a doctor, Romeo, who is trying too hard to get his daughter pass life-changing school finals to get her out of the depressing dysfunctional Romanian society into a British university. In an attempt to slide his daughter out of the system, Romeo himself becomes part of the corrupt bureaucracy.

Trailer here

DON’T CALL ME SON  (Mae so ha Uma)

Director: Anna Muylaert. Country: Brazil. Language: Portuguese

Thematically on the lines of Koreeda Hirokazu’s Like father like son, Anna Muylaert’s Don’t Call Me Son deals with a turbulent adolescent, Pierre – tall, dark, androgynously handsome, he wears eyeliner and a black lace g-string, while having sex with both boys and girls. His world topsy-turvies, when he gets to know his mother stole him as a child. He is now returned to his biological parents who are trying to make him part of their bourgeois world. With Solid performances and soaring reviews, this one seems to be one of the hidden gem at the festival.

It was shown in the Panorama section at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival where it won a Jury Prize at the Teddy Awards for LGBT-related films at the festival.

I, DANIEL BLAKE

Director: Ken Loach. Country: UK, France, Belgium. Language: English

I saw the festival teaser of Veteran British director’s I, Daniel Blake right after it won three awards at Cannes including Palme D’Or. Watched it again and have been waiting for the film since then. In this moving, political drama, Daniel Blake, an ailing carpenter fighting for his welfare benefits, needs help from the state meets Katie, a single mother who is in a similar predicament. They find themselves in no-man’s land caught on the barbed wire of welfare bureaucracy.

In a helpless system where ‘Man Vs Bureaucracy’ is designed to pitch one person against the other in disparity, this moving relevant political drama exposes the cruelty of an apathetic dysfunctional society. This is right at the top of my list.

Trailer here

LANTOURI

Director: Reza Dormishian. Country: Iran. Language: Farsi

A gang in Tehran that mugs people in broad daylight and kidnaps kids from wealthy family that have money through corruption and embezzlement of state funds. An aristocratic journalist and social activist who has been retaliating against Iran’s ‘eye for an eye’ justice system is attacked with acid. A prostitute turned gangster, who is madly in love with another gang member and has to do deal with her lover’s love for the righteous journalist.

Iranian director, Reza Dormishian continues from his social critique on contemporary Iran, I’m not angry right into Lantouri that subverts everything we know of, expect of and seen of Iranian cinema.

Was in the Panorama section of Berlin International Film Festival.

Trailer here

LETTERS FROM WAR

Director: Ivo Ferriera. Country: Portugal. Language: Portuguese

There is a war montage in The Thin Red line where the film asks you, ‘when did all the bloodshed began, how did we land up here?’ Here denoting at war with each other, man against man, the bloodshed at the borders, the brutal killings, the divisive world the human race have created where people die everyday because of an unnecessary conflict. Thematically Letters From War lingers on similar line of questioning from a point of view of a lover longing for his wife.

Based on the letters of famous Portuguese writer António Lobo Antunes to his wife, the film tells the story of a young doctor being drafted into the army in 1971, and transferred into one of the worst zones of the colonial war – the east of Angola. In the uncertainty of the war events and everyone’s struggles to escape the bloody horrors of the conflict, it is the letters that help him survive. The film is Portugal’s Foreign language film entry for Oscars.  It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival

Trailer here

MADLY

Director: Gael Garcia Bernal, Anurag Kashyap, Mia Wasikowska, Natasha Khan, Sion Sono and Sebastian Silva.

Country: UK, USA, Japan, India, Australia, Argentina. Language: English, Hindi, Japanese, Spanish

Madly is an anthology of six short films directed by Gael Garcia Bernal, Anurag Kashyap, Mia Wasikowska, Natasha Khan, Sion Sono and Sebastian Silva. From the issues of post partum depression, coming out, woman’s pubic hair, orgy, to how pregnancy affects a couple already in a doubtful relationship, it explores the emotional core of modern love and relationships in all its forms – dark, ecstatic, crazy, empowering and erotic. Our own Radhika Apte won the best actress award for her segment in Kashyap’s Clean Shaven at Tribecca Film Festival.

Trailer here

NERUDA

Director: Pablo Larrain. Country: Chile, Argentina, France, Spain, USA. Language: Spanish

This is NOT a biopic on the popular Chilean Politician-poet. Pablo Larrain uses anti-biopic structure to examine the role of a radical artist in the society rather than social drama of focusing on the life of a writer.

1948 Chile. In the midst of Cold War, Inspector Peluchonneau is assigned to arrest Pablo Neruda, who became a fugitive in his own country for going against the government and ‘being the most important communist in the world’. Meanwhile, in Europe, the legend of the poet hounded by the policeman grows, and artists led by Pablo Picasso root for Neruda’s freedom. Neruda becomes a challenge for Peluchonneau, who starts romanticizing the chase and while doing so asserts himself as a hero and not the supporting character in the story. So now we know why a Neruda film has another character as ‘face of the film’ on the poster.

Screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Was selected as the Chilean entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards.

Trailer here

OLD STONE (Lao Shi)

Director: Johnny Ma. Country: China. Language: Mandarin

Canadian Chinese director Johnny Ma, who is a recent alumnus of Sundance Screenwriting/ directing lab, makes a powerful debut with his gritty, realist social drama Old Stone, which recently won the award for Best Canadian First Feature at TIFF. After a car accident, Mr. Old Stone, a cab driver in a small town in China hurls himself into a bureaucratic nightmare when he takes an injured man to the hospital. A place where drivers are known to kill pedestrians they hit to avoid paying for their lifetime rehabilitation fees, Stone’s good Samaritan seems a wronged man for everyone mired in corrupt social fabric of China’s Kafkaesque bureaucracy.

