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Tag: Alfonso Cuaron

  • From ‘One’ to ‘Without Remorse’: 5 best movies to watch on OTT this week

    From ‘One’ to ‘Without Remorse’: 5 best movies to watch on OTT this week

    NEW DELHI: The Covid2019 outbreak has elevated the popularity of OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ Hotstar in India. As people are now confined to their homes due to the second wave of the pandemic, watching your favourite show or movie or discovering something new on streamers could be the best possible way to get entertained. 

    Indiantelevision.com presents you with a list of the five most anticipated movies set to land on OTT platforms in India this week. 

    One (Netflix)

    Mammootty’s new movie One will premiere on Netflix on 27 April. The film had its theatrical release on 26 March. Even though One received positive responses from audiences and critics upon release, the film failed to make it big at the box-office due to the rising Covid cases in Kerala. 

    Directed by Santhosh Viswanathan and scripted by acclaimed writers Bobby-Sanjay, the movie sees Mammootty don the role of Kadakkal Chandran, an ideal chief minister. Apart from Mammootty, One also casts Murali Gopy, Joju George, Siddique, Sudev Nair, and Shankar Ramakrishnan in prominent roles. 

    Without Remorse (Amazon Prime Video)

    Without Remorse is an action thriller that will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on 30 April. The film is based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Tom Clancy, and stars Michael B Jordan, Jamie Bell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Luke Mitchell, Jack Kesy, Brett Gelman, Colman Domingo, and Guy Pearce in the lead roles. 

    Directed by Stefano Sollima, the film will showcase the story of an elite Navy SEAL who is on a journey to avenge the death of his wife. 

    The Disciple (Netflix)

    Marathi film The Disciple will be screened on Netflix on 30 April. Directed by Chaitanya Tamhane, the film stars Aditya Modak, Arun Dravid, Sumitra Bhave, Deepika Bhide Bhagwat, and Kiran Yadnyopavit. Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron who has directed movies like Gravity has worked on this film as executive producer. 

    The Disciple had its premiere at the 77th Venice International Film Festival, where it received positive responses from critics and audiences alike. The film traces the life of a young man who has devoted his life to becoming an Indian classical music vocalist. 

    Back to the Future Trilogy (Netflix)

    Back to the Future is a time travel classic that enjoys a huge fan following in all nooks of the world. The first movie in this franchise was released in 1985 followed by sequels released in 1989 and 1990. 

    The sci-fi series has been on Netflix a million times before, but it is always special when the OTT platform streams all three movies together. Viewers can enjoy the Back to the Future trilogy from 1 May. 

    Yasuke (Netflix)

    Yasuke is a highly anticipated animation series, set to premiere on Netflix on 30 April. The series is loosely based on the historical figure of the same name – a samurai of African descent who lived and fought in 16th century Japan during the volatile Sengoku period. 

    Yasuke consists of six episodes, and is expected to offer a real treat to anime lovers. 

  • Miditech’s Pria Alva films Mangalyaan’s journey for Nat Geo

    Miditech’s Pria Alva films Mangalyaan’s journey for Nat Geo

    MUMBAI: Detailed interviews, extensive research, narrations, advanced animation and modeling will orchestrate Miditech executive director Pria Somiah Alva’s documentary on India’s Mars triumph Mangalyaan. The successful landing of Mangalyaan drove Alva to document the voyage.

     

    “India is the first country to succeed in the first attempt and just news headlines were not enough to describe such a great journey. So we decided to film a documentary on the entire journey,” Alva tells Indiantelevision.com.

     

    The research started in 2014 when Alva and her associate director Shivani Muthanna approached the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the proposition. ISRO’s reaction was fascinating for Alva and her team at Miditech. “Normally private bodies don’t get permission to film in ISRO, it’s always Doordarshan. But we got superior cooperation from them and we accessed many important properties of the research organisation,” says Alva.

     

    The project was commissioned by National Geographic Channel and will be aired on 5 November, 2015 – exactly two years after the entire mission was actually successful.

    Working on a tight budget, Alva and her team did the best they could with the means available to them for the Mangalyaan documentary.

