ITV

Category: Movies

  • Taiwanese film folks thank cinegoers

    MUMBAI: Representatives of the Taiwanese film industry have thanked film fans for choosing to watch legitimate movies at the cinema, or at home with DVDs on TV or online through a new video trailer campaign launched on 1 August.


    Film director Doze Niu, who made the film Monga appealed to people to do the right thing when he said, “Please support legitimate movies, not only for the sake of protecting the jobs of those who work in the movie industry, but also for the purpose of being able to enjoy many more touching movies.”


    The video trailer also featured messages from a range of people who work in the Taiwanese film industry including cinema staff and veteran cinema projector operator, A-Kun and Motion Picture Association president and managing director Asia-Pacific Mike Ellis. Said Ellis, “This is a very worthwhile initiative which shows the industry‘s genuine appreciation for movie fans who make a choice to watch legitimate content.


    Just by making that choice they are voting for a healthy film industry and that is beneficial to everyone: it’s good for protecting jobs in the film industry, including filmmakers and cinema staff, and it stimulates investment in more movies for movie fans to enjoy. I look forward to seeing more positive initiatives such as this in the future.”

  • 127 Hours to premiere at Toronto fest

    MUMBAI: The lineup of the ensuing Toronto International Film Festival has been announced. Danny Boyle‘s mountain climbing drama 127 Hours will have its world premiere in Toronto.


    The festival that will be held from 9 to 19 September may also serve a berth for Doug Liman‘s Fair Game that is based on the book by ousted CIA Agent Valerie Plame.


    The Sean Penn and Naomi Watts-starrer and Oscar-contender is set for a November theatrical release as is Alex Gibney‘s documentary Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitze that has been booked to show at the Toronto fest.


    Interestingly, Julie Taymor‘s The Tempest, that will be the closing night attraction at the Venice film festival on 11 September and will have its North American premiere on 2 October 2 is also likely to be part of the Toronto festival.
     

  • Layoffs in media jobs recede in July

    MUMBAI: According to data released recently, layoffs in entertainment jobs seems to have slowed down significantly.


    In July, just 125 layoffs at media companies were announced compared to 708 in June. This shows that July has recorded the lowest number of layoffs so far this year, according to the data.


    It may be noted that in the past six years, the media sector recorded lower number of job losses in March 2005 when 111 layoffs were announced. There was as much as 2,853 layoffs in July 2009 and 2,168 layoffs in July 2008.


    The data Challenger, Gray & Christmas breaks down the US economy into 25 sectors among which ‘media‘ lost the fourth fewest jobs last month.
     
    The company lists “entertainment/leisure” as a separate category that includes theme parks, movie theaters, hotels and casinos. Those industries laid off 680 people in July.


    Also related to media and entertainment is the “telecommunications” category, which includes the cable and satellite TV companies. That category lost 1,199 jobs in July.


    Disney, which shut down its Zemeckis Studio and laid off 450 workers, got rid of 400 jobs at ABC News and closed most of its ESPN Zone restaurants, causing another 294 layoffs.
    Sony Pictures, which laid off 450 people in a restructuring.


    Time Warner Cable, which laid off 350 in a restructuring.


    Netflix, which cut 160 jobs in a consolidation.
    Cinram, which cut 482 jobs in cust-cutting measures.
    All 25 categories combined lost 41,676 jobs in July, bringing the total to 339,353 so far this year, 64% fewer jobs lost than in the same seven months last year. California is No. 1 in jobs lost, with 55,122 so far this year, and New York, at 52,481, is second worst.


    Combining the categories of media, entertainment/leisure and telecommunications, 2001 was the worst year this decade, when 317,777 jobs were lost. Last year, a comparatively small 44,068 jobs were lost in those three categories combined and so far this year just 17,204 jobs were shed.
     

  • Bihar-centric film finds no distributor in State

    MUMBAI: Antardwand, a film based on a real-life incident of forced marriage
    directed by Ad film cinematographer-turned-filmmaker Sushil Rajpal, is being released nationwide on 27 August with 125 prints by PVR.


    The film, however, is yet to get a distributor in Bihar since PVR does not have a presence there.


    Antardwand has already bagged the 55th National award for best film for social cause and best actress award at MAMI. “Only because it bagged a National award last year, PVR stepped in. It is more important that such social-based films get a theatrical release. People should know what is happening around them. The idea is not to concentrate on its commercial success,” says Rajpal.


    The film is based on a real incident to which he was a witness to. Talking on the story, the director avers, “Antardwand touhes the sensitive subject of groom abduction or ‘pakrauah shaddi‘, so rampant in Bihar and Eastern UP. My film is a peep into the reality that is happening in the interiors.”


    “Kidnapping grooms and forcing them into marriage is rampant in Bihar. Last year alone, over 1,000 such cases were registered. One of my friends was also a victim. So when I decided to make a film, this subject instantly struck me,” he reveals.
     

