ITV

Category: Movies

  • Manhattan Fest takes Tribeca Film Fest to Court

    MUMBAI: Manhattan Film Festival has filed suit in New York Supreme Court against the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Cinemas alleging that the defendants practiced unfair competition by misappropriating the Manhattan Film Festival‘s Virtual Film Festival concept. 


    In 2010, the Tribeca Film Festival launched Tribeca Film Festival Virtual. The virtual festival included real-time chat with fellow film enthusiasts, live filmmaker Q&A‘s, live festival events, and online streaming of a sample of TFF selections. Also included was a web-based competition with the slogan The people have spoken.


    Originally known as the Independent Features Film Festival, the Manhattan Film Festival was the first film festival in which film selection is done online via a web-based competition.


    The festival was the vision of two independent filmmakers and originally housed at the Tribeca Cinemas. In 2008, Philip Nelson, president and founder of the Manhattan Film Festival, envisioned the first and only Virtual Film Festival.


    The lawsuit alleges that personnel of the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Cinemas were present when Nelson‘s groundbreaking vision was laid out point by point at the Tribeca Cinemas as well as by email as part of his business dealings with Tribeca Cinemas.

  • Michael Moore lines up 2 films for Traverse Film Fest

    MUMBAI: Two Michael Moore has lined up two films to open his sixth annual Traverse City Film Festival. They are Focus‘ The Kids Are All Right, a lesbian family dramedy and Weinstein Co.‘s Nowhere Boy that gives an inside look at John Lennon‘s childhood.


    Moore had originally launched the festival to bring films that had limited distribution. This year‘s event runs from 27 July to 1 August.


    Although Kids, which opened in seven theatres last weekend, will expand its reach throughout the country, Boy wouldn‘t be released till October.


    Along with, the festival will pay tribute to the Beatles by screening A Hard Day‘s Night and Help! (1965).


    In continuation with the theme of music, the festival will offer the documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, a chronicle of the heavy metal band; Radu ,The Concert, a film about a former conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra and the 1928 silent film The Last Command accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra.


    The lineup also includes Sabina Guzzanti‘s Draquila — Italy Trembles; Flip Remunda and Vit Kusak‘s Czech Peace; a salute to Cuban film and two 3D titles, Cane Toads: The Conquest and the concert documentary U2 3D.


    Sony Pictures Classics co-head Michael Barker and Tom Bernard have been tapped as honorees.

  • Lamhaa banned in the Middle East

    MUMBAI: Controversy doesn’t seem to elude director Rahul Dholakia. Earlier it was with Parzania, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Sarika, as interested people agitated against the film claiming that it was biased and supported a particular community.


    Now it is Lamhaa that is drawing attention as the film is banned in the Middle East for its sensitive content. The film questions when the citizens of Kashmir will stop being terrorized – all in the name of politics.


    A film set in Kashmir, Lamhaa is partially a love story between an army officer (Sanjay Dutt) and a girl (Bipasha Basu) set in Kashmir. The film depicts the undercurrent turmoil in the valley.


    Producer Bunty Walia is confused as to why the film has been banned in the Middle East and can’t figure out the possible reason for this action. “This news has really dampened my spirits. The region is a huge market for Bollywood films these days and we could suffer a huge setback because of this ban. More than that, I am sad that the audience there can‘t see the film,’” Walia remarks.

  • Help to release on 13 August

    MUMBAI: 13 is said to be an unlucky number and Friday the 13th has always been thought to be a day of occult, supernatural, horror and evil. If one has to dig deep in the history of the date, it will come out that Friday has been treated as an unlucky day since the 14th century.


    One cannot just say whether these are facts or a myth but Hollywood filmmakers took fair advantage of the inauspicious day and make several films in the horror genre including the most popular Friday the 13th.


    And to break the jinx comes Rupali Aum Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.‘s Help, the first Indian horror film to release on Friday the 13th in the month of August.


    Help is a supernatural horror that draws upon the story of a malevolent spirit that refuses to leave the human world. Protagonist Vic (Bobby Deol) is a successful horror film director in Bollywood and is married to Pia (Mugdha Godse). 


    In the midst of marital problems, Pia and Vic have to rush Mauritius to visit Pia‘s ailing father little knowing that there‘s something ancient and dark that remains still, hidden and silent in the old house where Pia grew up.


    It can only wait, having been concealed in the shadows for years and all it wants to do is to strike again! As the darkness spreads, things start to get worse and the spirit tries to annihilate everything.


    Now Vic and Pia must race against time to find out the secret which will save their lives. Will their love gather the strength to survive the malevolent spirit or will they witness the most horrifying truths of their lives

  • Pakistan disallows Tere Bin Laden from screening

    MUMBAI: The Pakistani Censor Board has not cleared Walkwater Media‘s Tere Bin Laden to release in Pakistan over fears of terrorist attacks.


    The Board decided not to clear the film because it has Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden as a central character. The Censor Board vice chairman Masood Elahi told the media there was no justification for releasing the film in Pakistan under the present circumstances.


