Category: Movies

MUMBAI: The Film Studios Setting & Allied Mazdoor Union, having more than 35,000 members, has called upon both the State and Central Governments to enforce the implementation of the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.

The Act that was made applicable to cine workers and cinema and theatre workers (Regulation of Employees Act) was never enforced.

In a petition to the government, the union has said that cine workers belong to the economically and marginalised sector of the Society and the entertainment industry. They work for 15 to 18 hours a day all through the month and are bereft of any social life.

Says Ranga Rao Chougule, General Secretary of the Union, ” We have called upon the government to include our workers within the ambit of various flagship schemes instituted for the unorganised sector such as the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act 2008.”

Thunders Prem Singh Thakur, senior vice president of the Union, “You see, we are in the same sector as are the dock workers. You are well aware that they had gone on an indefinite strike after which the government bowed to their demands. We have, on the other hand, always been cooperative and have never protested.

“Keeping quite doesn‘t mean that we don‘t have a voice. Now is the time to raise our voice. We will wait till the end of the year and if we see a complete silence on the part of the governments concerned, we will go on strike that will affect all cinema activities throughout the country. “

Members of the The Film Studios Setting & Allied Mazdoor Union include lightmen, spotboys ( production boys). carpenters, moulders, tapists and crane operators among various other trade craftsmen.

The Union has also called upon the government to make a provision for providing affordable housing to the workers as in the case of beedi and mine workers.

The petition has been sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, labour and employment minister Malikarjun Kharge, the chief minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chauhan and all members of Parliament.
 

PANAJI: Continuing the series on ‘Moments with the Maestros’ for the second year, the Films Division is this year showcasing 22 select documentaries on eminent dancers of the country.

Veteran dance gurus Sitara Devi, Birju Maharaj and Sonal Mansingh were feted by Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to mark the opening of the section ‘Dancing Feet’ at the ongoing 41st International Film Festival of India. The four-day documentary film festival on Indian classical dances and gurus is being held till 27 November at the Black Box in Kala Academy. Division Director General Kuldeep Sinha was also present on the occasion.

“Dancing Feet” offers connoisseurs of dance from India and abroad glimpses of important classical dances like the Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Kathak, Mohiniattam and Manipuri through biographical films on dancers.

Some of the dancers on whom films made by the Division are being shown include Sitara Devi, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Yamini Krishnamurthy, Sonal Mansingh, Padma Subramaniam, Raja & Radha Reddy, Uma Sharma, kanak Rele, and Mallika Sarabhai.

These dancers are expected to attend the screenings and take part in question-answer sessions, apart from discussions on their art forms.

PANAJI: India and its film industry will be the centre of attraction at the 64th edition of the prestigious Locarno International film festival in August next year.
‘Open Doors‘, the co-production lab of the Swiss festival, will focus on India and help independent filmmakers find new opportunities.

According to its artistic director Olivier Pere, and Nadia Dresti, head of Locarno‘s Industry Office, a total of 12 Indian screenwriters have participated, and been able to present their work-in-progress to a range of film professionals from all over the world in the last two editions of the Festival.

Open Doors 2011 is the result of a two-year collaboration with the Film Bazaar India/Goa Festival‘s Screenwriters‘ Lab and the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).

“Everybody knows that India outpaces the world in film production, releasing around 1,300 films every year. But these figures can be misleading. The strength of commercial production, concentrated in the four main linguistic regions, should not make us lose sight of the many talented filmmakers across the country who are finding it very hard to express themselves through independent circuits. The next edition of Open Doors will give voice to those artists,” said Pere.

Three Indian experts will work with the Festival on the ‘Open Doors‘ 2011 programne: Sunil Doshi, Meenakshi Shedde, and Uma Da Cunha.

The main objective of ‘Open Doors‘ is to assist the directors and producers of the selected projects to find co-production partners, particularly in Europe, and to complete their films.

The final short-listed applicants will be invited to participate in the co-production lab to take place during the 64th edition of the Festival del film Locarno, beginning from 3 August next year. Filmmakers can submit their films through the website, www.pardo.ch
 

PANAJI: Odisha Information and Public Relations Minister Prafulla Samal today expressed the need to create a strong exhibition sector in the state and wanted the central government, banks and the National Film Development Corporation to come forward to help in this direction.

Samal said everything would be done by the state government to promote Odiya cinema in the state.

Samal was speaking after inaugurating the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of Odiya cinema at the ongoing International Film Festival of India. The first Odiya film was produced by Mohan Sunder Dev Goswami in 1934. 

