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Tag: Cannes Film festival

  • Cannes Film Festival honours Ingrid Bergman in official 2015 poster

    Cannes Film Festival honours Ingrid Bergman in official 2015 poster

    MUMBAI: The 68th Festival de Cannes has chosen to pay tribute to Ingrid Bergman with this year’s poster, following on from Marcello Mastroianni in 2014.

     

    The festival will be held from 13 – 24 May, 2015.

     

    Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman was a modern icon, an emancipated woman, an intrepid actress, and a figurehead for the new realism. She changed roles and adoptive countries as the mood took her, but never lost sight of her quintessential grace and simplicity.

     

    This year’s poster captures the actress, who worked with Alfred Hitchcock, Roberto Rossellini and Ingmar Bergman, and starred opposite Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart and Gregory Peck, in all her beauty, her face lit up by a calm serenity that seems to herald a promising future.

     

    Liberty, audacity, modernity – values also shared by the Festival, year after year, through the artists and films it showcases. Bergman, who was president of the Jury in 1973, encouraged this journey. 

     

    “My family and I are deeply moved that the Festival de Cannes has chosen to feature our magnificent mother on the official poster to mark the centenary of her birth. Her outstanding career covered so many countries, from the smallest European independent films to the greatest Hollywood productions. Mum adored working as an actress: for her acting was not a profession but vocation. As she put it, ‘I didn’t choose acting, acting chose me,’” said Isabella Rossellini.

     

    Based on a photograph by David Seymour, co-founder of Magnum Agency, Hervé Chigioni, who also created for last year’s remarkable Festival poster, was once again behind this year’s image, with his graphic designer Gilles Frappier.

     

     

  • Anurag Kashyap’s psychological thriller to release commercially in September

    Anurag Kashyap’s psychological thriller to release commercially in September

    NEW DELHI: Renowned filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly, which has already done well in the film festival circuit, is expected to be released in September in the country.

     

    The film received a world premiere at Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 and has since been screened at several film festivals including Puchon, Warsaw and Melbourne.

     

    The Indian premiere of the film is taking place at the Ladakh International Film Festival next month, and the commercial release will be on 19 September.

     

    A psychological thriller, Ugly deals with a situation where no one can trust anyone amidst the scenes of brutality and psychological games after 10 year old Kali goes missing from the car she was left in by her father. 

     

    The film features Tejaswini Kolhapure and Ronit Roy in lead roles.

     

    The Indian release of the film was delayed by Kashyap to voice his protest against the anti-smoking tickers on screen.

  • Activities galore at India Pavilion of the Cannes Film Festival

    Activities galore at India Pavilion of the Cannes Film Festival

    NEW DELHI: The India Pavilion at the 67th Cannes Film Festival saw an unprecedented presence this year.

     

    Organised by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in association with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the packed pavilion was inaugurated on 15 May by Indian Ambassador to France Arun K. Singh, I&B secretary Bimal Julka and Indian cinema legend Kamal Haasan.

     

    Others present were veteran filmmaker and producer Ramesh Sippy; renowned filmmaker Sudhir Mishra; YRF Entertainment CEO, actor and producer Uday Chopra; screenwriter Arash Amel; Cannes Film Market executive director Jerome Paillard,; FICCI secretary general A. Didar Singh and filmmaker and producer Bobby Bedi.

     

    The Indian presence at the India Pavilion also included film industry stalwarts such as Film Federation of India president Ravi Kottarakara, T.P. Aggarwal who is the first Indian vice president of FIAPF – the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, and Film and TV Producers Guild of India CEO Kulmeet Makkar.

     

    The pavilion saw a lot of interesting activity with hoards of people jostling for space as they watched the interactive sessions. The first day saw a session on ‘The Making of Grace of Monaco’ – featuring Uday Chopra and Jonathan Reiman from YRF Entertainment – one of the producers of the opening film at the festival – and Arash Amel, the writer of the film. Anchored by Patrick Frater, Asia Bureau Chief of Variety, the discussion hinted at interesting growth and expansion for Indian cinema in the international space by means of collaboration and co-production.

