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Category: Hollywood

  • Qissa wins NETPAC Award at 13th Toronto International Film Festival

    Qissa wins NETPAC Award at 13th Toronto International Film Festival

    NEW DELHI: Qissa by Anup Singh has won the NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere at the 13th Toronto International Film Festival.

     

    The award is instituted by the Network for the promotion of Asian Cinema and given at very few festivals.

     

    Jury members include Jay Jeon (Korea), Intishal Al Timimi (Abu Dhabi) and Freddie Wong (Hong Kong).

     

    The jury remarked: “The NETPAC Award for the best Asian film at Festival 2013 goes to Qissa, directed by Anup Singh, for its sensitive portrayal of the issues of identity and displacement that affect people not only in India, but in all parts of the world and for brilliance of cinematic craft and the choice of metaphor that has been employed to tell a moving story that is bound to provoke thoughts, spark debate and give its viewers an intense experience.”

     

    Set amidst the ethnic cleansing and general chaos that accompanied India’s partition in 1947, this sweeping drama stars Irrfan Khan – also appearing at the Festival in The Lunchbox – as a Sikh attempting to forge a new life for his family while keeping their true identities a secret from their community.

     

    Beautiful, timeless, and touching the deepest of human impulses, Qissa carries the spirit of a great folk tale. Although it’s set in a particular time and place – the Punjab region that straddles India and Pakistan in the years immediately after partition – it is both deeper and broader than any one moment. As this eerie family drama progresses, it cuts to the heart of eternal desires for honour, empathy, and love.

     

    One of India’s best actors, Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Festival premiere The Lunchbox, and a feature guest in this year’s Mavericks programme) plays Umber Singh, a Sikh uprooted by the religious violence that came with partition in 1947. He and his family move to a safer locale, and it is here that the story takes a remarkable turn. Having already fathered daughters, Singh now wants a son. When his next child is born he celebrates his wish come true, but there is one problem: the baby is in fact a girl.

     

    Qissa is originally an Arabic word meaning folk tale. Both the word and the idea migrated from the Gulf into the Punjab, still connected by the ancient oral narratives handed down in communal settings. Working within this tradition, director Anup Singh gives his film both the grand themes and elemental emotions of classic storytelling. As Umber’s daughter is raised as a boy, the characters are propelled with greater and greater urgency towards their inevitable fates.

     

    Part of a new generation of directors with feet firmly planted in India and far beyond, Singh has delivered a film immediately accessible to anyone sensitive to the conflicts that drive classic stories: fear versus hubris, individual need versus social codes. Qissa is a Punjabi story for the whole world. 

  • 12 Years a Slave wins Peoples Choice Award

    12 Years a Slave wins Peoples Choice Award

    MUMBAI: The movie directed by Steve McQueen has been awarded the People’s Choice Awards at the Toronto International Film Festival of 2013. The movie stars Chiwetel Ejiofor with Michael Fassenbender and Benedict Cumberbatch.

    The story revolves around an 1853 true memoir of a free black man sold into slavery. Previous wins have been Slumdog Millionaire and The King’s Speech. The movie is now expected to make rounds at the Oscars as well.

    Fox Searchlight will start showing the movie from 18 October. It debuted at Telluride Film Festival and has newcomer Lupita Nyong’o. Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Bill Pohlad are among the producers. The screenplay is done by John Ridley while Fox Searchlight and Regency Enterprises will be distributing it.
    Philomena won the runner up while Prisoners was second runner up.

  • ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler’ hits $100 million

    ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler’ hits $100 million

    MUMBAI: The independent historical drama – headlining Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey – took in $5.4 million in its fifth weekend for The Weinstein Co, pushing the movie’s North American total to a stellar $100 million.

     

    Daniels becomes one of only a handful of black directors to have a film clear that mark, not accounting for inflation.

     

    One reason for The Butler’s success is that it is playing to all audiences, according to Harvey Weinstein’s team. On opening weekend, 52 per cent of ticket buyers were black; now, 67 per cent of the audience is white. The Butler is also becoming a family play.

     

    The Butler opened in mid-August, hoping to mirror the success of The Help, another civil-rights themed drama. The Butler isn’t likely to match The Help’s lifetime domestic gross of $169.7 million, but The Help was different in featuring both black and white lead actors.

     

    In the film, Whitaker plays a White House butler who serves through eight presidential administrations, a character inspired by the real-life story of the late Eugene Allen.

     

    Winfrey, who plays the butler’s wife, has provided an enormous marketing boost for the movie because of her avid fanbase. The Butler already is considered an awards contender, particularly for Whitaker and Winfrey’s performances.

  • First ever Saudi Arabia entry in Oscar – ‘Wadjda’

    First ever Saudi Arabia entry in Oscar – ‘Wadjda’

    MUMBAI: Wadjda is the first film that is shot entirely in Saudi Arabia as well as by a female director Hanifaa Al Mansour, has earned the name of being the first ever Oscar entry from the kingdom. Produced by Rotana Studios, the film debuted in Venice last year.