Festival Director noted that around 35 films are produced annually in Odiya. He expressed the hope that as in case of cinema from south India, the native population will come forward to support Odiya films.

Veteran actress Gloria Mahapatra, noted Director Neerad Mahapatra, A. K. Bir, and Prashant Nand were felicitated on the occasion.

Apart from the opening film ‘Adi Mimamsa’, five films will be screened in this section.

PANAJI: One needs not just courage and conviction to make a film but a passion that will sustain him even after years of struggle have passed.

This was the general consensus at a discussion on ‘Student Cinema: New Risk takers, Courage and conviction’ organised by the Federation of Film Societies of India in coordination with the organisers of the 41st International Film Festival of India.

The animated discussion in which Directorate of Film Festivals Joint Director Shankar Mohan was the moderator had several teachers and students of cinema interacting on what sustains an upcoming filmmaker.

In his remarks, FFSI President H N Narahari Rao said that new technologies including digitalisation had made it possible for young filmmakers to take the risk of making films and ‘the horizon is seamless’. He referred to several short film festivals in the country which accepted entries from students.

Mohan, who holds additional charge of Director of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, said the passion may remain but young filmmakers must sustain the courage and conviction as well. Mohan said almost 90 per cent of the technicians in Bollywood were from the FTII and so those doing technical courses need not be afraid of finding jobs.

Amresh Chakraburtty, who teaches at the SRFTII, quoted Bresson who had said filmmaking was like a battlefield and said one needed courage to take a three-year course before one could call himself or herself a filmmaker. He later said both FTII and SRFTII were holding festivals of student films.

D G Livingstone who teaches at the Chennai Film School said parental support was also important, while Akash who studies in the School said the reach test of courage was after doing the course.

Samimitra Das of the SRFTII said the filmmaker is his own first audience and this gives him the courage to sustain as a filmmaker. Sometimes convincing parents is only one part of the struggle. What is needed is the conviction to dream and fulfil that dream.

Sandeep Chatterjee from Chennai said the time had come for young filmmakers to take the craft to the next level with new avenues opening up.

Filmmaker Haoban Pabam Kumar (formerly of the SRFTII) whose film ‘Mr India’ was shown here said his experience at the Institute had taught him to grapple with problems relating to filmmaking.

The discussion that followed threw up various views. Some of those in the audience said funding continued to be a problem, while others said students lacked the courage to touch untapped subjects.

MUMBAI: Vinay Shukla, who made his earlier film inspired by the life of Santokben Jadeja, the lady who headed an underworld enterprise in areas of Porbander, is ready with another hard-hitting story of a man-woman relationship in his upcoming Mirch due for release on 10 December.

Mirch is structured like a square with a cross-section of four squares within it. Each square represents one season, has a different colour palette and contains a story complete in itself with a witty twist in the end. The stories run the course of time; from ancient India to today‘s India. 

The first story has been sourced from the ancient Sanskrit classic, the Panchtantra; the source of the second story is the 14th century Italian classic, the ‘Decameron,‘ by Boccaccio. Inspiration for the third story comes from another ancient Italian story. The rest of the stories are penned by Shukla.

Says Shukla, “One character in the film says, ‘my grandmother used to say that when the mind is in a dilemma, one should listen to stories: stories are a treasure trove of wisdom.‘ Another character, at another point, declares that stories are magic. I believe that a civilization dies when it stops telling stories.”

Mirch stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Raima Sen, Boman Irani, Shreyas Talpade, Rajpal Yadav and Shahana Goswami among others.
 

MUMBAI: An eight-day Suchitra Sen Film Festival, beginning 26 November, has been organised by the Suchitra Sen Smriti Shangrakhhan Parishad at Pabna town in Bangladesh.

While leading hero Razzak will inaugurate the festival, veteran film director Amjad Hossain will be the chief guest of the opening ceremony. Other local artistes like Sohel Rana, Ujjal and Diti are also expected to be present at the inauguration.

Some of the films being screened at the festival this year are Pathe Holo Deri, Indrani, Bipasha, Komol Lota, Shurjo Torun, Devdas, Rajlakkhi-Srikanta and Alo Amar Alo.

Averred SSSSP convenor Mohammad Saidul Haque, “The audience is highly appreciative of Suchitra Sen‘s films, which have made her a screen legend. Seeing the overwhelming response from the audience last time, we decided to hold the festival for the second time.”

Interestingly, this second instalment of the festival has a day just for women viewers.