     

    With ISRO’s nod, Miditech received access to archival footage, which Alva used in the documentary to explain the journey. “This is a post launch documentary so we had to narrate and create the dramatics of how it all came together and happened. In the documentary we have used archival footage as well as some live footage, which we shot,” informs Alva.

     

    The camera that was attached with the spaceship only had features of clicking imageries of its surroundings and not itself. Hence there were no images available of the scientific vehicle that travelled the distance and that’s where Alva made use of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI).

    “We went for CGI, special effects and 3D modelling to give viewers an idea of how it was. We imagine the space vehicle to be a something humongous in size, but in reality it’s not even as big as an auto-rickshaw. We have left no stones unturned to make the images look as exquisite as possible,” Alva emphasises.

    Through the course of the hour long documentary, interviews with various stakeholder will narrate the on screen occurrences more often than not. However, wherever required, Andre Williams’ voice will chip in to educate the viewers.

     

    Alva had her share of memorable moments while directing the  documentary. Describing one of them she narrates, “I has asked the ISRO spokesperson if there were any women involved in the entire journey. He replied saying please don’t ask us stupid questions. We are scientists and we do not discriminate between genders.”

     

    It is said “We be what we see” and hence it was important to showcase women involvement. When asked if there are substantial presence of women in the documentary, Alva says, “We will see the Eves working in the background throughout the documentary, be it navigations, communications or in any other depertments their presence is prominent. Moreover, we have a few women in the list of people that we interviewed. We did not interview them because they are women but because of their noteworthy role in the success.”

     

    When a documentary is created on scientific projects, it becomes a presentation, which only people with immense knowledge in the field can interpret. And therein lay the biggest challenge for Alva and her team. Making the documentary easy to follow for people with basic knowledge of the happenings and at the same time factually correct and scientifically perfect was what kept Alva and her team on their toes.

    “We have kept it in such a way that people from across the stream can understand and enjoy the documentary. The dramatics will get people involved with the documentary and we have engineered a suitable sound to back that,” she informs.

    In recent times people flocked to the theatres in India when Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar and Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity were screened. Now it remains to be seen how the nation reacts to this one of a kind documentary – Mangalyaan – filmed on a one of a kind voyage marking India’s first venture into the interplanetary space.

  • Venezuela-Mexican film gets Golden Lion at Venice International Film Fest

    Venezuela-Mexican film gets Golden Lion at Venice International Film Fest

    NEW DELHI: The Venezuela-Mexican coproduction From Afar by Lorenzo Vigas has won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, which is one of the oldest film festivals in the world.

     

    The Jury chaired by Alfonso Cuarón and comprising Elizabeth Banks, Emmanuel Carr?re, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Diane Kruger, Francesco Munzi, Pawel Pawlikowski and Lynne Ramsey viewed all 21 films in competition.

     

    The Festival, which was held from 2 – 12 September, had Alberto Barbera as its director and was organised by the Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta.

     

    Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement went to Bertrand Tavernier. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory went to Brian De Palma; Persol Tribute Visionary Talent Award to Jonathan Demme and L’oréal Paris per il Cinema Award to Valentina Corti.

     

    The Silver Lion for Best Director went to Pablo Trapero for the film El Clan (Argentina, Spain). The Grand Jury Prize was given to Anomalisa by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson (US). 

     

    The Best Actress award went to Valeria Golino in the film Per Amor Vostro by Giuseppe Gaudino (Italy) and best actor to Fabrice Luchini in the film L’Hermine by Christian Vincent (France) 

     

    The Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor went to Abraham Attah in the film Beasts Of No Nation by Cary Joji Fukunaga (US)  and Best Screenplay was won by Christian Vincent for the film L’Hermine by Christian Vincent  (France) 

     

    The Special Jury Prize was given to Frenzy by Emin Alper (Turkey, France, Qatar), while the Lion Of The Future award went to the debut film The Childhood Of A Leader by Brady Corbet (United Kingdom, Hungary). It also got a prize of $100,000 donated by Filmauro di Aurelio e Luigi De Laurentiis to be divided equally between director and producer.  