    The federal Culture Secretary is authorised to allow the exhibition of the film under special powers bestowed on him, Elahi said. 


    Lead player and Pakistani distributor Zafar had formed a new company to distribute the movie in Pakistan. Due to sensitivities linked with the title and fears about a reaction from Taliban and other militant groups, distributors had drawn up plans to drop ‘Laden‘ from the film‘s title and release it as Tere Bin in the country.


    Expressing his disappointment at the Censor Board‘s ruling, Zafar has appealed to Pakistani authorities to review the decision saying that there was nothing controversial in the film.


    The film is scheduled to release worldwide on 16 July.
     

  • Knight and Day nets 3rd highest opening for a Hollywood film

    MUMBAI: Knight and Day has romped in Rs 75 million in its first weekend, recording the third highest opening for a Hollywood movie.


    The Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz starrer trails behind Clash of The Titans and Prince of Persia. It, however, performed better than Hindi movies Red Alert, Milenge Milenge and The Last Airbender that released during the week.


    For Knight and Day, the biggest draw came from Delhi-UP and East Punjab territory.


    While Knight and Day was released in English and Hindi respectively with 270 prints, Clash Of The Titans and Prince of Persia released with 700 plus prints and 600 plus prints respectively in Tamil and Telugu besides English.


    Said Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh, “Not only is the Tom
    Cruise-Cameron Diaz pair a huge crowd puller; the film‘s exciting blend of action and comedy has also been highly appreciated by audiences across the country. With the strong word-of-mouth promotions going on for the film, we are expecting a further surge in the collections for the week ahead.”

  • Now a film on Gandhiji and Kasturba

    MUMBAI: In their search for varied content, Indian filmmakers are rushing to a new theme: political leaders.


    Anil K Sharma has started work on a film based on Hitler which he has titled as Dear Friend Hitler. Then there is Walkwater Media‘s Tere Bin Laden that is releasing this week.


    Karanvir RK‘s Kaytee Movies is now producing a film, Gandhi Ki Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aanaa, that is based on Gandhiji and Kasturba‘s love story. The film will be helmed by debutant Pranav Dhivar.


    A modern-day take on Gandhij‘s love story with his wife, the film deals with their emotional and unspoken love story done in good humour. “I am not dealing with any kind of history here,” cofirms Dhivar.


    The film that has Karanvir playing the role of Gandhiji will go on the floors on 15 August and will be shot extensively in Ahmedabad and other parts of Gujarat.
     

  • Indianised version of Italian Job to shoot in New Zealand

    MUMBAI: The Hindi version of The Italian Job that has Abhishek Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead will be filmed in New Zealand towards the end of the year.


    “We‘re going to Indianise The Italian Job and want to make it better than the original,” said director duo Abbas-Mustan.


    The film will be shot in Auckland and Wellington with Auckland‘s Viaduct Basin targeted for the big car chase scenes. A 90 to 100-strong crew from India will fly down for about 50 days of shooting, a New Zealand tourism statement said.


    The original version of The Italian Job had Michael Caine in the lead while its 2003 remake with Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Donald Sutherland also went on to be a commercial success.


    Just a few days ago, it was announced that Om Vaidya was selected to play one of the leads of the film.

  • Toy Story 3 ropes in $ 11.2 million in Japan

    MUMBAI: Toy Story 3 made a bow in Japan roping in over 977 million yen ($11.2 million) from about 650,000 admissions in the last weekend edging out Bayside Shakedown off the top spot after only one weekend. The figures give the film the second-biggest opening of the year behind Alice in Wonderland.


    Only two animated films, both Hayao Miyazaki productions from Studio Ghibli, Howl‘s Moving Castle and Spirited Away have ever recorded bigger openings in Japan.


    The Borrower Arrietty, the latest Studio Ghibli production based on the English children‘s book The Borrowers will release next weekend, on 17 July. The film is the directorial debut of Ghibli animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi.

  • Polanski victim wants case to close

    MUMBAI: The victim in director Roman Polanski‘s 1977 sex crime case, Samantha Geimer has said that she hoped the matter would now be closed after Switzerland refused to extradite Polanski to face the sentencing he fled in 1978 and freed him after months of house arrest.


    It may be recalled that Geimer, who was 13 in 1977 when Polanski gave her drugs and champagne and had sex with her has repeatedly asked for the case to be dropped.


    “I am satisfied with this decision and I hope that the district attorney will now close the case and get it over once and for all,” Geimer, 40 and now a mother of three has said.


    But Polanski‘s US legal team called for a full inquiry into allegations of judicial misconduct three decades ago.


    “That evidence was not insignificant and the failure to produce it (to the Swiss) was neither accidental nor a ‘technicality‘ as some have said,” Polanski‘s Los Angeles defence team said in a statement. They called for a thorough investigation by a “fair and impartial third party” of the misconduct allegations and said the results should be made public.


    Polanski‘s wife, French actress and singer Emmanuelle Seigner, said in an interview with the newspaper Liberation that the Swiss decision was a huge relief.