MUMBAI: In felicitation of Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi that was partly shot in its locales winning four Oscars, the Puducherry Government has planned to honour Ang Lee and his team, according to their convenience, averred Puducherry Tourism Minister P Rajavelu.
Expressing his joy and jubilation over the film bagging Oscars at the 85th Academy Awards Sunday, the minister said that the film had brought to focus Puducherry (Pondicherry) abroad.
The film has met with good response in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and a few other countries, he said, "We hope that we would be able to attract a large number of foreign tourists and we would also develop the locations where the movie was filmed here into excellent tourist spots with the assistance from the Union Tourism Ministry," he added.
The locations where the film was shot include more than a century old botanical garden, the 12th century temple of Tirukameeswar at Villianoor near here and the 136-year-old Calve College Higher Secondary School.
Tourism Secretary W V R Moorthy, who was also present when the minister talked about the felicitation, said that a Life of Pi campaign would be held on a sustained basis in Puducherry and a hop-in tourist vehicle would also be pressed into service in the Union Territory through its Tourism Department.
Category: International
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Puducherry to felicitate Ang Lee and team of Life of Pi to put it on Tourism map
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The Great Gatsby set to release by May
MUMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan‘s debut international project The Great Gatsby that is in its post-production stage is scheduled to release by May this year.
“Baz Luhrmann calls to update on ‘Great Gatsby‘… Final settings being done… Should be out May … Hope to see a print in April!” Bachchan posted on Twitter.
The film has Bachchan playing Meyer Wolfsheim, a man with a dark past who helps the film‘s lead Leonardo DiCaprio‘s character make money when he first comes to New York after the First World War.
The much anticipated film is an adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald‘s classic of the same name and also stars Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Joel Edgerton in important roles.
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Release of Hercules: The Thracian Wars brought ahead to 25 July
MUMBAI: The release of Hercules: The Thracian Wars, that was originally scheduled for release 8 August, 2014, has been preponed to 25 July Paramount has announced.
The film, based on Radical Studios‘ graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars, stars Dwayne Johnson in the title role.
While no other films are currently slated for release on the same date, the move to bring down the film‘s release to July puts the film one week after the release of two major summer films like The Hobbit: There and Back Again and X-Men: Days of Future Past that are both to release on 18 July.
The film is being produced by Beau Flynn, Barry Levine and Ratner and executively produced by Peter Berg, Sarah Aubrey and Jesse Berger.
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Visual Effects Society urges new tax incentives for VFX units
MUMBAI: The Visual Effects Society (VES) has sent an open letter to the state of California to bring in new tax incentives and called for a VFX Congress to explore other solutions to the problems facing the visual-effects industry.
The move followed a demonstration last Sunday that drew nearly 500 people representing the visual-effects community to focus on the film industry‘s attention on the economic problems threatening visual-effects houses.
While the industry has been facing problems for some time, those issues have received more attention since Rhythm & Hues, the VFX studio behind the VFX of Life of Pi filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month.
VES did not organize the Oscar day demonstration, and as an honorary society, it does not have collective-bargaining power. But the open letter, signed by VES executive director Eric Roth, said VES intends to urge California Governor Jerry Brown and the state legislature to expand its tax-incentive program to include “a focused approach concentrated on the visual effects and post production sectors of the industry.”
VES also plans to organize a VFX Congress to take place in the coming weeks because it feels that the industry has reached a tipping point for the visual effects industry.
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Iran slams Hollywood for giving top honour to hostage drama Argo
MUMBAI: Iran has criticised Hollywood for awarding its top honour to the Iran hostage drama Argo.
“This anti-Iran movie lacks artistic value,” said Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hosseini. “It was awarded the top honour through a massive financing and advertisement campaign … so that it attracts more attention worldwide,” he added.
Iran‘s state television earlier slammed the 85th Academy Awards saying that this year‘s Oscars was the most political Oscar ever, no sooner the news of Argo winning the coveted best film Oscar award broke out.
The broadcaster accused director Ben Affleck of specialising in exaggeration, blowing things out of proportion and creating false scenes.
Argo recounts the long-classified CIA plot to extract six US hostages out of revolutionary Iran, who managed to evade Islamist students storming the US embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979. The other 52 hostages were held for 444 days in an action that caused the rupture of diplomatic ties between Washington and Tehran.