    A very special session, ‘The Journey to Cannes’, was organised at the pavilion for ‘Titli’, India’s official entry in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival. (The festival’s Critics Week section had also selected another Indian film, Gitanjali Rao’s ‘TrueLoveStory’.)

     

    The cast and crew of ‘Titli’ – director Kanu Behl; actors Ranvir Shorey and Shashank Arora; writer Sharat Katariya; editor Namrata Rao; Yash Raj Films VP international operations Avtar Panesar; Sikhya Entertainment founder Guneet Monga and CEO Anurag Kashyap Films were felicitated by the Ministry of I&B, and also spoke about their experience of making the film and being selected to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

    A feature of the activities at this year’s India Pavilion at the Cannes Film Market was exclusive networking receptions co-hosted by the Ministry and film bodies, producers and filmmakers from three countries: New Zealand, Australia and Germany.

     

    The New Zealand event was organised in coordination with the New Zealand Film Commission; the delegation was led by NZFC CEO Dave Gibson, and comprised filmmakers and producers from the country; Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason led the Australia contingent; and German Films organised the third event.

     

    The Indian guest list saw representation from filmmakers, producers and industry body members at Cannes this year. This new initiative is aimed at promoting and forging ties for co-production and partnerships between India and these countries.

     

    On the sidelines of these events were structured B2B meetings between Indian delegates and international stakeholders in order to facilitate business promotion and explore opportunities for partnership between the Indian film community and the global one.

    Sessions were also held on co-production with representatives from India and six other countries, and a discussion on Single Window Clearance for promoting hassle-free film shooting for the global film community in India.

     

    Kamal Haasan was interviewed by critic and anchor Anupama Chopra; filmmakers Ramesh Sippy, Sudhir Mishra and Bobby Bedi were seen in conversation about Indian cinema today and going forward, and Indian films at Cannes over the years.

  • The 67th Festival de Cannes jury announced

    The 67th Festival de Cannes jury announced

    MUMBAI: The New Zealand director, producer and screenwriter Jane Campion, winner of the Palme D’Or or for The Piano, will be the president of the jury for the 67th Festival de Cannes. Cannes has always sought to adopt a universal and international approach, and in tune with this tradition, Campion will be surrounded by eight luminaries of world cinema, from China, Korea, Denmark, Iran, the United States, France and Mexico.

     

     As in 2009 the jury will therefore include five women and four men. Their task will be to decide between the 18 films in competition in order to select the winners – to be announced on stage at the ceremony on 24 May. The winner of the Palme D’Or will be screened during the festival’s closing evening on 25 May, in the presence of the jury and the entire team of the winning film.

     

    The jury members include:

     

    Carole Bouquet, actress (France): After her film debut in 1977 with Luis Bu?uel in That Obscure Object of Desire, Bouquet alternated between arthouse and blockbuster productions. A Bond girl in 1981 in For Your Eyes Only, she worked with Bertrand Blier on Buffet Froid (1979) and Too Beautiful For You (1989) for which she won the César for Best Actress. She appeared in Le jour des idiots by Werner Schroeter, Michel Blanc’s Dead Tired and Embrassez qui vous voudrez, Lucie Aubrac by Claude Berri, L’Enfer by Danis Tanovic, Nordeste by Juan Diego Solanas (Festival de Cannes 2005) and Unforgivable by André Téchiné.

     

    Sofia Coppola, director and screenwriter (United States): Coppola’s first feature film, The Virgin Suicides (1999) was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, where it met with international critical acclaim. Four years later, after several Oscar nominations for Lost in Translation, including Best Director, she walked off with the Best Screenplay award. Her third film, Marie Antoinette was selected in Competition at Cannes in 2006. After picking up a Golden Lion in Venice for Somewhere (2010), Sofia Coppola opened Un Certain Regard with her last film The Bling Ring at the Festival de Cannes in 2013.