Trailer here

SWISS ARMY MAN

Director: Daniels. Country: USA. Language: English

Somebody thought of a crazy idea of a farting corpse that saves a stranded man from killing himself. Somebody bought the idea. Somebody funded it. In a world of ‘The-audience-won’t-accept-this’, ‘The-set-up-is-not-relatable’, ‘too-risky-to-put-money-in-a-weird-concept’, how the hell did this absurdist surreal comedy get made and premiered at one of the biggest festival!

While it made a good number of Sundance World Premiere audience to walk out in the first half an hour of the film, it also picked up the Directing award. You will either love this one or hate the guts of the makers to pull this together.

Trailer here

THE COMMUNE (Kollektivet)

Director: Thomas Vinterberg. Country: Denmark. Language: Danish

Dogme 95 Veteran, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt was one of the most unsettling films with provocative, unforgettable imagery. Festival favourite Vinterberg’s The Commune is inspired by his own childhood experience of living in a group.

Set in 1970s Copenhagen, a couple experiments living in a commune that exposes the cracks in their own relationship. Exploring the free love of 70s, Erik and Anna, along with their teenage daughter set up a community full of idealists and dreamers, which is put to test when Erik starts an affair with a younger woman. Opened to mixed reviews, it was nominated for the Golden Bear at Berlin Film Festival.

Trailer here

THE LOVERS AND THE DESPOT

Director: Rob Cannan, Ross Adam. Country: UK. Language: English

A gripping documentary reveals an eccentric tale of a film couple kidnapped by a brutal, movie-obsessed dictator to improve his films. A South Korean film couple, filmmaker Shin Sank-ok and actress Choi Eun-hee met and fell in love in the 1950s post-war Korea. Choi was kidnapped by North Korean agents and taken to North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-il. While searching for Choi, Shin was also kidnaped and reunited with Choi after five years of imprisonment. Kim Jong-il declared them his personal filmmakers and the couple went on to make seventeen films for the dictator before their escape.

Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called it “one of the most staggeringly strange cases of Stockholm syndrome in history – and surely the weirdest story ever to have emerged from world cinema.” Watch the trailer. Get in the line!

Trailer here

THE ROAD TO MANDALAY

Director: Midi Z. Country:  Taiwan, Myanmar, France, Germany. Language: Burmese, Thai

Around the world, there are a growing number of illegal immigrants from a war zone seeking refuge in a peaceful, more prospective neighbouring country. Premiered at the Venice Days section, Midi Z’s The road to Mandalay is a powerful and tragic love story about two illegal Burmese immigrants fleeing their country’s civil war, on a struggle to survive the big city of Bangkok where an individual is just a human capital with numbers.

The disturbing account of their experience got it the Critic’s award at the Venice Film Festival along with unanimous good reviews.

Trailer here

THE SALESMAN (Forushande)

Director: Asgar Farhadi. Country: Iran. Language: Farsi

Because two words are enough – Asgar. Farhadi.

Trailer here

Dharamshala International Film Festival, 2016 – Complete Line Up

Posted: October 6, 2016 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, News
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unnamedThe 5th Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF), which will be held from November 3 to 6th, 2016, at the Tibetan Children’s Village, Dharamshala, has announced its programme of films.

DIFF is curated by festival directors Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, along with associate director Raman Chawla, filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni (short films programme) and children’s media specialist Monica Wahi (children’s films programme).

– 15 filmmakers from across India and the world will present their work at DIFF 2016. Most of the films this year have been screened at prestigious international festivals and several are making their Indian premieres.

– Raam Reddy’s critically acclaimed Thithi will be the opening night film.

– Vetrimaran’s compelling Tamil drama Interrogation (India’s 2016 Oscar entry) will close the festival.

Feature documentaries:

  • Wojciech Staroń’s Brothers (Poland)
  • Steffi Giaracuni’s Didi Contractor: Marrying the Earth to the Building (Switzerland)
  • Laurie Anderson’s Heart of a Dog (France, USA)
  • Mickey Lemle’s The Last Dalai Lama? (USA)
  • Stanzin Dorjai Gya and Christiane Mordelet’s The Shepherdess of the Glaciers (France, India)
  • Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s Sonita (Germany, Switzerland, Iran)
  • Sean McAllister’s A Syrian Love Story (UK, France, Lebanon, Syria)
  • Pushpa Rawat’s The Turn (India)
  • Nguyễn Trinh Thi’s Vietnam the Movie (Vietnam)

 

Feature Narratives (International)

  • Pimpaka Towira’s The Island Funeral (Thailand)
  • Portmanteau film Ten Years (Hong Kong)
  • Jeon Soo-il’s A Korean in Paris (South Korea)
  • Wang Yichun’s What’s in the Darkness (China)
  • Boo Junfeng’s Apprentice (Singapore)
  • Evi Goldbrunner’s At Eye Level (Germany)              
  • Khyentse Norbu’s Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait (Bhutan)         
  • Esen Isik’s Köpek (Switzerland)
  • Ara Chawdhury’s Miss Bulalacao (Phillipines)
  • Sebastian Schipper’s Victoria (Germany)    
  • Emir Baigazin’s The Wounded Angel (Kazakhstan)

 

Indian features

  • Raam Reddy’s Thithi
  • Vetrimaran’s Interrogation
  • Sanjeev Kumar’s Circles of the Mind
  • Mangesh Joshi’s Lathe Joshi
  • Rajiv Ravi’s Kammatipaadam
  • Umesh Kulkarni’s Highway
  • Bauddhyan Mukherji’s The Violin Player

 

Short films (International)

