what we are reading – EightandHalf
We have written in the past about the excitement around our home-grown mythological thriller Tumbbad at Venice Film Festival.
The trailer for the film was released today. Take a look.
The trailer showcases the mood, the mystery, and the special effects that are woven into this story of a goddess who created the entire universe, and the horrors around it. As we write this, the trailer has generated a lot of interest and excitement amongst fans and viewers.
Aanand L. Rai, Sohum Shah, and Anand Gandhi’s much awaited mythological thriller about a goddess who created the entire universe, Tumbbad opened the Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week and is generating a lot of buzz at Venice Film Festival.
So here’s all the buzz around the film at the fest.
– Baradwaj Rangan’s review on Film Companion here
– Hollywood Reporter’s review here
– Screen Daily’s review here
– Sohum Shah’s interview in Variety here
– Sohum Shah on the film in Quint here
– Jared Mobarak’s review on The Film Stage here
– Deloret Imnidia’s review on High on Films here
– Tommaso Tocci’s review on Ion Cinema here
– Bénédicte Prot’s review on on Cineuropa here
Ritesh Batra’s new film, Our Souls at Night, will have its world premiere at Venice International Film Festival in an out-of-competition slot. The film stars Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. Both the actors will also be honored with Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement at the 74th edition of the fest.
Based on the novel by Kent Haruf and adapted for screen by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, Our Souls At Night is set in Colorado, and begins when Addie Moore (Fonda) pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor Louis Waters (Redford). Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town, they’d been neighbors for decades but had little contact. Netflix is launching the film globally next year. (via Deadline)
The fest will run from Aug. 30 till Sept. 9, 2017
The Song of Scorpions directed by Anup Singh, starring Irrfan Khan and Golshifteh Farahani will have its world première at Locarno Film Festival. The festival is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.
The Song of Scorpions is a story of twisted love, revenge and the redemptive power of a song. Nooran, carefree and defiantly independent, is a tribal woman learning the ancient art of healing from her grandmother, a revered scorpion-singer. When Aadam, a camel trader in the Rajasthan desert, hears her sing, he falls desperately in love. But even before they can get to know each other better, Nooran is poisoned by a brutal treachery that sets her on a perilous journey to avenge herself and find her song.
The Locarno Film Festival runs from Aug. 2-12, 2017.
Chaitanya Tamhane
Filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane seems to be going places and making all the right marks. Last month, he was in news as he was selected for Rolex’s Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative where will be mentored by Alfonso Cuarón.
And now there’s some more good news. He will be on the jury of 73rd Venice International Film Festival. He will be part of the international jury for the Orizzonti section of the fest. In addition to its president, French director Robert Guédiguian, other jury members for Orozzonti are : American film critic and historian Jim Hoberman, Egyptian actress Nelly Karim, Italian actress Valentina Lodovini, Korean actress and director Moon So-ri, Spanish film critic and scholar José Maria (Chema).
Interestingly, Chaitanya’s debut feature Court premiered at the 71st Venice Film Festival, where it won the Lion of the Future award and the Orizzonti award for Best film.
The Jury will award the following prizes, with no ex-aequo awards permitted: Orizzonti Award for Best Film; Orizzonti Award for Best Director; Special Orizzonti Jury Prize; Orizzonti Award for Best Actor or Actress; Orizzonti Award for Best Screenplay; Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film; Venice Short Film Nomination for the European Film Awards 2016.
The festival will run from 31st August to 10th September, 2016.
WHAT: Screenwriter’s Lab 2012, a 2-part workshop is designed to prepare screenwriters with original Indian stories for working with the international filmmaking market place. It aims at improving a completed screenplay in its final stages and to increase the international marketability of the same.
The Lab is organised in partnership with Binger Filmlab, Netherlands, and the Venice International Film Festival, Italy.
LAB : The 1st Session will be held during the Venice International Film Festival in Venice (31st August- 4th September, 2012) where participants will get first-hand experience of the workings of the international film community and get to train with their screenplay mentors.