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Quvenzhane Wallis to play title role in adaptation of Annie
MUMBAI: Though she couldn‘t take home an Oscar for Best Actress in Beasts of the Southern Wild, Quvenzhane Wallis has sufficient reason to celebrate after Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that the nine year old has been cast in the title role of a new film adaptation of Annie.
“Quvenzhane Wallis is a true star and we believe her portrayal as Annie will make her a true worldwide star,” the president of production for the studio said in a statement. “She is an extraordinary young talent with an amazing range, not only as an actress but as a singer and dancer, and we can‘t wait for audiences to further discover her,” he added.
The little girl made history this awards season by becoming the Oscars‘ youngest-ever actress nominee.
The film, to be produced by Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Jay-Z will be directed by Will Gluck.
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Die Hard sequel grosses $ 37 million in four day
MUMBAI: Bruce Willis‘ A Good Day to Die Hard came below expectations to find itself in a relatively close race with the Nicholas Sparks film adaptation Safe Haven and Melissa McCarthy comedy Identity Thief.
20th Century Fox‘ Die Hard grossed $29.3 million in the four-day holiday period putting its five-day debut at $37.5 million. It is reported that the action film is faring much better overseas where it has earned more than $80 million.
Universal‘s Identity Thief that teams McCarthy with Jason Bateman wasn‘t far behind Die Hard in North America and remained a potent competitor in its second weekend. It grossed $27.9 million for an 11-day domestic total of $75.1 million.
Relativity Media‘s Safe Haven roped in $25.2 million in the weekend totaling a stellar five-day gross of $34 million, $10 million more than expected. The romantic drama came in No. 3.
Animated 3D family entry Escape From Planet Earth, that opened last Friday grossed $21 million to come in at No. 4.
Beautiful Creatures grossed $8.9 million. The movie has been placed at the No. 5 spot with $10.3 million in its third week for a total $51.5 million.
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Petro Vlahos, pioneer of blue & green screen technology passes away
MUMBAI: Petro Vlahos, who pioneered blue- and green-screen technology to Hollywood, has passed away. He was 96.
Paying his respects to Vlahos, senior visual effects supervisor at Look Effects, a post-production outlet, Everett Burrell said, "All visual effects professionals and movie fans owe him a debt of gratitude." "It‘s hard to even conceive of how we would do what we do without the amazing number of processes and techniques he pioneered," he added.
Although the technology was not new when Valhos started to use it-it had been seen before in The Thief of Baghdad and The Ten Commandments, his firm, Ultimatte, made the process much more realistic.
Vlahos was awarded many patents for the techniques he invented in his laboratory, including the one which won him an Oscar, teaming up live action with cartoons on Mary Poppins. He was also associated with the Charlton Heston-starrer Ben hur.
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‘Argo’, ‘Life of Pi’ scoop top Oscar Awards
MUMBAI: On Oscar night the ‘Argo‘ juggernaut which had been building ever since the Oscar nominations came out proved unstoppable. The Ben Affleck directed film won three Oscars – Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay and Editing. It was the first time in over two decades that a film won the Best Picture Oscar without the director being nominated. It also beat four films that had more nominations which has also not happened in a long time. Michelle Obama made the announcement of the winner in the Best Picture category from the White House. Obama‘s appearance was a big surprise as were some of the musical numbers that were performed.
Ang Lee won the Oscar for Best Director. His movie ‘Life of Pi‘ was considered to be the directorial achievement of the year by many film fans since it was adapted from a novel that many felt was ‘unfilmmable‘. ‘Life Of Pi‘ also marked the first time that the director of a 3D film won.
Lee thanked his crew in Taiwan and India. After accepting the trophy, signed off with a ‘Namaste‘ and said (while he was backstage), "Here‘s the thing. I think it‘s a miracle I could make this movie. I carried the anxiety for a very long time. For four years. It‘s a philosophical movie and an expensive one."
‘Life Of Pi‘ won four Oscars, the most for any film, including trophies for visual effects, score, director and cinematography. The technical wins were expected. But to win director Lee had to beat stiff competition from Steven Spielberg for ‘Lincoln‘ which had a most disappointing evening. While it got the most nominations – 12 it only won for Best Actor Daniel Day Lewis which was expected and also for production design.
That was the trend through the Oscar season where at previous awards shows like the Baftas ‘Lincoln‘ got the most nominations but only kept winning for Daniel Day Lewis. He is the first actor to win the Oscar three rimes for Best Actor In a Leading Role. Apart from ‘Lincoln‘ also faring poorly was ‘Silver Linings Playbook. It only got one Oscar for Best Actress Jennifer Lawrence despite hectic Oscar campaigning.