  • Salman Khan to produce Hindi remake of Mee Shivajiraje

    MUMBAI: Salman Khan’s Being Human Foundation is producing the Hindi remake of Mee Shivajiraje Bhosle Boltoy.


    The producers have signed in Anil Kapoor to play the pivotal role.


    Kapoor will play the role that Sachin Khedekar played in the Marathi film. While talks are on with other likely actors, director Mahesh Manjrekar prefers to be guarded on the matter. Says Manjrekar, “Don’t want to divulge anything further.”


    Mee Shivajiraje Bhosle Boltoy also had Manjrekar essay the role of Shivaji.


    Meanwhile, Being Human Foundation has also decided to remake Manjrekar’s take on the education system film Shikshanacha Aicha Gho that will have Khan play a father of two kids. Kangana Raut will play the female lead in the film.

  • Nolan, Sheen among BAFTA/ LA Brittania award

    MUMBAI: Director Christopher Nolan and actor Michael Sheen will be feted this year by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles at the BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards on 4 November.


    While Nolan, riding on a wave of high acclaim for his box-office and critically acclaimed hit Inception will receive the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for artistic excellence in directing, Sheen will receive the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year. 


    Sheen, who had earlier starred in Damned United appeared in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, did voiceover for the white rabbit in Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland and bagged an Emmy nomination for his role of Tony Blair in HBO‘s The Special Relationship.
     

  • Louie Psihoyos sues CBS, BBC for use of his pic

    MUMBAI: Louie Psihoyos, who won an Oscar award this year for his dolphin-rights documentary The Cove has sued CBS and BBC alleging unauthorized use of a photograph he took in 1994 for National Geographic.


    The photo depicts a vast bank of active television screens surrounding a person seated in a dark cavernous space.


    According to a complaint, Psihoyos said that the photograph took him more than a month and $100,000 to create. He says it has been licensed “thousands of times” to Microsoft, IBM, Lucent, Sony, Time magazine, text books, pamphlets and Apple. Apple, later, agreed to license the image after being sued by Psihoyos over an iPhone application.


    Psihoyos takes exception with an article that appeared on the BBC news website last September entitled “Future is TV-shaped, says Intel.” The article was accompanied by the famed photograph.


    As for CBS‘ alleged misuse of the photo, Psihoyos says CBS Marketing appropriated it for commercial display at the 2009 Intel Developers Forum.
     

  • Director Amit Rai bags Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial award

    MUMBAI: Director Amit Rai has bagged this year‘s Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Award for his Hindi film Road to Sangam that stars Paresh Rawal and Om Puri.


    The award comprising a cash prize of Rs 1.50 lakh and a memento would be presented to Rai by Anil Kapoor at a function in Chennai on 12 August. Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, actress Vidya Balan and director Madhur Bhandarkar would also participate in the event.


    On the occasion, veteran artiste Girish Karnad would deliver the memorial lecture on the topic Mythology on Celluloid.


    Past winners of this award include Leslie Carvallho for The Outhouse (English), Shyama Prasad Agni Sakshi (Malayalam), Manju Bora Baibhab (Assamese), Subrata Sen Ek Je Ache Kanya (Bengali), Janaki Viswanathan Kutti (Tamil), Ram Madhvani Let‘s Talk (English).


    The award has been instituted by writer and actor Gollapudi Maruthi Rao and his family, to perpetuate the memory of his son Srinivas who died in 1992 in an accident during the shooting of his debut film.
     

  • Bullet Train to go on floors in September

    MUMBAI: Venus‘ forthcoming film, tentatively titled Bullet Train, will go on the floors in September.


    Directed by Priyadarshan, will star Anil Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Suniel Shetty, Kangana Ranaut and Sameera Reddy.


    The action thriller will be shot in the UK while the first schedule of 45 days will start in the first week of September. The second schedule will also take place in the UK early next year.


    Says Venus managing director Ratan Jain, “We are working for an appropriate title of the film, Bullet Train is just the working title, since most portions of the movie will be shot in a train.”


    The film will be cinematographed by British Richard Butlan and a British action director would be part of the film‘s crew.


    The film is slated to release in the summer of 2011.
     

  • Fox bags filming rights of Adena Halpern novel

    MUMBAI: Fox has acquire filming rights of Adena Halpern‘s 29: A Novel that would be produced by John Davis.


    The novel centers on woman obsessed with remaining young. On her 75th birthday, she wishes she was 29 again, just for one day, and when it comes true, she teams with her young granddaughter to embark on an adventure. Meanwhile, the woman‘s middle-aged daughter and 75-year-old best friend believe her to be kidnapped and set out to search the lady and her grand daughter. 


    The novel was released on 15 June.


    No director or writer is attached, though the studio is hoping to turn the book into “an event movie for women.”


    Davis has two of his films released this summer: Predators, that he produced with Robert Rodriguez and Marmaduke.