The 2nd session at Film Bazaar, Goa from 24–27 November, 2011 is where participants will apply their training and pitch their revised screenplays to participants at the film market. (dates are subjected to change)
MENTORS : The workshop will be conducted by Marten Rabarts, Artistic Director, Binger Filmlab, aided by experienced international guest mentors. It is organized in association with Binger Filmlab, Netherlands and Venice International Film Festival.
DATES : Last date for submitting complete application forms : 31st May 2012. Results : August 2012
FEES : Application will not be considered complete without the Submission fee of Rs. Three Thousand Only [Rs. 3000/-]. The fee can be paid through cheque/demand draft/electronic transfer. For more details, click here.
CONTACT: For any doubts, you can check out the FAQ and other details here or can write to screenwriters-lab@filmbazaarindia.com
Rules & Regulations : Do carefully read the Rules and Regulations page as there has been some changes this year.
Happy writing!
WHAT: Screenwriter’s Lab 2011, a 2-part workshop is designed to prepare screenwriters’ with original Indian stories for working with the international filmmaking market place. It aims at improving a completed screenplay in its final stages and to increase the international marketability of the same.
LAB : The 1st Session will be held during the Venice International Film Festival in September, 2011 where participants will get first-hand experience of the workings of the international film community and get to train with their screenplay mentors.
The 2nd session at Film Bazaar, Goa from 24–27 November, 2011 is where participants will apply their training and pitch their revised screenplays to participants at the film market.
MENTORS: The workshop will be conducted by Marten Rabarts, Artistic Director, Binger Filmlab, aided by experienced international guest mentors. It is organized in association with Binger Filmlab, Netherlands and Venice International Film Festival.
CONTACT: For further details on the Screenwriters’ Lab please write to: filmbazaar2011@gmail.com
DATE: Last Date for entries is 17 June, 2011.
Rules and Regulations
i. Two Sessions Compulsory
– The sessions in 2011 will run at the Venice International Film Festival, in September and from 24 – 27 November at Film Bazaar Goa, India. Participants must attend both sessions, must have a valid passport and visa and must be able to travel to Venice.
ii. Costs of the Lab
– The lab will provide accommodation for participants in Venice and Goa, as well as accreditation to the Venice International Film Festival and the Goa Film Bazaar.
– The lab will provide economy air tickets originating from either Mumbai or Delhi for travel to the workshop.
– Participants will have to apply, secure and pay for their own visas as well as their travel insurance. The organizers will not be responsible for the above if additional charges are incurred.
WHAT : The Venice International Film Festival (La Biennale di Venezia – Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica) announces its Call for Entries in all categories for 2011.
Essentially a World Premiere Festival, it is open to films of any format and length that have been produced during the twelve months preceding the festival.
WHEN : The selection process will start from 1st March 2011 and will continue till the end of June 2011. Deepti DCunha will be leading the pre-selection process for the entries sent from India for the Venice International Film Festival, 2011.
The festival’s director Marco Mueller will be visiting India in mid-March for a first shortlisting of the Indian film entries.
DATE : The festival runs from Aug 31 to Sept 10, 2011.
FORMAT : DVDs/ Digi Beta tapes (duly subtitled in English)
REQUIREMENTS : Press kit or documentation including synopsis, cast and crew and other info about film’s content and filmmaker’s vision should be sent along with the film.
CONTACT : deepti.dcunha@gmail.com (from March onwards, also deepti.dcunha@labiennale.org)
ADDRESS : All submissions (duly subtitled in English) should be sent to the contact details given below..
Deepti DCunha. 23, Gautam Niwas. 7 Bungalows, Andheri (West). Mumbai, 400 053
WEBSITE : For complete rules and regulations please visit the Festival website at http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema
2009 – He scored a hattrick. Dev D. Gulaal. Paanch. Commercial success. Critical acclaim. And even his unreleased film Paanch found its way out.
