ITV

Category: Movies

  • Woody Allen’s comedy to open Cine Fan Summer Film Festival in Hong Kong

    Woody Allen’s comedy to open Cine Fan Summer Film Festival in Hong Kong

    NEW DELHI: Cine Fan Summer International Film Festival to be held next month in Hong Kong will open with Woody Allen’s Magic in the Moonlight and close with Chang Jung-chi’s Partners in Crime.

     

    Organised by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, the festival will be held from 12 to 26 August. 

     

    Magic in the Moonlight is the latest comedy from writer-director Woody Allen whose Midnight in Paris (2011) was the closing film of the summer festival in 2011. Golden Scene is set to distribute the film locally later this year.

     

    A murder mystery set in a high school, Partners in Crime had its world premiere last week as the opening film of the Taipei Film Festival held from 27 June and slated to conclude on 19 July.

     

    It is also part of the Taiwan festival’s New Talent Competition and the Taipei Film Awards competition.

     

    Previously named the Summer International Film Festival, this year’s festival has been renamed the Cine Fan Summer International Film Festival, after the repertory film programme the festival launched in April last year.

      

  • Revelation Perth International Film Festival to screen 116 films

    Revelation Perth International Film Festival to screen 116 films

    NEW DELHI: The annual Revelation Perth International Film Festival opened with the breathtaking sci-fi film Under The Skin featuring Scarlett Johansson. Special guests of the festival included Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo and Australian actor Aaron Pedersen (Mystery Road, Water Rats, City Homicide) alongside national and international filmmakers, musicians, screen artists, academics and distributors.

     

    Revelation has established itself as an international film festival, making it a fertile ground for independent filmmakers, distributors and discerning audiences.

     

    “Rev has come a long way over the years” said festival founder and director Richard Sowada at the opening, adding that “After the huge amount of work that has been put in over time, it is enormously gratifying to see the event cement its place as the key annual screen culture event in WA.” (Western Australia)

     

    Revelation is supported by the Australian and west Australian governments through ScreenWest, TourismWA and Screen Australia. The Festival will come to an end on 13 July at the Luna Cinema in Leederville, Perth, Western Australia.

  • Iconic music films mark 100th FD Zone screening this week

    Iconic music films mark 100th FD Zone screening this week

    NEW DELHI:  Eminent film based on the country’s music legends will mark the 100th FD Zone screening. The films include Ravi Shankar which is based on the Bharat Ratna sitarist and is directed by Pramod Pati. Others include Amir Khan by SNS Sastry, and on Bhimsen Joshi directed by the eminent Gulzar. The screening will begin on 12 July at 4 pm.

     

    All the three films are remarkably individualistic in style. Pramod Pati’s film carries his zany energy, while Sastry’s film is a sublime meditation of the arts of music and film-making. Gulzar’s film is a feature-length documentary which is a sensory delight.

     

    FD Zone commenced two years earlier with a three-day festival of Mani Kaul’s films at the FD office in Mumbai. The programme of weekly screenings began on 14 July 2012 with SNS Sastry’s I am Twenty and Ashim Ahluwalia’s John and Jane.

     

    Since then, films have been shown every Saturday from the archives of the division aimed at creating a dialogue on diverse film-making practices, with emphasis on the non-fiction genre.

     

    The FD Zone screenings are free and open to all and even independent films have been screened along with films from the FD archives.

     

    Filmmakers visiting Mumbai have shared their films, fellow filmmakers have curated programmes and the audience has supported and enthusiastically participated in creating this space. The programme has been running once a month in seven other cities – Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Madurai, Thrissur and Coimbatore, in partnership with local organisations.

     

    The films on Ravi Shankar and Amir Khan were made in 1970, while the film on Joshi was made in 1992.

  • Ice Poison named best film at 68th Edinburgh International Filmfest

    Ice Poison named best film at 68th Edinburgh International Filmfest

    NEW DELHI: Midi Z’s Ice Poison (Taiwan, Myanmar), which had its British premiere, was named as the best film in the international section of the 68th Edinburgh International Film Festival.