    Mansour said that at times she had to give instructions through the phone to direct because as per Saudi law she cannot be interacting with men outside.  The film talks about a young girl in the country who is out to challenge deep rooted traditions to buy a bicycle.

    The picture was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. The movie has won several awards since release. Oscar 2014 will be held on 2 March with Ellen DeGeneres as host.

  • Woody Allen is 2014 recipient of Cecile B DeMille award

    Woody Allen is 2014 recipient of Cecile B DeMille award

    MUMBAI: A formal announcement from the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) Theo Kingma that the 2014 Cecile B DeMille award will be presented to Woody Allen for his immense contribution to filmmaking.

    Each year this award is given to a talented person whose contribution to the world of entertainment has had a great impact. Previously this award has been given to Jodie Foster (2013), Morgan Freeman (2012), Robert De Niro (2011), Martin Scorsese (2010), Steven Spielberg (2009).

    Woody Allen is known for movies such as Annie Hall, Manhattan, Vicky Christina Barcelona and Midnight in Paris. Currently his movie Blue Jasmine is running in theaters currently.
    The Golden Globes are given to both motion picture and television achievements.

  • Weinsteins acquire Paddington for North America

    Weinsteins acquire Paddington for North America

    MUMBAI: Studio Canal will be bringing in a live action CGI version of the classic children’s story to theaters which will be directed by Paul King and David Heyman is producing. It is an adaptation of Michael Bond’s classic kids character Paddington Bear.  The Weinstein Company is bringing it to North America.

    This is the first release in a new label for the company called TWC-Dimension. Colin Firth will give the voice for the teddy bear while Kidman will be playing an evil taxidermist out for revenge. They were recently seen together in The Railway Man.
    The shooting starts this month in UK. VFX is provided by Framestore and it is expected to release on 28 November in 2014. The movie will be released in the US in the first quarter of 2015.

    Firth and Broadbent are repped by CAA and the UK’s Independent Talent Group; Kidman is repped by CAA; Bonneville is repped by UTA and the UK’s Gordon and French; Hawkins is with ICM Partners and the UK’s Conway van Gelder Grant.

  • Warner Bros to produce new Harry Potter inspired film series

    Warner Bros to produce new Harry Potter inspired film series

    MUMBAI: Starting off her stint as a screenwriter for Fantastic Beasts and where to find them, Warner bros has announced an ‘expanded creative partnership’ with the author. It was a book in the Hogwarts school of Harry Potter series.

    Plans are on to adapt the movie into a video game, consumer products and digital initiatives. Rowling says that the new movie will only be an extension of the wizarding world and not a prequel or sequel. It will showcase the adventures of Newt Scamander about 70 years before Harry was born.
    Warner bros released all eight movies in the Harry Potter franchisee which were a massive box office hit as well as shattered box office release records.

  • Mark Wahlberg and Rupert Wyatt eyeing ‘The Gambler’ remake

    Mark Wahlberg and Rupert Wyatt eyeing ‘The Gambler’ remake

    MUMBAI: There are rumors doing rounds that Mark Wahlberg is circling to star and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes helmer Rupert Wyatt is circling to direct The Gambler, a William Monahan-scripted remake of the 1974 James Caan movie for Paramount.

    The remake is being produced by original producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff and also Stephen Levinson. Caan played a college professor whose gambling addiction overcomes him even after he gets in big trouble with the wrong guys. James Toback wrote the original script and the feature film co-starred Lauren Hutton and Paul Sorvino.

  • Fast 7 adds more muscle to its wheels with Djimon Hounsou

    Fast 7 adds more muscle to its wheels with Djimon Hounsou

    UMBAI: Djimon Hounsou is adding his muscle to Universal’s Fast & Furious 7, the studio has announced. He’ll join franchise veterans Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson and Tyrese, along with Kurt Russell and new baddie Jason Statham. The sequel helmed by James Wan is due to hit theaters 11 July. Moritz and Diesel return as producers.

    No plot details have been unveiled yet, except that the film will return to Los Angeles after the previous six films were set in other locations. Co-president of production Jeff Kirschenbaum and creative executive Jay Polidoro will oversee the project. This May’s Fast & Furious 6 was the highest-grossing pic in the series, with $788 million worldwide.

    Hounsou can be seen next in Fox Searchlight’s Baggage Claim and follows that up with a busy 2014 that includes Legendary’s Seventh Son, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and How to Train Your Dragon 2.

  • Universal sets ‘Jurassic World’ release for 12 June 2015

    Universal sets ‘Jurassic World’ release for 12 June 2015

    MUMBAI: Universal Pictures will release Jurassic World in 3D on 12 June, 2015. Steven Spielberg is producing the big-budget dino-sequel, formerly known as Jurassic Park 4. Colin Trevorrow directs from a draft of the screenplay he wrote with Derek Connolly. Frank Marshall and Pat Crowley are producing.

     

    Its worth mentioning that the first dino-epic The Jurassic Park was recently re-released world over in 3D to generate a buzz around the next installment in the franchise. The collections were really encouraging worldwide and surely proved that this classic still connects well with audiences even today.