     

    Leila Hatami, actress (Iran): Born in Tehran into a family of filmmakers, she started out acting in films directed by her father, Ali Hatami, before starring in Dariush Mehrjui’s Leila (1998) which brought her to national attention. It was Asghar Farhadi who established her on the world stage with A Separation (Golden Bear at the 2011 Berlin Festival). She picked up the Best Actress award in Karlovy Vary for her role in Ali Mosaffa’s Last Step in 2012.

     

    Jeon Do-yeon, actress (South Korea): The first Korean actress to receive the Best Actress award at the Festival de Cannes for her role in Secret Sunshine by Lee Chang-dong (2007), Jeon Do-yeon started out as a television actress before turning exclusively to cinema. Her major films include I Wish I Had a Wife by Ryoo Seung, My Mother, The Mermaid by Park Jin-pyo and The Housemaid by Im Sang-soo, presented at Cannes in 2010. A massive celebrity in her country, she has just finished shooting Memories of the Sword by Park Heung-sik.

     

    Willem Dafoe, Actor (United States): Twice nominated for an Oscar, for Oliver Stone’s Platoon and Shadow of the Vampire, Dafoe has appeared in 80 films including Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson, Light Sleeper by Paul Schrader, The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese, Antichrist by Lars von Trier and The English Patient by Anthony Minghella. He will soon be appearing in A Most Wanted Man by Anton Corbijn and Pasolini by Abel Ferrara. A co-founder of the Wooster Group – an experimental theatre collective – he is currently on tour with Bob Wilson’s play The Old Woman.

     

    Gael García Bernal, actor, director and producer (Mexico): Bernal first came to public attention in I?árritu’s Amorres Perros, soon followed by Y Tu Mamá También by Alfonso Cuarón. He then featured in films directed by some of the greats of international cinema, such as The Motorcycle Diaries by Walter Salles, Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education, The Science of Sleep by Michel Gondry, Babel by Gonzalez Inarritu and The Limits of Control by Jim Jarmusch. In 2005, he founded his Canana production company with Diego Luna and in 2010, after a few short films, directed his first feature film, Deficit, selected at La Semaine de la Critique at Cannes.

     

    Nicolas Winding Refn, director, screenwriter and producer (Denmark): His first film, Pusher (1996), written and directed at the age of 24, immediately became a cult movie and he shot to fame throughout the world. He then directed Bleeder (1999), Fear X (2003), Pusher II & III (2004 & 2005), Bronson (2008) and Valhalla Rising (2009). In 2011, Drive was presented at the Festival de Cannes and won the Best Direction prize, awarded by the jury presided by Robert De Niro. His last film, Only God Forgives, featured in Competition at Cannes in 2013.

     

    Jia Zhangke, director, screenwriter and producer (China): After first studying art Jia Zhangke, born in 1970, attended the Beijing Film Academy in the 1990s. After the success of his first film, Xao Wu (1998), he directed Platform (Zhantai, 2000) and Unknown Pleasures (Ren xiao yao, 2002) selected for Venice and Cannes respectively. Still Life picked up the Golden Lion in Venice in 2006. He also presented 24 City at the Festival de Cannes, in Competition in 2008 and I Wish I Knew for Un Certain Regard in 2010. Last year, A Touch of Sin garnered the Best Screenplay prize awarded by the jury presided by Steven Spielberg.

  • Ashim Ahluwalia’s ‘Miss Lovely’ to release in India with 400 prints

    Ashim Ahluwalia’s ‘Miss Lovely’ to release in India with 400 prints

    MUMBAI: Miss Lovely directed by Ashim Ahluwalia has received a fair amount of appreciation for his work that is based on Bombay’s C-grade film industry in the ‘80s, but internationally. The director has struggled to release it in India. However, now the film would release in 400plus screens.

    The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and will release on 17 January. The story revolves around two brothers, Vicky and Sonu Duggal (Anil George and Nawazuddin) who are struggling to produce illegal sex-horror films in the mid 1980s, and their mutually destructive relationship with a struggling actress, Pinky (Niharika Singh).

