Posts Tagged ‘Venice Days’

visaranaiThe fest news continues. After Toronto’s list, now Venice Film Festival is out with their line-up. Vetri Maaran’s Visaarani has been selected to premiere at the fest.

The film will compete in Orizzonti (international competition dedicated to films that represent the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in international cinema) section of the fest.

Titled Interrogation in English, the 106 minute long film stars Dinesh Ravi, Samuthira Kani, Murugadas Periyasamy .

Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court was in the same section last year where it bagged two top awards.

Guru Dutt’s classic Pyaasa will be screened in the ‘Venice Classics’ section of the fest.

The other Indian film is Ruchika Oberoi’s Island City. This film will be at Venice Days which is an independent section at the Venice Film Festival, and is promoted by the Italian Association of Filmmakers and authors. The idea was to develop a parallel sidebar on the lines of Directors Fortnight at Cannes.

Starring Vinay Pathak, Amruta Subhash and Tannishtha Chatterjee, the film ties together three absurd stories in a modern-day Indian city.

The first story revolves around a diligent office worker who wins the office ‘Fun Committee’ award. The second is about the domineering head of a family who suddenly falls into a coma and how his family slowly replaces him in their psyche with the seductive hero of a popular soap opera. The third is about a girl who falls in love with a man who writes her love letters. The first two stories are black comedies while the third one falls into the tragicomedy genre.

Guru Dutt’s classic Pyaasa will be screened in the Restored Classics section of the fest.

Mary Kom

A quick update on three fest news.

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

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

LOL

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

The first look of Richie Mehta’s new film, Siddharth, is out. The film will have its premiere at the 10th edition of Venice Days Program of the Biennale.

Venice Days is a separate festival within the Venice Fest and it runs during the entire duration of the main fest (August 28-Sept. 7). Its lineup includes 12 feature films, two shorts, three special events and two special screenings.

Here’s the trailer and synopsis of the film

SiddharthSIDDHARTH by Richie Mehta

With Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Anurag Arora, Shobha Sharma Jassi, Geeta Agarwal Sharma, Naseeruddin Shah

India/Canada, World Premiere

Production: Poor Man’s Productions Ltd.

Mahendra works on street corners as a chain-wallah (a zipper-fixer), while his wife Suman stays at home with their two young children, twelve-year-old Siddharth and his sister. To contribute to the family budget, the boy is sent far away from home, from New Dehli to Ludhiana, where a relative has a job for him and a place to sleep. It seems like a dream come true to his father, until he realises that his son has vanished into thin air: kidnapped, perhaps, or dead. Mahendra learns how confusing the world beyond his front door really is, but that doesn´t stop him from stubbornly seeking Siddharth all over India, its cities and countryside combined. Co-written by its star and the director (who now lives in Canada), the film builds on the emotions of one man´s painful awakening, and shows a different, almost neorealist India, described with that ingredient of universal humanity that is Italian film´s gift to the world.