     

    The award is given to filmmakers from outside of the United Kingdom in recognition of their imagination and innovation.

     

    Filmmaker, actor and writer Niki Karimi chaired the International Feature Film Competition Jury with producer Michael Fitzgerald and journalist Mark Rabinowitz.

     

    The ceremony concluded the 12-day festival with the international premiere of We’ll never Have Paris.

     

    The award for ‘Best Documentary Feature Film’, supported by Al Jazeera was awarded to Farida Pacha’s My Name Is Salt. Re-introduced in 2014, the award underlines the festival’s long-standing support of documentaries, and the competition saw feature-length documentaries from around the world competing for the cash prize of ?10,000.

     

    The winner was selected by the Best Documentary Feature Film Jury, chaired by director Cynthia Beatt, with director and editor Dominique Auvray and producer Sunmin Park. The Best Documentary Feature Film Jury said: “It is a beautifully shot and edited film that details the cyclical nature of salt harvesting in Gujarat, India. The film itself mirrors this cycle with delicacy and restraint. Between scenes are spaces to imagine what we do not see during the eight months of filming. This one family of salt harvesters represents the 40,000 other families whom one senses on the horizon, closer or farther away, all doing the same work, all burdened by the same fears of whether this harvest will bring enough for them to survive until the cycle begins again.”

     

    The Michael Powell award for ‘Best British Feature Film’ was awarded to Joanna Coates’s Hide And Seek which received its world premiere at the festival. Her innovative utopian drama wins one of the longest-running film awards in the UK, honouring imagination and creativity in British filmmaking. The award carries a cash prize of ?20,000.

     

    The winner was chosen by the Michael Powell Jury, chaired by director Amos Gitai with actor Nina Hoss and actor/writer/comedian Michael Smiley.

     

    The award for ‘Best Performance in a British Feature Film’ went to Eddie Marsan for his performance in Still Life. The performance award was also selected by the Michael Powell Jury who further awarded a special commendation to Zoe Telford for her performance in Greyhawk.

     

    Slap directed by Nick Rowland won the Virgin Atlantic Little Red Award for ‘Best Short Film’. The prize was one of three short film awards supported by Virgin Atlantic Little Red bestowed by the Short Films Jury which was chaired by academic, curator and journalist Linda Ruth Williams with actor Lenora Crichlow and producer Nicole Gerhards.

     

    The award for ‘Creative Innovation in a Short Film’, now in its second year, was awarded by the Short Films Jury to The Bigger Picture directed by Daisy Jacobs.

     

    Another award in its second year within the shorts category, the award for ‘Outstanding Individual Contribution to a Short Film’, which celebrates imaginative and innovative work in short cinema, was awarded to Ainslie Henderson and Will Anderson for their screenwriting and direction of the short film Monkey Love Experiments.

     

    As voted for by the audience, the McLaren award for ‘Best New British Animation’, supported by the British Council, went to My Stuffed Granny by director Effie Pappa. Named after Scottish-born filmmaker Norman McLaren, the McLaren Award is the longest running award celebrating creativity amongst UK animation talent which this year saw it celebrating its 25th anniversary, alongside the year-long celebrations marking the centenary of the birth of Norman McLaren. The award was presented by Sue Loughlin, the first ever recipient of the McLaren Award in 1990.

     

    The Student Critics Jury Award, supported by James and Morag Anderson, was awarded to Stations Of The Cross, directed by Dietrich Brüggemann.                                         

     

    Also awarded during the ceremony were AWFJ EDA Award for ‘Best Female-Directed Narrative’ and AWFJ EDA Award for ‘Best Female-Directed Documentary’. Alliance for Women Film Journalists president Jennifer Merin, presented the two awards to Frauke Finsterwalder’s Finsterworld and Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez’s Manakamana respectively, with a special documentary award commendation to Farida Pacha’s My Name Is Salt. 