    Talking about the film that earlier got an A-certificate from the Censor Board, Ahluwalia said, “It is a very adult film that explores sexuality and violence and the things that people do to each other when they are struggling to make it in a city. I’m happy that the censor board didn’t ban it and, instead, eventually opted to grant it very few cuts.”

  • India to make major presence at Rome Film Festival

    India to make major presence at Rome Film Festival

    NEW DELHI: The Jury of the Cimema XXI section of the Rome Film Festival that commences tomorrow and will be on till 17 November also has an Indian filmmaker, Ashim Ahluwalia on board.

    Ashim Ahluwalia came to the limelight with his debut film John & Jane that had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and later screened at the Berlin Film Festival. It was the first Indian film to be distributed by HBO Films. His first feature-length film — Miss Lovely premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, in the Un Certain Regard section.

    An outsider with respect to the Bollywood cinema system, Ashim Ahluwalia is part of the new generation of Indian directors who avoid working with the stars of Hindi films.

    The Jury is chaired by American director and artist Larry Clark and other members include Yuri Ancarani (Italy), Laila Pakalnina (Latvia) and Michael Wahrmann (Uruguay).

    On the occasion of the 100 Years of Indian Cinema, a restored version of Kamal Swaroop’s 1988 cult classic Om Dar Ba Dar will be screened out of competition in CinemaXXI.

    The two Indian films competing in the CinemaXXI section are Prantik Basu’s Makara and Kamal Swaroop’s Rangbhoomi. The Seventh Walk (Saatvin Sair) by Amit Dutta will be the closing film section.

    CinemaXXI is a competitive section devoted to new trends in world cinema and focuses on works that reflect the continuous reinvention of cinema in the contemporary audiovisual landscape. CinemaXXI hosts feature-length, medium-length, and short films.

  • NFDC Film Bazaar ’13 Calls for Entries for Work-in-Progress Lab and Viewing Room

    NFDC Film Bazaar ’13 Calls for Entries for Work-in-Progress Lab and Viewing Room

    MUMBAI, Friday, 06 September, 2013: Film Bazaar 2013, the promotional arm of NFDC (National Film Development Corporation), announces today, the call for entries for its the Work-in-Progress (WIP) Lab and Viewing Room programs. The submission deadline for entries is September 30th 2013. South Asia’s Global Film Market, will see its seventh edition this year, held from November 20-24, 2013 at the Goa Marriott Resort alongside the International Film Festival of India 2013.

    In the WIP Lab five projects in their rough cut stage are selected to be presented to a panel of international film experts for their feedback. Feature length films and documentaries at the rough cut stage are invited to apply.

    The Viewing Room aims at presenting films seeking finishing funds, world sales, distribution partners & film festivals to investors, world sales agents and film festival programmers. Films of all genres and lengths in rough or final cut are invited to apply. Here films are viewed on individual computer terminals in private booths. These terminals provide details of the film as well as contact the director or producer.

    The films that were a part of the previous Work-in-Progress Labs have had their world premier at leading international films festivals and some even successful theatrical releases.

    c’s Miss Lovely (World Premiere, Cannes Film Festival in official competition section-Un Certain Regard), Manjeet Singh’s Mumbai Cha Raja and Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus (World Premiere, Toronto Film Festival 2012), and Ajay Bahl’s BA Pass (World Premiere, 12th Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival), Gyan Correa’s The Good Road (National award for Best Gujarati Film)

    Visit www.filmbazaarindia.com for more details and application forms, and for further queries write to: films@filmbazaarindia.com

  • ‘Shortcut Romeo’ premiered at Cannes Film Festival

    ‘Shortcut Romeo’ premiered at Cannes Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Susi Ganesh‘s ‘Shortcut Romeo‘ was premiered at Cannes Film Festival in the non-competition section.

    ‘Shortcut Romeo‘, is a remake of Susi Ganesh‘s Tamil film, ‘Thiruttu Payale‘, which was a commercial success and a box office hit. ‘Thiruttu Payale‘, won Susi Ganesh the Tamil Nadu state’s Best Film award in 2006.