  • Tenzin Dasel and Rémi Caritey’s Royal Café (France)          
  • Kristóf Deák’s Sing (Hungary)         

 

Indian Short Films

  • Prabhjit Dhamija’s Asmad 
  • Hardik Mehta’s Famous in Ahmedabad
  • Pankaja Thakur’s The Guide
  • Chaitanya Tamhane’s Six Strands
  • Nishant Roy Bombarde’s The Threshold
  • Payal Sethi’s Leeches
  • Nina Sabnani’s We Make Images
  • Gurvinder Singh’s Infiltrator

–  Special local interest this year comes in the form of our Spotlight on Kangra Valley programme, which features Dharamshala director Sanjeev Kumar’s feature Man de Phere (Gaddi language);Prabhijit Dhamijia’s short Asmad and Steffi Giaracuni’s documentary about a legendary Himachal architect, Didi Contractor: Marrying the Earth to the Building.

– DIFF 2016 will also present a selection of single-channel video installations from Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary’s private collection: Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme’s Collapseand The Incidental Insurgents (Parts 1 and 2), and Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam’s Some Questions on the Nature of Your Existence.

– Further information on all of these films is available here.

– Online registration for DIFF 2016 is available through Book My Show here.

MFF, 2016 : 417 Miles – How I Shot A No-Budget Feature Film

Posted: October 5, 2016 by moifightclub in Film Festival, Indie, Mumbai Film Festival
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When I set out to make this film, I did not have a budget. I did not have a producer doing producer things. I put everything on my credit cards and just went for it. I only found out how much I had spent on the shoot when it was time to do taxes the following year. When I left home on Friday morning at 5am to drive to San Francisco, I told my wife to be on call to bail us out if we get arrested anytime during the weekend as we were shooting without permits. Now, it’s going to premiere at MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in the ‘Discover India’ Section. So how did we pull it off?

1) Write what you have

You have to write the story backwards. Write a story keeping in mind the resources you have. If your friend’s mom has a vacation house in Alibaugh, write a movie set in that property. Nowadays you don’t even need that. There is AirBnB. If your friend owns a business, set the story in that office/shop. We all know few people like that. Don’t have too much action in the film as they are hard to do and are time consuming.  

In my case, I started with the idea of a road trip with two people. Shooting in a car. I happen to live in LA and have driven up and down the pacific coast highway to San Francisco many times. There are countless beaches with not a single soul in them.  So I set a bunch of scenes in such beaches where we could shoot quickly. And that’s how the story of 417 Miles came to me.

2) Make the movie with friends

It will be really hard to expect a stranger to go on such a crazy adventure for no money—and with the risk of getting arrested multiple times. 417 Miles would not have been possible without my friend Fidencio Casas, who shot the movie. We were working together in the same post production company in 2014. During the production of the movie, especially the first weekend on the road, he did the heavy lifting. I had complete faith in him, which allowed us to shoot in a really guerilla manner. Sometimes I couldn’t stand behind him to look at the frame because people around us would know that we were shooting a movie—instead, we looked like of bunch of tourists taking photos on their DSLR. We also shot in Virgin Airline plane, San Francisco Airport, San Francisco Pier, Monterrey Bay Aquarium. It was important to me that my no budget film is not confined to four people in a room.

3) Don’t have a big crew

We were a two person crew. Because the car had space for only four people, we couldn’t even have a sound person. We did the sound ourselves. I would not recommend it though. I had to spend money to fix the sound in the post.  A Cinematographer and a Sound Person are the two most essential crew members. Try to have a few friends help them out on set. They don’t have to be film people. In fact, non-film friends are more helpful because this is all exciting for them. They are thrilled to be part of the making of a film. Film friends are jaded.

4) Use only Natural lights

If you bring lights to the set, it makes the crew big, and it makes everything more expensive and slow. Use the sunlight and lights inside houses. If your actors are doing a great job, and you framed things interestingly, people will not care if it’s not lit like a Emmanuel Lubezki movie. Nowadays a camera like Sony A72 can capture beautifully in low-light situations. Or try to write movies that happen in bright daylight.

5) Fuck Coverage

Coverage is the most safe and boring way to shoot a scene. It also can be time consuming to shoot the same thing again and again. Since we don’t have money or time, use master shots and two shots as much as you can. In the case of our film, both the director and the Cinematographer happen to be editors. It really helped a lot because we shot only what was necessary. There are a couple of scenes where we shot only one take. What you see is all we got. Also it makes editing the first cut very easy as there really aren’t that many takes to choose from. After we finished shooting, I did not look at the footage for a month because I was afraid that something must have gotten fucked up somewhere and we’d lost the movie.

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6) Embrace the flaws

When you make a film like that with no money and no permits, it will not be perfect—in fact, far from it. So many things will be beyond your control.  When you look at the first cut, there will be many things you will hate. There will be something odd in the frame. Sound on one mic would be inaudible. You’ll notice camera shakes for a couple of frames in a really good take. I could go on and on. It’s OK. You are practicing right now—the next one will be better. When I watched 417 Miles on a big screen for the first time last month at a Film Festival, I wanted to kill myself. All those flaws become huge on the big screen. It will happen to you. Be proud that you made it to the big screen and are screening with filmmakers who have made indie films with $50,000 and think they made a really low-budget feature film. By the time you make your $50,000 feature, you will be a master. Just watch the early mumblecore films of Joe Swanberg and watch the Netflix show Easy to see how far he has come. Same with the Duplass Brothers. 

7) Shit Happens. Move on

The location you had in mind suddenly can’t be used. Happened to us. We had a great bar in Hollywood reserved the day after Halloween at 2pm. When we got there, there was no bar. Halloween night was so crazy, the city shut the bar, and revoked it’s license.  Shit happens. It gave the crew time to relax for few hours and have a great lunch before we got to the next location.

