ITV

Category: Movies

  • Indian filmmaker’s horror film enthralls Britishers

    MUMBAI: Indian filmmaker Nikhil Sablania‘s, horror film Siski (The Sigh) was screened on 4 September at the Portebello Film Festival, UK‘s biggest independent film festival in London.

    The film relates the story of a young, loving couple who shift into their new home only to find themselves surrounded by a series of supernatural incidents that leave them baffled and menaced. This eventually lead them to discover the murder of a little girl in the house, something that was so far unknown to the world but to those who had perpetrated it.


    The film received a terrific response at the festival and succeeded in enthralling the audience.

  • Advance booking of Jacko’s ‘This Is It’ from 27 September

    MUMBAI: In line with its global practice, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has announced that the advance booking of Michael Jackson‘s This Is It will begin on 27 September in India, a month before the film opens in multiplexes on 28 October.

    This Is It will be available worldwide for a limited two-week engagement beginning 28 October.

    In India, the film will release across India with over 150 prints. Tickets for all shows will be available for purchase in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bangalore.
    In Mumbai, moviegoers can purchase tickets by visiting select Fun, Fame and Cinemax properties as well or through online booking on their respective websites.


    Said SPE Films India managing director Kercy Daruwala, “We anticipate a major demand for this film because of the huge fan following of Michael Jackson in India and also because the film has a limited two-week engagement in theatres.


    “It‘s a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the King of Pop perform larger than life. We have a host of activities planned around the film which we will be revealing in the days leading to the release.”

    The film‘s world gala will be held in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on 27 October. Other locations, including Moscow, Tokyo, Sydney, Paris and many other countries will host their own non-simultaneous premieres.

  • Cinepolis in three-year agreement with IBM to support its operations in India

    MUMBAI: IBM has announced a three-year IT services agreement with Cinepolis, one of the world‘s largest multiplex operator that is due to commence operations in India.

    The deal, inked last month, will involve IBM deploying, managing and supporting a scalable IT infrastructure essential for Cinepolis‘ roll-out plans. IBM‘s store roll out solution will allow Cinepolis to control operating expenses as well as swiftly develop and deploy new customer facing applications.


    Commenting on the deal IBM India territory executive north & east, general business Asia Vivek Malhotra said, “This is a very strategic win for IBM in the media & entertainment space. Accelerating time to market and reducing operational complexity for Cinepolis will be the key focus areas for IBM in this engagement.


    “Our industry experience and domestic market know-how will help a global leader like Cinepolis achieve success in the Indian market by focusing on its core business, cinemas.”


    Cinepolis has a goal of opening 500 screens in India by 2016. Of this, it is looking at making 130 screens go-live in eight cities over the next three years.

  • Rakesh Maria rolls piracy ball into producers’ court

    MUMBAI: Joint police commissioner Rakesh Maria is leaving no stone unturned to unearth the root cause of piracy. Going a step further, the commissioner gave a stern hearing to a film producers‘ delegation that had called upon him to get the latest on the What‘s Your Rashee? piracy racket.

    Talking to Indiantelevision.com, Maria said, “In my meeting with the film people, I told them in clear terms that some big players from the industry were definitely involved in piracy and have asked them to try and trace them.”


    During the interaction with the fraternity, the commissioner broadly laid out the modus operandi which the pirates have been following and asked the industry people to block leakages from laboratories and studios.


    Said Association of Motion Picture Producers and Television Programme (AMPTPP) senior vice president Vikas Mohan, “The meeting with the commissioner was vey fruitful. This has opened our eyes to the dangers that lie amongst us.


    “We have taken the matter very seriously and have convened a meeting of producers, distributors and lab owners on 29 September when we will discuss the matter and arrive at a new game plan. The momentum against piracy would not die down till we are able to eradicate piracy.”


    Association of Motion Picture Producers and Television Programme (AMPTPP) president Ratan Jain is of the view that entities like Adlabs and UFO Moviez cannot get away from this murky situation just by saying that their employees acted in their individual capacities. “Will I not have to take responsibility for a folly made by an employee of mine!,” he asked. Jain cautions that laboratories and studios have to tighten their belts and be answerable.


    On the other hand, Adlabs, UFO Moviez, Big Cinemas and Shemaroo, whose employees have been apprehended in the piracy case, have started tightening up and are taking no chances of further embarrassment.


    While officials at Adlabs are working out on ways to arrive at a solution to the matter by next week, people at UFO Moviez have also tightened their security and screening process.


    Said UFO Moviez CEO Rajesh Mishra, “We have almost finalised our line of action in this matter and once we are done it, we will come out with a ‘white paper‘ that will be enough to show how concerned we are.”


    “To my knowledge the pirates have made Adlabs, Shemaroo and UFO Moviez a scapegoat while their operations were being carried on another level,” Mishra added.


    Said Shemaroo Entertainment vice president, Hiren Gada, “On our part, we have already tightened our security measures. We will not allow our name to be tarnished just like that.”

  • Newmarket picks US rights of Jon Amiel’s Creation

    MUMBAI: Indie distributor Newmarket has picked up the US rights of Toronto International Film Festival opener Creation.

    The company has sealed the deal for Jon Amiel‘s pic about the life of Charles Darwin and will release the film in December.