The independent film ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild‘ did not get anything. Kathryn Bigelow‘s ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘, the film about how the CI.A. hunted Osmama Bin Laden, luckily survived a similar fate when it tied for a sound award with Skyfall‘. Adele who sang the song for the Bond film also won. ‘Amour‘ like ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘, also had a disappointing showing with just one win for Best Foreign Film. The film‘s female lead Emmanuelle Riva was considered a hefty candidate for the Best Actress category.
Faring better was ‘Les Miserables‘ which had the second most wins behind ‘Life of Pi‘ – three including for supporting actress Anne Hathaway. "There are so many people whose support and generosity is the reason I‘m standing here right now," Hathaway said. Quentin Tarantino won for original Screenplay for ‘Django Unchained‘. He said that 2012 was the year of writers. The movie also picked up the award for Best Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz. This was his second Oscar. His first win also came from a Tarantino film ‘Inglourious Basterds‘ a few years ago.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger to inaugurate Busan West Film Festival in California
NEW DELHI: South Korea‘s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF is to present its films in the United States in a festival titled Busan West Film Festival. The festival will take place from 8 to 10 March is in collaboration with the Chapman University‘s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in Orange city of California.
Award-winning writer/director Kim Jee-woon and Hollywood icon Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with screenwriter and Dodge College alumnus Andy Knauer (MFA/Screenwriting‘06), will open the festival with a special presentation of their recent collaboration "The Last Stand" on 8 March at Marion Knott Studios on Chapman University‘s campus in Orange. Kim Jee-woon will be honoured with a special icon award and participate in a moderated discussion with Schwarzenegger.
The Busan West lineup will feature acclaimed films from five countries: China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and the U.S.
New to the festival this year is a competition for short films. Twenty short films are scheduled to screen during the festival and awards will be presented at the festival‘s Closing Night reception, 10 March. The two winning short films will be programmed at the 2013 Busan International Film Festival in October.
The official Busan West 2013 lineup is comprised of the following films:
- A WEREWOLF BOY (Country: Korea / Director: Sung-Hee Jo)
- BEIJING FLICKERS (Country: China / Director: Yuan Zhang
- BLEAK NIGHT (Country: Korea / Director: Yoon Sung-Hyun)
- DANGEROUS LIAISONS (Country: China/Korea/Singapore / Director: Jin-ho Hur)
- FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH (Country: Hong Kong / Director: Chang-wha Chung)
- GIRLFRIEND BOYFRIEND GF*BF (Country: Taiwan / Ya-che Yang)
- IRON MONKEY (Country: China / Director: Woo-ping Yuen)
- THE SWORD IDENTITY (Country: China / Director: Haofeng Xu)
- ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA (Country: China / Director: Hark Tsui)
- TALE OF TWO SISTERS (Country: USA / Director: Adam Rifkin)
- THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD (Country: Korea / Director: Kim Jee-woon)
- THE LAST STAND (Country: USA / Director: Kim Jee-woon)
Busan West presents a unique filmmaker showcase that brings select notable Asian films and filmmakers to the U.S. to create a new and unique platform for heightened recognition outside of Asia.
Over the course of three days, the public is invited to experience a showcase of contemporary and classic Asian films, many selected from the Busan International Film Festival by Dodge College Professor Nam Lee, an expert in Pan-Asian film. The 2013 Busan West program features a special opening night event honoring director Kim Jee-woon as the Icon Award recipient and a martial arts cinema panel (Sunday, March 10) which will include renowned martial arts writer/director Haofeng Xu (The Grandmaster, The Sword Identity).
The event marks the third venture between Chapman University‘s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts and South Korea‘s Busan International Film Festival to introduce the culture, look and feel of Asia‘s largest film festival to an American audience and celebrate the vibrant and emerging Korean and Pan-Asian cinema.
Previous editions of the festival have attracted some of Korea‘s most renowned filmmakers including celebrated writer/director Bong Joon-ho (Mother, Memories of Murder, The Host), award-winning writer/director Park Chan-wook (Thirst director‘s cut), writer/director Kim Jee-woon (The Good, the Bad, the Weird), director Lee Doo-yong (Last Witness), Oh Jeom-kyun (Viva, Love), Park Jin-sung (Evil Spirit: VIY), director Kim Dong-won ("Drifting Away") and writer/director Kim Young-nam (Don‘t Look Back).