  • Sunny Leone’s ‘Pink Lips’ crosses 1 million views

    Sunny Leone’s ‘Pink Lips’ crosses 1 million views

    MUMBAI: Ragini MMS2 made a space for itself in the hearts of the moviegoers even before it released, and that was due to its hit number ‘Baby Doll’. The upcoming movie Hate Story2, is generating the same response, thanks to the latest released ‘Pink Lips’.

     

    The song which sees Sunny Leone shaking her legs to the number composed by Meet brothers and choreographed by Uma-Gaiti has already generated 1,281,224 views, while the teaser has garnered 1,655,205 views.

     

    It can be recalled that the song ‘Baby Doll’ was also choreographed by Uma- Gaiti. “The success of ‘Baby Doll’ had left a lot of pressure on Uma-Gaiti to deliver something bigger and better and they have done justice to this as well. Since Sunny was constantly shooting for a reality show, Uma- Gaiti had to send their assistants to Jaipur to help Sunny rehearse due to time constraint,” said a release.

     

    The song which was shot in two days, sees Sunny wearing six different outfits which sensually suits her persona while she grooves to the new dance moves in ‘Pink Lips’.

     

    The promotional song is for the movie Hate story 2 produced by T-series and sung by debut singer Khushbo Grewal.

     

    The song teaser hit the one million mark within just three days of its launch.

     

    “It has been an absolute pleasure to put ‘Pink Lips’ together. We have choreographed ‘Baby Doll’ with Sunny so with ‘Pink Lips’ the process got easier. We had a better tuning this time and would get each other faster. In a shoot environment this really helps. Apart for the work equation with Sunny the song is extremely close to our heart as we have been involved in the making and all other creative aspects of it. Sunny was running a tight schedule we had sent our assistants to Jaipur for her to learn the steps. ‘Pink Lips’ was a huge challenge as it was being pitted against ‘Baby Doll.’ We wrapped up six sets in a record time of two days. Kudos to the team and Sunny,’ said Uma-Gaiti.

  • ‘Ek Villan’ and ‘Holiday’ cash-in at BO

    ‘Ek Villan’ and ‘Holiday’ cash-in at BO

    MUMBAI: Bobby Jasoos was much publicised and Vidya Balan was expected to repeat the trick with another film after Dirty Picture and Kahaani. But, the moviegoers did not seem to share the enthusiasm of the makers. The film had a very weak opening day and managing to improve only symbolically as most films do on Saturday and Sunday. The film managed to put together Rs 7.5 crore for the opening weekend.

     

    Lekar Hum Deewana Dil has been rejected outright eking out a poor Rs 1.5 crore for its first weekend.

     

    Ek Villain continues its good run after a strong opening weekend. Appreciated for the story, the performances as well as the musical score, the film takes in a healthy Rs 70.2 crore for its first week and also holding on well through its second weekend.

     

    Humshakals collected Rs 4.3 crore in its second week to take its two week total to Rs 55.9 crore.

     

    Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty has managed a decent Rs 2.5 crore in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 110.2 crore.

     

  • Indian short wins ‘Best Film Award’ in Serbia, now slated for screening in Kerala

    Indian short wins ‘Best Film Award’ in Serbia, now slated for screening in Kerala

    NEW DELHI: The best film award at the seventh Cinema City International Film Festival in Serbia has gone to an Indian short, Stray Dogs.

     

    The 19-minute short film by Atanu Mukherjee won the IBIS statuette for the best film.

     

    The film won in the “Up to 10,000 Bucks” competition programme, meant for low-budget films that screened 32 films of all genres this year.

     

    The Cinema City International Film Festival was held in Novi Sad in Serbia from 21-28 June 2014.

     

    “Stray Dogs uses a minimalistic and well-aimed dramatic structure to speak of system-imposed relation between the privileged and the oppressed, the mercurial nature of such relations, and discovery of a man outside the dynamics of hierarchy,” the Jury stated.