    The film has Paul Bettany who stars as the scientist who, as depicted here, battled with others over questions of religion vs. science as he wrote his classic tome ‘On the Origin of Species‘ and also battled his own demons over the loss of a young daughter. Bettany‘s wife, Jennifer Connelly, stars as his on-screen spouse.


    The film produced by Jeremy Thomas was well-received when it opened at the Toronto International Film Festival two weeks ago.


    Newmarket has a strong record as an upstart distributor, releasing such films as Memento and The Passion of the Christ.

  • Camden International Film Fest Opens October 1


    MUMBAI: The Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) will open on 1 October at the Camden Opera House.

    The festival opens at the Opera House with the New England premiere of AJ Schnack‘s latest documentary, Convention a collaborative effort from eight different documentarians covering every aspect of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, from a week beforehand all the way through President Obama‘s acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium in Denver, and closes there on Sunday, October 4, with acclaimed documentarian Robert Stone‘s Earth Days, which traces the origins of the environmental movement through the eyes of nine Americans who propelled it from its post-war beginnings in the 1950s to 1970‘s first Earth Day, and to its status as a political force in the U.S. today.


    Sandwiched in between are films on global ecological sustainability, films made in Maine or with a Maine connection, and films that Fowlie describes as exploring the experiences of kids who are trying to understand the situation they‘re in and somehow transcend it, as portrayed in, among other films, Because We Were Born, Racing Dreams, and October Country which according to Fowlie, “is one of the most gorgeous films I‘ve ever seen.”


    The first festival had only 15 films while this year there‘ll be 25 feature films and many shorts.

  • SAG elects Ken Howard president

    MUMBAI: Ken Howard has elected Screen Actors Guild president. Running mate Amy Aquino beat two-time incumbent Connie Stevens in the race for secretary-treasurer. Howard and Aquino will serve two-year terms beginning Friday.

    Howard bagged 12,895 votes, 3,989 more than that of Anne-Marie Johnson, who received 32.6 per cent of the 27,295 votes cast. Independents Seymour Cassel and Asmar Muhammad garnered 17.7 and 1.5 per cent respectively.


    Howard, who picked up an acting Emmy for his role in HBO‘s Grey Gardens on Sunday, campaigned on bringing a more collaborative approach to relationships with AFTRA, the DGA and WGA.


    Said Howard, “I campaigned on the promise that I‘d do everything in my power to strengthen our position at the bargaining table by building a greater unity with AFTRA and the other entertainment unions, and that‘s exactly what I intend to do.”

  • Disney releases Surrogates in nine key markets


    MUMBAI: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International has released Surrogates, a sci-fi thriller in nine territories.

    The Bruce Willis vehicle opened in Russia, Australia, Hong Kong and Israel on 24 September and will release in the UK on 25 September 25 when it also debuts in Spain, Poland, Turkey and the Philippines.


    Meanwhile the romantic comedy The Proposal has bagged $136.6m so far and executives will look to the 23 September release in France.

  • Films Division launches two schemes for making short films

    NEW DELHI: The Films Division has launched two schemes for making short films – one by private producers and the other as a public–private partnership with non-governmental organisations.

    Films Division chief producer Kuldeep Sinha said that the division was today making around 70-80 films on its own every year.The division was presently working on a marketing policy for its films.

    While regretting that his proposal for a documentary television channel had not been cleared so far by the Centre, he said that it was important to consider all aspects including the financial viability.

    Meanwhile, Sinha announced that a total of 7600 of the 8000 films in the archives of the division had been digitised and would not be processed for screening. He said that the division had also set up an International Digital Archive and acquired around 10,000 films in the matter.

    While the Museum of the Moving Image was to be constructed at the FD complex in Mumbai, the Delhi office will house a permanent gallery of cine equipments from the initialisation of filmmaking.

    Meanwhile, the eleventh edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, short and animation films in February next year will have only one competition section featuring both Indian and international films, unlike the practice of separate competitions for both the categories.

    Sinha, who is also MIFF director, said the award money would remain the same – Rs 2.8 million – and there would be an additional award for the Best Student Film in Video.

    The festival, which is held every alternate year, will take place between 3 and 9 February next year.


  • Paltadacho Munis wins critics award at TIFF

    MUMBAI: Debutant filmmaker Laxmikant Shetgaonkar added one more feather to India‘ cap when his NFDC sponsored Konkani film Paltadacho Munis (The Man Beyond the Bridge) won the international federation of film critics (FIPRESCI) award in the Discovery Section of the just concluded Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

    The film had been selected by the festival for the Discovery Section that comprised over 30 films from around the world, that were works by new and emerging filmmakers.


    The film is a story about the life of Vinayak, a lonely widowed forest guard, who one night comes across a filthy, unkempt and ill woman outside his house. He initially attempts to drive her away, but she keeps returning and a relationship slowly develops between the two. But Vinayak is ridiculed and ostracized by local villagers, who believe that his relationship with the woman is morally incorrect. The crux of the film is the struggle of Vinayak to give the woman a fair chance to rebuild her life in the orthodox community.

    Said National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) chairman Om Puri, “The Toronto International Film Festival is a major global platform for all kinds of cinema from around the world and this is an honor for India and for the first-time filmmaker. We hope to see more NFDC films making a mark and winning international awards for artistic excellence.”


    NFDC has so far produced films in 18 Indian languages.