ITV

Category: International

  • Futuristic Jodie Foster-Matt Dimon starrer ‘Elysium’ set for Friday release

    NEW DELHI: Elysium, a futuristic science fiction action drama directed by Neill Blomkamp (writer, director District 9) which is reflective of the situation today is being released in Hindi and English on 27 September.


    The 109-minute film stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, William Fichtner, and Wagner Moura.


    In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. 






    The people of Earth are desperate to escape the planet’s crime and poverty, and they critically need the state-of-the-art medical care available on Elysium – but some in Elysium will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve their citizens’ luxurious lifestyle. 


    The only man with the chance to bring equality to these worlds is Max, an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium.  With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission – one that pits him against Elysium’s Secretary Delacourt and her hard-line forces – but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.

  • Carmen Maura gets Lifetime Award at San Sebastian Filmfest

    Carmen Maura gets Lifetime Award at San Sebastian Filmfest

    NEW DELHI: Actress Carmen Maura has been presented with the Donostia Award at the 61st San Sebastian Film Festival.

    The event which was held in Spain presented pays tributes to the ones with an outstanding professional careers in Spanish cinema in the last few decades.

    The actress received her lifetime achievement award during the out-of-competition Official Selection presentation of her latest participation, Las brujas de Zugarramurdi directed by Álex de la Iglesia.

    Las brujas de Zugarramurdi is a delirious frenetic comedy featuring three desperate men who hold up a gold-buyers shop in the Puerta del Sol and then make a madcap getaway heading for Disneyland accompanied by the son of one of them. However, at the French border, they fall into the hands of some Basque witches who keep up the age-old custom of practising witchcraft and making fun of men. The film is the third time that Carmen Maura has worked with Álex de la Iglesia after her performances in La comunidad (Common Wealth, 2000), which won the actress the Silver Shell at the San Sebastián Film Festival, and 800 balas (800 Bullets, 2002). The cast of the film is completed by Hugo Silva, Mario Casas, Jaime Ordó?ez, Macarena Gómez, Carolina Bang and Terele Pávez.

    Maura was born in Madrid and started out as an actress in the theatre and small roles on television & films. She shot to fame thanks to the programme on TVE, Esta noche, directed by Fernando García Tola.

    Among the numerous acknowledgements that she has received throughout her career,  Maura has won four Goya Awards (for Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, ?Ay Carmela!, La comunidad and Volver), the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival (for Volver), the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival (for Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios), a nomination for the César for Best Actress (for Le bonheur est dans le pré),  a César Award for Best Supporting Actress (for Les femmes du 6?me étage) and two European Film Academy Awards (for Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios and ?Ay, Carmela!). She has also received the Film Academy Gold Medal, the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts and the Knight of Honour Medal of the Order of Arts and Letters of France.

    The San Sebastian Festival commenced on 20 September with the opening gala at the Kursaal Auditorium presented by the actors Cayetana Guillén Cuervo and Unax Ugalde.

  • Legendary moves ahead with Warcraft; Paula Patton, Colin Farrell in the mix

    Legendary moves ahead with Warcraft; Paula Patton, Colin Farrell in the mix

    MUMBAI: Legendary Pictures and Atlas Entertainment are casting up Warcraft, the movie adaptation of the hit Blizzard video game World Of Warcraft that Duncan Jones will helm. Word has it that Paula Patton is negotiating for a lead role and that another lead has been offered to Colin Farrell. Jones is testing other actors for the major roles. Production will begin in January and Charles Leavitt has written the script.

    The role-playing game takes place in a medieval-like setting where players control avatars that take on gryphons, dragons, zombies, werewolves and elves. Time travel and alien worlds also are part of the mix. The project is one of Legendary’s biggest and was supposed to be made at Warner Bros. Since Thomas Tull’s financing/production company moved over to Universal Pictures, it’s expected that the film will be relocated there as well.

    Patton is the lead in the upcoming Fox Searchlight film Baggage Claim and is coming off the hits 2 Guns and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Farrell stars with Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson in Disney’s upcoming Oscar-season film Saving Mr. Banks and then the Akiva Goldsman-directed adaptation of the Marc Helprin novel Winter’s Tale. 

  • European Film Academy to honour Pedro Almodóvar with lifetime achievement

    NEW DELHI: Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar is to receive the European Film Academy’s European achievement in world cinema for his outstanding body of work.


    Pedro Almodóvar will be an honorary guest at the 26th European Film Awards Ceremony on 7 December 2013 in Berlin, streamed live on ww.europeanfilmawards.eu.


    “I am very thankful for this award. From its creation, the European Film Academy has been very generous with me and my closest collaborators,” stated Pedro Almodóvar upon receiving the news, “I share with them the joy of this award”.






    With a background in independent theatre, Super-8-film making and underground magazines, Pedro Almodóvar’s early films were the heirs and witnesses of the brand new Spanish democracy. After a year and a half of eventful shooting on 16mm, in 1980 he opened Pepi, Luci, Bom, a no-budget film made as a co-operative effort with the rest of the crew and the cast, all beginners, except for Carmen Maura.