8) Don’t be an asshole

This is the most important advice. It’s very obvious but you would be surprised. The only way bunch of friends and actors are going to take a leap of faith at your crazy ambitious idea is because they like you and wanna help you. This is a advice to be followed everyday of your life in this industry, but especially so when you are starting out. Success will most likely turn you into an asshole down the line anyway. Always volunteer to help your friends. Lend them your gear all the time. Your friends should feel like your gear is theirs too. This advice is more pertinent in the U.S. because people are very particular about having boundaries here. In India, friends take each other for granted; we assume our friend’s gear is always available to use.

I made this movie inspired by the mumblecore movement that started in Austin by Andrew Bujalski and the Duplass Brothers, which was later picked up by Joe Swanberg in Chicago. If you see the early mumblecore films, usually it’s set in one location or a road trip. And the story (if you can call it that) happens over the course of a few days. I would recommend watching a lot of them. It’s not for everyone though. Most people are not keen on them. In recent years, with its newly found success and acceptance, making a mumblecore film is not that cool as it is happening a lot. All the directors I mentioned are making movies with Hollywood stars. However, I feel if you tell a true heartfelt story it will surpass the trivialities of the genre and rise above the noise and stand out.

I would recommend watching Mark Duplass’s Keynote Address at 2015 SWSX.

I would leave you with a Alex Karpovsky quote from 2013.

“If you want to make films, the excuses are definitely running out on you”

It’s been 3 years since that quote. I think the excuses ran out of the window after the iPhone 6S launch last year.

– Mainak Dhar

www.417milesfilm.com

www.twitter.com/417miles_film

www.instagram.com/417miles_film

www.facebook.com/417Miles

NFDC Announces Selection For Film Bazaar Co-Production Market, 2016

Posted: October 4, 2016 by moifightclub in cinema, Indie, News, Workshop
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NFDC Screenwriter's LabFilm Bazaar, 2016 has announced its official selection of projects for its main segment, the Co-Production Market. The event will be held between 20 – 24 November in Goa. This year, 18 projects have been selected to participate in the Market.

The Co-Production Market will kickstart with Open Pitch where selected filmmakers will pitch their projects to a curated audience of national and international producers, financiers and sales agents.

The selected projects for 2016 are:

  • Apodartho (A Foolish Man) | Bengali | Bangladesh 


Director: Abu Shahed Emon’s debut feature Jalal’s Story travelled to more than twenty international film festivals. In 2015, the film was nominated as Bangladesh’s entry for Best Foreign-Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards. A Foolish Man is his second feature.

Producer: Mostafa Sarwar Farooki, Chabial

Founded by Mostafa Sarwar Farooki, Chabial is a production house which has produced the fiction features Television (2012) and Ant Story (2013), both of which have travelled to several prestigious in- ternational film festivals and won awards. At present, Chabial is producing No Land’s Man which won the Motion Picture Association-Asia Pacific Screen Awards Academy Film Fund 2014 and the Most Promising Project Award at Film Bazaar 2014.

  • Bhosle | Hindi | India
 

Director: Devashish Makhija is a Mumbai-based filmmaker who has written Bhoomi (directed by Avik Mukherjee), Doga (directed by Anurag Kashyap) and Oonga (directed by himself). Also to his credit are several acclaimed short films like Rahim Murge Pe Mat Ro, El’ayichi, Agli Baar, Absent and Taandav.

Producer: Piiyush Singh, Muvizz.com

Piiyush Singh is an investor and consultant for Muvizz.com – a globally funded online video streaming portal for Indie cinema. Before venturing out on his own, Piiyush worked as a managing partner with companies like Friends Media Group and Rudra Enterprises.

  • Calorie | English | Canada, India


Director: Eisha Marjara is a Canadian filmmaker whose provocative docudrama Desperately Seeking Helen received the Critic’s Choice Award at the Locarno Film Festival and the Jury Prize at the München

Dokumentarfilm Festival in 2000. Eisha first drew attention with The Incredible Shrinking Woman in 1994, which she wrote, shot and directed. She is currently in production on her first feature, Venus.

Producer: Joe Balass, Compass Productions inc.

Joe Balass has produced and directed a number of award-winning films like Baghdad Twist (2007), JOY! (2012) and The Length of the Alphabet (2013), which screened at festivals around the world. In 2014, both the Toronto Jewish Film Festival and the Cinémathèque québécoise honoured him with a retrospective.

  • Dastaan-e-Awaargi | Hindi | India


Director: Ankit Kothari has worked as a graphic designer, script supervisor, researcher and assistant director on the critically acclaimed films Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Love Sex aur Dhokha and Shanghai. His script Dastaan-E- Awaargi was part of the NFDC Screenwriters’ Lab in 2015.

Producer: Priya Sreedharan, Open Air Films

Priya’s first film as an executive producer was Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, released in 2008. Her second film Love Sex aur Dhokha was the first commercially successful, breakthrough digital film in India. She was also a producer of Shanghai, released in 2012. Her fourth film, tentatively titled Three Storeys is ready for release in early 2017.

  • Ink | Bengali, Hindi | India


Director: Pratim Gupta’s debut film, Paanch Adhyay (Afterglow) premiered at the South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF), New York and won the New Voice in Indian Cinema at MAMI. Ink was part of the Mumbai Mantra Sundance Screenwriters Lab 2013. Pratim’s work also includes the experimental film X: Past is Present (SAIFF 2014 & IFFK) and Shaheb Bibi Golaam (New York International Film Festival 2016 premiere).