2010 – He has done it again! Cannes. Toronto. Venice – A hattrick of different sorts !
Udaan @Cannes Film Festival – Vikramaditya Motwane’s debut film – a film which nobody was willing to back and was even rejected by UTV twice. Anurag decided to produce it himself and almost everyone branded it as a suicidal step. Na sex hai na star na Shah Rukh Khan! Well, the film still made it to the official selection of Cannes Film Festival and was one of the best rated films of the year. Do watch it if you havent seen this gem yet! Whats more, it has even managed to recover its cost.
That girl In Yellow Boots @Venice/Toronto International Film Festival – It was the same story again. He was looking for 10 crore to produce three films (Udaan, That Girl In Yellow Boots and Tumbad) and the suited-booted MBA morons had the same answer – Its a suicide! Get a star and you can take 50 crore. Why only 10 crore ? When the marketing budget of the dud of the year Raavan is Rs 28 crore, what can you do in just 10 cr ? And so, Anurag decided to produce it himself again. Aah cinema. Ooh life! Being Uncompromised!
The film will have its world premiere at the Venice International film Festival. And will have the North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. To read more about the film and the fest, click here. Is this his career’s best year ? Seems so. We are not aware of any other such story.
For Udaan, UTV came onboard later on and it managed to reach the theatres and got the visibility it deserves. For That Girl In Yellow Boots, NFDC has come onboard. And if our sources are to be believed, his next production Tumhad has finally managed to get funding.
So, will the big boys of Bollylalaland finally sit up and look beyond the Kites & Raavans! Here is the so called cinema’s enfant terrible…give him few crore and some freedom, bet he will deliver more! As one of the popular campaign goes, we wonder, Next is what ?
And there is some more good news. Remember Amit Datta ? If you follow us on Twitter, we have been raving about his films for a long time. His new film Nainsukh has also been selected for the Venice Film Festival and will be shown in Orizzonti category. Cheers to good ol’ cinema!
We told you so! Though we are now bored of repeating it again and again but who doesn’t love some cheap thrills and ego massage. Much before the official announcement, we had put out this exclusive post confirming Dhobi Ghat’s selection for Toronto International Film Festival. The official list is finally out. We knew that three Indian films have been selected for TIFF. So, one is still missing ? Will it be added later on or we got confused ? Someone please enlighten!
Kiran Rao’s directorial debut Dhobi Ghat will have it world premiere at TIFF in the Special Presentations. And here is the official synopsis of the film…..
In the teeming metropolis of Mumbai, four people separated by class and language are drawn together in compelling relationships. Shai, an affluent investment banker on a sabbatical, strikes up an unusual friendship with Munna, a young and beautiful laundry boy with ambitions of being a Bollywood actor, and has a brief dalliance with Arun, a gifted painter. As they slip away from familiar moorings and drift closer together, the city finds its way into the crevices of their inner worlds.
The other film selected for TIFF2010 is Anurag Kashyap’s That Girl In Yellow Boots starring Kalki Koechlin. The film will have its North American Premiere under Special Presentations. And here is the official synopsis of the film…..
Ruth is searching for her father – a man she hardly knew but cannot forget. Desperation drives her to work without a permit, at a massage parlour, where she gives ‘happy endings’ to unfulfilled men. Torn between several schisms, Mumbai becomes the backdrop for Ruth’s quest as she struggles to find her independence and space even as she is sucked deeper into the labyrinthine politics of the city’s underbelly.
Yay! One debutant and one the voice of good ol’ indie! Cheers to good cinema, fests and more! To read the complete list of TIFF 2010, click here.
What’s next ? Venice Film Festival – anyone wanna bet ?
BTW, NFDC’s Nina Lath Gupta is on the jury of 67th Venice International Film Festival for “Luigi De Laurentiis” Award for a Debut Film. The jury will be chaired by filmmaker Fatih Akin. Click here to read the full report.
Update (29-07-2010) – And there is some more good news. Its a hattrick of Anurag Kashyap. Click here to read more.
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 