    In 1986, he founded the production company El Deseo S.A. with his brother Agustin. Their first project was Law of Desire. Since then, they have produced all the films that Pedro has written and directed, and have also produced other young directors.


    In 1988, Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown brought him international recognition and the Best Young Film award at the first European Film Awards. Since then, his films have opened all around the world to great acclaim. Pedro Almodóvar has won virtually every award there is and his films have played an important role in shaping the way we see not only Spain but also European cinema itself.

  • Five Asian world premieres compete at Tokyo fest

    NEW DELHI: Five Asian films will have their world premieres in competition at the 26th Tokyo International Film Festival next month. The Festival will be held from 17-25 October.


    The entries include two films from Japanese directors, Fukada Koji’s Au revoir l‘été and actor-turned-director Sakaki Hideo‘s Disregarded People based on George Akiyama‘s novel.


    Fukada‘s debut film, Hospitalité (2010), debuted at the Tokyo festival three years ago in a now-retired section for local indies. His new film stars Nikaido Fumi as a teenager having a holiday romance.






    Non-Japanese Asian films competing are Ning Ying‘s To Live and Die in Ordos from China, Jun Robles Lana‘s dramaBarber‘s Tales from the Philippines, and the Kim Ki-duk produced black comedy Red Family.


    Non-Asian films in the 15-strong competition include Daniele Luchetti‘s drama Those Happy Days from Italy, Levan Koguashvili‘s comedy Blind Dates from Georgia and Richard Ayoade‘s thriller The Double from the UK.


    The jury, headed by Chinese director Chen Kaige, is comprised of South Korean actress Mun So-ri, Japanese actress Terajima Shinobu, UK-Australian producer Chris Brown and American director Chris Weitz.


    They are 22 Japanese feature films in the lineup, representing more than half the Asian titles. There are also six films from Taiwan, part of an already-announced special focus, and three each from China and Philippines.

    The Special Screenings section includes films by Shinjo Takehiko, Kumazawa Naoto and Motoki Katsuhide alongside films directed by Luc Besson, Sofia Coppola and Steven Soderbergh.


    Dante Lam’s Unbeatable and Vicki Zhao’s So Young screen in the World Focus section with Alex van Warmerdam‘s Borgman (Netherlands), Amal Escalante‘s Heli (Mexico) and Ulrich Seidl‘s Love trilogy (Austria).


    Two new competitive sections have been introduced this year, Asian Future and Japanese Cinema Splash, to replace the long-running Winds of Asia-Middle East (2007-2012) and Japanese Eyes (2004-2012) respectively.


    The new Asian Future section for first- and second-time directors includes Juno MAK‘s Rigor Mortis, Mikhail RED‘s Rekorder and Kim Jeong-hun‘s Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) graduation feature Stray Dogs.


    Japanese Cinema Splash, includes new films by Ogata Akira, Saito Hisashi and Matsui Daigo. It will also screen the winning film of the 35th Pia Film Festival (14-20 September 2013).

  • Harrison Ford to receive lifetime achievement award

    MUMBAI: The Zurich Film Festival is all set to bestow upon Harrison Ford the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ in the form of ‘Golden Eye’.  He will get the honour on 4 October.


    Ford will be on a pan Europe tour to promote his upcoming film Ender’s Game by Gavin Hood. In honour of Ford, the Zurich festival will hold a special screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark.






    In 2002, he won the prestigious Cecile D Mille Award at the Golden Globes. In 1994 he was named as the box office star of the century.


    The 9th annual Zurich film festival will run from 26 September to 6 October.

  • Kelsey Grammer joins Expendables 3

    MUMBAI: A deal is almost set for Grammer to be playing the role of Bonaparte, an ex-mercenary who will be helping the Expendables in their mission. He had been known to be selected to play the role of shrink-turned-radio host Dr Frasier Crane; he has now switched to being the tough guy.






    The cast already includes Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terry Crews, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and Wesley Snipes.


    Grammer recently worked with Stallone in Reach me. He has a new series line up with Lionsgate’s Lawrence. He is repped by UTA and Category 5’s  Brian Sher.

  • ‘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. 

  • Sony to release 2 Guns with Denzel Washington

    NEW DELHI: The action film 2 Guns directed by Baltasar Kormákur and presented by Sony Pictures is being released in theatres this week.


    The film stars Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, Bill Paxton, James Marsden, Fred Ward and Edward James Olmos.       






    Sony’s total releases for September will be four with One Direction: This is Us, Grown Ups 2, 2 Guns and Elysium releasing back-to-back. October will see the release of already critically acclaimed Captain Phllips (18 October) followed by Insidious Chapter2 (25 October) which is also currently reigning at the top position at the US box office with a record $41 mn opening.

    2 Guns is an explosive action film that tracks two operatives from competing bureaus that are forced on the run together.  But there is a big problem with their unique alliance: neither knows that the other is an undercover federal agent.

  • ‘12 Years a Slave’ wins People’s 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.