Producer: Firdausul Hasan, Friends Communication

Friends Communication, formed in 2012, has produced films like Take One, Abby Sen and Natoker Moto (2015) which was part of the International Competition section at the International Film Festival of India. In 2013, they produced Rupkatha Noy which starred Soumitra Chatterjee and Radhika Apte.

  • Insha’allah | Malayalam, Hindi | India


Director: Geetu Mohandas’ first feature Liar’s Dice (Sundance Film Festival 2014) received the Hubert Bals Fund for development and won six major international awards, and two National Awards in India. It was also India’s official submission for the Best Foreign Film for the 87th Academy Awards. Geetu’s earlier work includes the short film Are You Listening? which premiered at International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR) 2010.

Producer: Ajay G. Rai & Alan McAlex, JAR Pictures

In 2011, Ajay set up Jar Pictures in partnership with Alan McAlex. From the critically acclaimed Liar’s Dice to the mainstream Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana, the company’s filmography boasts of a variety of genres. In 2014, Jar Pictures production Killa won the Crystal Bear at Berlinale and a National Award in India. Their latest release, The New Classmate, premiered at the BFI London Film Festival.

  • Jhyalincha (Season of Dragonflies) | Nepali | Nepal


Director: Abinash Bikram Shah is a filmmaker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Abinash’s short films have traveled to film festivals worldwide including Berlin, Venice and Busan, winning a host of awards. An alumnus of Asian Film Academy 2008 and Berlinale Talent Campus 2010, Abinash works as the Pro- gramming Director at Ekadeshma International Short Film Festival.

Producer: Ram Krishna Pokharel, Icefall Productions

Over the past several years Ram has developed and produced shorts and feature films like L’ascension, Nomber One, Everest – Summit of the Gods that have appeared in many national and international film festivals. He is currently working on Jhyalincha (Season of Dragonflies).

  • Joseph Ki Macha (Joseph’s Son) | Manipuri | India


Director: Haobam Paban Kumar is a Manipuri filmmaker whose debut fiction feature Loktak Lairambee (Lady of the Lake) was selected for world premiere at Busan International Film Festival 2016. The film was part of the Film Bazaar Work-in-Progress Lab 2015. Paban’s documentary Floating Life was nominated for the Leipziger Ring award at the 58th DOK Leipzig 2015. His films have screened in various festivals and have won awards including the FIPRESCI prize at Mumbai International Film Festival 2006.

Producer: Oli Pictures

Oli Pictures was established in the summer of 2005 in Imphal, Manipur. The company has notable productions to its credit namely – Kangla, Orchids and Manipur, A Cry in the Dark, Mr. India among others. Oli Pictures’ latest production is the fiction feature film, Loktak Lairambee (Lady of the Lake).

  • Kabuliwala (Man From Kabul) | Animation | Hindi | India


Director: Soumitra Ranade, an alumnus of Sir J.J.School of Arts and Film and Television Institute of India, has written, directed and produced children’s feature films Jajantaram Mamantaram and Goopi Gawaiyaa Bagha Bajaiyaa, animated TV serials Karadi Tales and Bandbudh Aur Budbak. Soumitra’s latest live-action feature Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai? is slated for release soon. He is the Founder/ Chairman of Paperboat Design Studios Pvt. Ltd. and also the Co-founder/ Chairman of School of DAAF (Design Art Animation Film).

Producer: Sunil Doshi, Handmade Films

Sunil Doshi has worked in production, acquisition and distribution of different kinds of films and pro- gramming of the Indian films at various film festivals. Handmade Films has previously produced San- tosh Sivan’s Navarasa (Nine Emotions), Rajat Kapoor’s Mixed Doubles, Sagar Ballary’s Bheja Fry, Rupali Guha’s Aamras, Bela Negi’s Daayen ya Baayen, Jaideep Varma’s Hulla, Jaybarto Chatterji’s Love Songs, Maneej Premnath’s The Waiting Room and Sharat Katariya’s 10ml Love. Handmade Films is current- ly involved in the post-production of Bioscopwala, a live action feature-film based on Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Kabuliwala’.

  • Nonajoler Kabbo (The Salt in Our Waters) | Bengali | Bangladesh


Director: Rezwan Shahriar Sumit’s docudrama City Life was selected at Berlinale Talents 2008. His shorts have traveled to Copenhagen International Children’s Film Festival, among other festivals in the US. His films have been acquired by MUBI, VPRO for worldwide distribution. Rezwan attended the Graduate Film Program of NYU Tisch School of the Arts as a Tisch Fellow.

Producer: Gigi Dement, Laboratory NYC

Gigi has produced several award-winning films, including God of Love (winner of the 2011 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short), Bastards of Young, and the critically acclaimed film Babygirl that pre- miered at the Tribeca Film Festival 2012.

  • Punyakoti | Animation | Sanskrit | India


Director: Ravi Shankar has been a multimedia and animation pioneer in India since he directed the first interactive CD-ROM in India in 1995. He is an HR professional and works in Infosys as a Senior HR Solutions Designer. Ravi has over 20 years of experience in directing and managing large pro- grammes/productions.

Producer: Sindhu SK, Puppetica Media

Sindhu SK managed the largest crowd-funding campaign in India through a platform last year and was instrumental in the success of the campaign. She has previously worked with her husband Ravi on several creative projects.

  • Ram Ji Ka Ghoda (The Dragonfly) | Hindi | India


Director: An alumnus of Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Bishnu Dev Halder’s documentary, Bagher Bachcha, won the National Film Award in 2007. It was also the Opening Film of International Film Festival of India 2007. Selected for Talent Campus India in 2007, Bishnu was awarded the UK Environment Film Fellowship in 2010. Bishnu’s debut film, I Was Born in Delhi, was nominated at the prestigious IDFA in 2011.