     

    The Orizzonti Jury of the Festival went to Free In Deed by Jake Mahaffy (US, New Zealand) for best film, for Best Director to Brady Corbet for The Childhood Of A Leader  (United Kingdom, Hungary), the Special Orizzonti Jury Prize was given to Neon Bull by Gabriel Mascaro (Brazil, Uruguay, The Netherlands), the Special Orizzonti Award for Best Actor was given to Dominique Lebornein the film Temp?te by Samuel Collardey and the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film to Belladonna by Dubravka Turic (Croatia).

     

    The Venice Short Film Nomination for the European Film Awards 2015 was given to E.T.E.R.N.I.T. by Giovanni Aloi (France).

     

    The Venice Classic Awards went for best Documentary on Cinema to The 1000 Eyes Of Dr. Maddin by Yves Montmayeur (France); for Best Restored Film to Sal? O Le 120 Giornate Di Sodoma by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1975, Italy, France).

  • Alfonso Cuaron honoured at the 66th Annual Directors Guild of America

    Alfonso Cuaron honoured at the 66th Annual Directors Guild of America

    MUMBAI: Hosted by Jane Lynch, the 66th Annual Director’s Guild of America Awards held at the Hyatt Regency center Plaza, Los Angeles on 25 January was a grand affair honoring the behind-the-scenes folks that shape our viewing experience.

     

    Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe Award winning director, Alfonso Cuaron (Pan’s Labyrinth, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) snagged up his first Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film award for the Sandra Bullock and George Clooney starrer space epic, Gravity.

     

    Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven, Erin Brockovich, Magic Mike) took home not one, but two DGA awards as his debut win. One for Outstanding Directorial achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series in the Golden Globe winning HBO Original Movie, Behind the Candelabra starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. Soderbergh was also awarded the Robert B. Aldrich Service Award in recognition of extraordinary service to the Directors Guild of America and to its membership.

     

    In the Television category, Vince Gilligan won the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series for Breaking Bad, while Beth McCarthy-Miller won the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy Series for 30 Rock.

     

    Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers (Casanova, The Hoax) won the DGA Diversity Award in recognition of commitment to diversity hiring and providing jobs and opportunities to women and minorities in DGA-covered categories.

  • Harry Potter 3 director gets VES Visionary award

    Harry Potter 3 director gets VES Visionary award

    Today, the Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s professional honorary society, named acclaimed filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron as the recipient of its Visionary Award in recognition of his extraordinary career including his landmark achievement on this year’s hugely acclaimed Gravity.

     

    The award will be presented to him at the 12th Annual VES Awards on 12 February, 2014 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

     

    The VES Visionary Award, bestowed by the VES Board of Directors, recognises an individual who has uniquely and consistently employed the art and science of visual effects to foster imagination and ignite future discoveries by way of artistry, invention and groundbreaking work. VES will honor Cuaron for his consummate artistry, expansive storytelling and profound ability to use and pioneer technology and visual effects to bring his unique visions to life.

     

    A three-time Oscar nominee, Cuaron directed, co-wrote, produced and edited the drama Gravity, which is one of the most acclaimed films of this. The accolades that Cuaron and the film have received to date include: Best Director and Best Picture awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association; four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress (Sandra Bullock); and ten Broadcast Film Critics Association nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Art Direction.

     

    Cuaron made his feature film directorial debut in 1992 with Solo Con Tu Pareja, the biggest box office hit in Mexico that year, which brought him an Ariel Award as the film’s co-writer. Cuaron made his American feature film debut in 1995 with the widely acclaimed A Little Princess, followed by Great Expectations in 1998. He then wrote and directed Y Tu Mama Tambien for which he received his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay as well as BAFTA Award nominations for Best Foreign Film and Best Original Screenplay. He went on to helm Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third film in the most successful motion picture franchise of all time. Cuaron’s 2006 hit, Children of Men was celebrated by critics and film fans for its groundbreaking techniques. The film brought two Oscar nominations to Cuaron, for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing.

     

    “Alfonso pushes the known boundaries of filmmaking,” VES Board Chair Jeffrey A. Okun said in a release. “He has been at the forefront in using visual effects to tell remarkable, highly nuanced stories that change the way we think about what is possible to achieve. Throughout his career, Alfonso has shown a rare talent for using cutting-edge technology to engage us in his deeply visceral storytelling and create unforgettable cinematic experiences.”
    Earlier, Christopher Nolan and Ang Lee have won the VES Visionary Award.