     

    Set in Pune, Stray Dogs tells the story of Tony, an employee in the Flex Manufacturing industry whose freedom is always dominated by hierarchy.  Being suppressed by his boss, he can’t keep his commitments and priorities in his personal life. Gradually he starts performing the role of a manipulator and wants to see the effect of the same. Finally he confronts the reality of this vicious circle, where everybody is trapped within, including a stray dog.

     

    The film is also scheduled for a screening at the International Documentary & Short Film Festival of Kerala in July.

  • Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar to receive sixth Lumiere Award this year

    Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar to receive sixth Lumiere Award this year

    NEW DELHI: Renowned Spanish filmmaker and script writer Pedro Almodovar is to receive the sixth Lumiere award at the Lumiere festival later this year.

     

    The festival will be held in Lyon and Greater Lyon in France from 13 to 19 October.

     

    The Lumiere award was created to celebrate a filmmaker in Lyon, the very place where the cinematograph was invented by Louis and Auguste Lumiere, and where they shot their first film, Workers Leaving the Factory, in 1895.

     

    The Lumiere award is a distinction reflecting time, gratitude, and admiration for filmmakers who have filled the lives of millions of cinegors.

     

    Awarded by Bertrand Tavernier, Thierry Fremaux and the Institute Lumiere team, Almodovar will receive the Lumiere Award ‘for his filmography, for his intense passion for the cinema that nourishes his work, for the generosity, exuberance, tolerance, and audacious vitality he brings to the screen, and finally, for the fundamental place he holds in the culture and history of both Spain and Europe.’

     

    Winner of several Oscars and crowned with multiple awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Almodovar has made 19 feature films since the 1980s. Producing films with his brother Agustin through his own production company El Deseo (Desire) underlines an uncompromising independence, hailing from his debuts in the Madrilenian underground. From the awakening of Spanish culture during the Movida years to international renown, Pedro Almodovar has become one of the greatest and most celebrated Hispanic artists on the planet. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, High Heels, Live Flesh, All About My Mother, Volver, The Skin I Live In… So many of Pedro Almodovar’s films have touched, transported, and overwhelmed audiences the world over. 

  • SRK hits a trophy again!

    SRK hits a trophy again!

    MUMBAI: Looks like the baadshah of Bollywood still continues to woo his audiences. This month is turning out to be really fortunate for Shah Rukh Khan. After being honoured by the French Government, SRK is all set to hit another trophy!

     

    Held at Chennai on 5 July, he will be presented with the ‘Entertainer of Indian Cinema Award’ at the eighth Annual Vijay Awards.

     

    Though the awards acknowledge the best of the Tamil artists, this is for the second time that Khan has been blessed with this honour. Previously, he was bestowed with the Chevalier Shivaji Ganeshan award at the same ceremony.

     

    It will be graced by popular South celebrities including Shruti Haasan, Hansika Motwani, Vaani Kapoor and Lakshmi Rai.

  • ‘Fast and Furious 7’ expected to release next summer

    ‘Fast and Furious 7’ expected to release next summer

    MUMBAI: Universal Pictures recently declared that it has shifted the release date of the seventh installment of ‘Fast and Furious’.

     

    According to Hollywood Reporter the Studio is planning a worldwide day-and-date opening for the movie and has decided that opening a week earlier will allow it to book more international play dates. The movie will hit theaters in April 2015, a week earlier than previously planned.

     

    The film, which will be helmed by James Wan, was earlier slated for a summer 2014 release which had been postponed due actor Paul Walker’s tragic car accident in November 2013.

     

    The movie will see the 40-year-old late actor, Vin Diesel, and Dwayne Johnson, along with Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Elsa Pataky and Lucas Black, and will also star Jason Statham, Djimon Hounsou, Tony Jaa, Ronda Rousey and Kurt Russell.

     

    As reported in Forbes, by coincidence or as a result, Focus Features is moving Insidious 3 from 3 April to 29 May of next year. On a surface level, this new date merely puts the film on the same weekend as Fast & Furious, which opened on 3 April 2009 to a record (for April at the time) opening weekend of $70.9 million.