Producer: Courtyard Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

Courtyard Entertainment’s award-winning body of work comprises of feature-length projects that have been co-produced in partnership with Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, Japan Broadcasting Corporation and NHK among others. Apart from ethnographic, educational and promo- tional films, the company has also produced I Was Born In Delhi, English For All, Blocks of Green and The Diary Of A Refugee.

  • The Biryani Seller | Bengali | India


Directors: Rajdeep Paul and Sarmishtha Maiti are National Film Award winning filmmakers and alumni of Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute. They have worked with Doordarshan, PSBT and Ministry of External Affairs, India, and PBS, US. Their debut fiction feature script The Biryani Seller was part of the Mumbai Mantra Cinerise Screenwriters Lab. The duo’s short fictions include 3 on a Bed, The Woman and the Man, Itvar. Their documentary At the Crossroads, Nondon Bagchi Life and Living won a National Award.

Producer: Mahesh Mathai, Highlight Films

Mahesh Mathai founded Highlight Films in 1987 which became one of the most successful advertis- ing commercial companies in India. In 2000, he made the acclaimed feature film, Bhopal Express that opened the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival and won seven International Awards. In 2005, Mahesh directed the British film, Broken Thread. Highlight Films’ has also produced Mystic India in 2005, Outsourced in 2006, Aapa Akka and Manali Cream 2009 among others.

  • The Cineaste | Persian | China, Netherlands


Director: Aboozar Amini’s graduation film Kabul Tehran Kabul (2010) won the Wildcard Award of the Dutch Film Fund. His film Angelus Novus (2015) premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and won various awards worldwide. His latest film Where is Kurdistan (2016) was commis- sioned by IFFR. His Afghan origin plays an important role in his work.

Producer: Jia Zhao, Silk Road Film Salon

Jia Zhao is the founder/producer at Muyi Film (cultural/artistic documentary) and Silk Road Film Salon. Her recent works include projects with Frank Scheffer (The Perception, IFFR 2016, KNF award; Inner Landscape Holland Festival 2015), Yan Ting Yuen (Mr Hu and the Temple, in competition at IDFA 2015 and at NFF 2016), Aboozar Amini (Where is Kurdistan? IFFR 2016; Angelus Novus, IFFR 2015), Yang Yang (Steel Rose, 2016) and Laetitia Schoofs (Unbinding Feet).

  • The Sunshine | Tamil | India


Director: Leena Manimekalai is a Tamil poet and filmmaker who has made films like My Mirror is the Door, Goddesses, Sengadal (The Dead Sea) and White Van. Stories about Eco-feminism, Dalit women lives, plight of refugees and fishermen in the Palk Strait, and enforced disappearances in the back- ground of Tamil ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka form the core of her work.

Producer: SR Prabhu, Dream Warrior Pictures

Dream Warrior Pictures (DWP) was co-founded by SR Prakash Babu and SR Prabhu in 2010. Saguni, their debut film, was a successful Tamil feature starring Karthi Sivakumar. As partner and co-producer at Studiogreen from 2006 to 2015, Prakash Babu and Prabhu have successfully produced 14 Tamil feature films. Recently, they produced the fiction feature Maya, which went on to become one of the most successful commercial releases in 2015.

  • The Umesh Chronicles | English, Hindi | India, Sweden


Director: Pooja Kaul’s short films Rasikan Re (O Lover of Life) 2003, Winter Trail 2002, Notes For a Film 2000, Sheher: Lucknow 1997 have been screened and awarded at festivals worldwide. Her current pro- ject The Umesh Chronicles received the Hubert Bals Fund for script and project development.

Producer: Charlotte Most, Mostfilm AB

Charlotte Most set up her company Mostfilm in 2000. Attending EAVE 2010, established Charlotte as a producer in Europe. Her films have been screened at various festivals and venues throughout the world. Her productions have been acquired by Swedish National Television (SVT). Her Filmography (2012-2016) includes – Eggg, Swoon and The Girl King among others.

  • Tribhanga (Three Curve Bent) | English, Marathi | India


Director: Renuka Shahane has been an Indian actress for the last 29 years. She won the Best Director award for her debut directorial Marathi film Rita at the Star Screen Awards 2010 and the best screenplay award for Marathi films at the 8th Pune International Film Festival. Tribhanga was part of the Mumbai Mantra Sundance Screenwriter’s workshop in 2013.

Producer: Padachinnha Production

Renuka Shahane started Padachinnha Production in September 2015. Two Marathi short films – Saath- van (Mementos) & Aathvan (Memory) have been produced under this banner. Saathvan was officially selected for the Trinity International Film Festival in Detroit this year.

  • Wapsi (The Return) | Hindi | India


Director: Asad Hussain was one of the writers on Bajrangi Bhaijaan. He has also co-written Children of War, a film about Bangladesh’s war for independence. Asad has collaborated with internationally acclaimed directors Siddiq Barmak (Afghanistan) and Murali Nair (India). He has been awarded the prestigious MacDowell Fellowship for his writing. His screenplay, Wapsi was part of the NFDC Screenwriters’ Lab 2015.

Producer: Abbas Khan, Paandan Pictures

Paandan Pictures has been co-founded by Asad Hussain and Abbas Khan. Abbas has worked on Indian and international films, TVCs and Studio Projects since 2008. He has collaborated with directors like Ashim Ahluwalia, Murali Nair, Rob Cohen, Paula Van Der Oest and Sharat Katariya.

– Film Bazaar is a platform exclusively created to encourage collaboration between the international and South Asian film fraternities. The market aims at facilitating the sales of world cinema in the region. The 2015 market saw an attendance of 1102 delegates from 38 countries with a country delegation from Canada.

– The 10th Edition of Film Bazaar will be held from 20-24 November 2016 at the Marriott Resort in Goa, India.

MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, 2016 – Complete Line-Up

Posted: September 30, 2016 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, News
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The much awaited line-up of this year’s MAMI Mumbai Film Festival is out. Do check out the pics below. We will soon put out a recco post.

The festival will run from Oct 20-27th this year. So do register.

Click here to read scroll’s coverage with more details on the films.

(click on any pic to start the slide show)

Call For Entries : Industry Screenings (NFDC Film Bazaar, 2016)

Posted: September 29, 2016 by moifightclub in Call For Entries, cinema, Indie
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NFDC Screenwriter's LabNFDC Film Bazaar 2016 is calling for entries for Industry Screenings.

  • The regular deadline for submissions is October 15, 2016.
  • This year, the Film Bazaar will be held from November 20-24 at the Goa Marriott Resort alongside the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2016.
  • Industry Screenings provides an opportunity to showcase your film to some of the top film Festival programmers, Sales agents, Distributors and Producers from across the world.
  • Films of any length and genre are eligible to apply for Industry Screenings. Short films can also be submitted to the Industry Screenings.

– For booking an Industry Screening, a Film Bazaar Delegate Registration is necessary. Once you register, you get access to the Market Guide, which contains contact details of International Sales agents, Distributors, Festival curators and Producers attending the Bazaar.

– Opportunity to showcase your film on a wide-screen format in digital theatres for potential buyers and collaborators.

– The films that were a part of the previous editions of Industry Screenings at Film Bazaar have had world premieres at leading International Film Festivals, won National Awards and some have had successful theatrical releases. These include: Ruchika Oberoi’s Island City (International Premiere at 72nd Venice International Film Festival, FEDEORA Award (Best Debut Director), Best Screenplay Award at New York Indian Film Festival 2016), Rajat Kapoor’s Ankhon Dekhi (Opening Film at 8th Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival 2014, Winner of Best Film (Critics), Best Actor (Critics) and Best Story Filmfare Awards), Nagraj Manjule’s  Fandry (Grand Jury Prize at Mumbai International Film Festival, Best First Film – Director at 61st National Film Awards 2014), Qaushik Mukherjee’s Tasher Desh (International Premiere at 7th Rome International Film Festival 2012), Anup Singh’s Qissa – The Tale of a Lonely Ghost (NETPAC Award for Best Asian Cinema-Contemporary at Toronto International Film Festival 2013, DIORAPHTE Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014), Karan Gour’s Kshay (Jury Award at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles 2012, International Premiere at Chicago International Film Festival 2011), OP Srivastava’s Life in Metaphors: A Portrait of Girish Kasaravalli (Best Biographical Film at 63rd National Film Awards), Gyan Correa’s The Good Road (Indian entry for the Best Foreign Film at 86th Academy Awards, Best Gujarati Film at 60th National Film Awards 2013)

– Please click here to visit the official site for booking Industry Screenings.

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

Whistling Woods International’s Celebrate Cinema Fest : Sept 30-Oct 1, 2016

Posted: September 29, 2016 by moifightclub in News, Workshop
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Every year, Whistling Woods International organises an open-for-all festival of cinema called ‘Celebrate Cinema’. This is the fifth edition of the 2-day fest.

– Attendance fee is a nominal amount of Rs 100/- for both days.

– Details of the workshops and screenings is in the pics below.

– You can also check out their official site here for more details and registration.

 

unnamed2unnamed

 

Best Of Coke Studio-9 : Round-Up + Playlist

Posted: September 28, 2016 by moifightclub in music, Music Recco, Music review
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Coke Studio 9 has come to an end. The experiment of bringing six music directors (while Strings remained Producers) was presented a bit differently than the Indian version. Here, we bombard a music director’s entire set at one go. Pakistan version composed an episode with a single song from every composer. In the order in which the songs appeared, here goes the list of my favourite tracks from this season.

Scroll down to the end of the post for the youtube playlist. So this is the way we do it – start the playlist, listen to the songs and then start reading the post.

Jaanay na tu – To me, this remains one of the best songs I came across this year and not just in Coke Studio. There is not a single fault a nit picker like me could find. The sincerity of Ali Khan is matched by a tune that changes towards the end and with such subtlety that you would probably not notice it at all. It infects you nevertheless. I loved the texture of Ali’s voice and the range that he explored. Not every song needs to bring the house down, some can lull you to sleep with a smile on your lips. This one, does just that.

Aafreen aafreen – Re-imagining classics is something that CS-Pakistan does rather well. So when they picked up this song and turned the tune by its head, it didn’t please a lot of people.I have a theory that if you cannot play and manipulate ‘classics’, then they would never be explored by the current generation who is rightfully bent on better acoustics and ‘clear’ sound. So when Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Momina sat down with a soothing guitar by the side and an ethereal tune for company, it sounded good. The ganpati pandal right next to my apartment was playing this non-stop. Now, ask yourself, would they have played the original (which remains a classic and my absolute favorite) with such fervour? Oh, and too much respect for Javed Akhtar sahab. You listen to this alone and you blush, what a feat to achieve, sir. Thank you, for the song!

Maula-e-kull – The powerful voice of Abida Parveen is best left with minimal arrangement so that we can all connect with ourselves in her characteristic long taans and powerful rendition. That is exactly what Shani Arshad cleverly did here. With a running time of approx. 10 minutes, you are guaranteed to be transported in the space where only the supreme devotion exists, i swear I was in that space. I strongly urge you to explore this and wait till the song changes its pace, it will sit in you ‘run’ playlist, I bet. My pick of the season.

Khaki Banda –  This power packed song by Umair and Ahmed Jehanzeb pretty much did its job well. The lyrics were sharp, piercing and a commentary on the state of us humans that hasn’t changed since ages. Just listen to Ahmed towards the end (karda phirey part) and then quietly go and listen to this song which he sang long time back that pretty much besotted all of us. The man has got range and sur.

Dilruba na razi – What’s a Coke Studio season without a good Pashtu fused song? While I did have issues with the arrangement, Zeb’s beautiful singing and Faakhir’s energy ensured I start swaying even though I was frowning. What can you do when Ustad Tanweer is hell bent on getting us all dance-y? Super effort!

Ala baali – Fantastic percussions are a given with CS-Pakistan. This season, however, it was a task to keep the sound from overpowering the vocals. Nirmal Roy and Jabar Abbas were clearly audible and were amazing to say the least. Doesn’t Jabbar sound like a soothing Sukhwinder? That ‘habibi’ vibe was tantalising and the Bulleh shah part grows on you as well, a pretty pretty song!

Aaya lariye – Granted that this song is quite distracting with lighting all over the place. Still, I picked this one up because it touches an oft ignored genre. Rufi was superlative and Meesha was naughty, and God those ‘jijja’ calls were infectious! The brass band (from M-Audio keyboard) played a key part in lending a celebratory character to the song.

Shamaan pai gaiyaan/kee dam da bharosa – Kashif, who is the runner up of Pakistani Idol  2013, has a voice that is soothing, and thankfully the song he was given exploits this trait very well. When he goes ‘haar ke baye gaiyyan’, he means it because it pinches your heart as well. That said, Rachel enters like a diva with a call that is measured, painful and malicious. Don’t miss the way Rachel swoops in at 5:24 in the song along with the electrical guitar and changes the mood of the song. Pain, Malice and Melody…perfectly mixed.

Main rasta – The only song of Noori in the list and the one that wasn’t trying too hard to be everything to everyone. I absolutely loved the funk of the song and the way entire house came around was a treat to see and hear. Junaid has a natural ‘chest’ voice and he uses it well and Momina, well she was quite good here as well.

Lagi bina/Chal mele nu chaliye – There are artists that made us Indians sit up and take notice of Coke Studio Pakistan. Saein Zahoor and Sanam Marvi top that list. This soulful song saw both of them collaborate and boy did it work! We hear songs where they say Bulleh Shah danced, I think Bulleh Shah danced because he heard Zahoor sing. Do check this one out!

Nawazishein/Tera wo pyar – When Shuja Haider fused his two songs (which you can hear here and here) asking Asim and Momina to do the honors, we got a soulful romantic song that might be accused of being too mushy, but hey! If we can hear a ‘typical one sided lover song from Bhatts’ filmed on Ranbir Kapoor and go all weak in the knees, this one deserves a listen and a repeat one at that. The string section of this song is where magic happens in addition to pretty much everything that contributed to the song.

Tu Kuja mann kuja – In this remarkable song, we saw Rafaqat Ali Khan sahab with Shiraz Uppal and lovely humnawas sway us the way only pure devotion can. I think this was Shiraz’s best composition of the season.

Nimma nimma – Sabir Zafar’s words are matched by the vulnerable vocals of Shani Arshad, who has also composed this song. With Coke Studio-Pakistan, touching varied genres are a given and this one is a call to mother and a very melodious one at that.

Rang – Amjad Sabri’s last outing that was complimented exquisitely by Rahat Fateh ali khan and humnawas. The highlight would always remain the ‘allah’ call by Sabri that used to be a Sabri signature in their days.

Observations  – Somehow, I got a feeling that everyone was trying too hard to give it all. Hire an exotic instrument, get a good singer, and let us all do this together. The cohesive sound was totally missing from this season and after a stellar season 8, it hurt a lot. That and those distracting lights. If you hire a group of chimpanzees and give them laser pointers, they would do a better job than what studio did this time round. It *is* important because Coke Studio is as much a video property as audio. So spare me ‘focus-on-music’ argument. Look at how the studio evolved from season 1 (where one could see cameraman running all over) and you would understand how the visual theatrics were never a part of the studio’s presentation. Subtlety has been forcefully evicted. Noori was probably overwhelmed by the opportunity and wanted to reinforce their presence in almost every song that was given to them. It was quite distracting and put me off. I loved paar channa de but the way Noori made a mess of the song towards the end put me off and it remained a song that you would love humming, but would just like to see it getting over when you hear the Coke Studio Version. Ali Sethi was given just one song, that is wrong on so many levels!

Applause – The biggest plus was the new backup vocalists and we saw them being put to good use. In fact, one of the reasons of picking nimma nimma was the way Shahab Hussain participated in the song, enveloping the feel so well. Hussain was one of the backup vocalists of the season. Also, I absolutely loved the house-band and guest musicians. It was so nice to see Amir Azhar make a return after we saw him in this song, years ago in the studio. Javed Iqbal sahib was the ‘head’ of string section, and boy, did he make his presence felt! We also liked the varied genres the studio touched, ranging from a  call to the mother, a lover taunting her innocent better half,  to a marriage dance song done just right. All the singers were top class, to say the least. 

Looking ahead – We don’t know what Rohail Hyatt is doing these days but he really needs to be engaged again because the overall vibe of the season wasn’t promising at all. Granted that Strings were splendid in season 8 but they have managed 3 seasons so far and all we remember is  just one out of that.  The cohesive sound, subtlety and experiments Rohail did are sorely missing.

Let us know your favourites!

– Rohwit 

(ps- you can find individual episode reviews on my blog – Almostareview.wordpress.com)

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