    “It is a great opportunity for me to showcase Bollywood cinema to an international audience when we are celebrating 100 Years of Indian Cinema across the world,” said Ganesh prior to leaving for Cannes.

    While the core of the story from ‘Thiruttu Payale‘ has been retained in the Bollywood version, Ganesh said that he has made some changes, like adding more nuances to the characters and given them more screen space in Hindi.

    ‘Shortcut Romeo‘ features Neil Nitin Mukesh, Ameesha Patel and Puja Gupta and is slated to release on 21 June.

  • Avid celebrates ‘The Great Gatsby’ at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival

    Avid celebrates ‘The Great Gatsby’ at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Editors Jason Ballantine and Matt Villa used Avid Media Composer to cut Cannes Film Festival opener ‘The Great Gatsby‘ in 3D.

    The 2013 Cannes Film Festival, which runs till 26 May, opened with the latest adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Amitabh Bachchan. With careers spanning over 20 years, Ballantine and Villa are long-time Media Composer users and have worked on major projects including Bax Luhrmann‘s previous films ‘Moulin Rouge‘ and ‘Australia‘. Ballantine is currently using Media Composer on his next project, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road‘ and Villa is using it to cut ‘Predestination‘.
     
    Ballantine said, “Every film throws a new set of creative and technical challenges for post-production that must be overcome. With so many variations in workflows to navigate, it‘s incredibly reassuring that there is no decision to be made with the offline cutting system – it‘s always Media Composer, that‘s a given. The reliability and functionality of the entire Avid product range is second to none.”

    Media Composer empowers professionals to edit movies with 64-bit performance and provides easy-to-use video editing tools, and streamlined HD, file-based, and stereo 3D workflows.

    Villa said, “During the shoot we had an editing station permanently on location and during post we had two fully operational cutting rooms running concurrently and in perfect sync; one in Sydney and one in LA. We called upon many tools from the Avid family to deal with the 3D material and they never faltered. Productions of this scale can be unrestrained and unpredictable, but Avid never fails in being stable yet flexible enough to get these jobs done.”

    Avid VP worldwide marketing W. Sean Ford said, “Jason and Matt have done outstanding work on The Great Gatsby. Their achievement is a great example of why we are so committed to providing editors with the technology that lets them push the limits of what is technically possible– from syncing workflows across many locations, to working with 3D material. The Great Gatsby is a perfect example of what can result when professionals have the tools they need to turn their creative visions into reality.”

  • India’s a big part at the 66th Cannes Film Festival

    India’s a big part at the 66th Cannes Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Hindi film actress Vidya Balan and ‘Life of Pi‘ director Ang Lee will be part of the prestigious 66th Cannes Film Festival‘s nine-member jury. The jury will be headed by Hollywood director Steven Spielberg.

    The other big names joining Spielberg are Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, Oscar-winner Christophe Waltz, Japanese director Naomi Kawase, Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, French actor-director Daniel Auteuil and Romanian director Cristian Mungiu.

    The jury will award the coveted Palme d‘Or prize to one of the 19 films in competition at this year‘s festival, which runs from May 15 to 26.

    Balan, 35, currently one of the most successful actors in India, is best known for her path-breaking roles in films like The Dirty Picture, Bhool Bhulaiya, Kahaani and Parineeta.

    Apart from Balan, actor/director Nandita Das is also a part of a separate jury for short films. Director Shekhar Kapur and actress Sharmila Tagore have previously featured in the Cannes jury.

    Cannes has invited India this year to celebrate 100 years of the country‘s cinema. The festival will open with ‘The Great Gatsby‘, which also has Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan in a cameo. The actor will be attending the opening ceremony with his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai, a regular at Cannes‘ red carpet. This year she has been extended a special invite to the festival.

    This year, four Indian films have been selected in different non-competition categories at Cannes. Bombay Talkies, an anthology film by four directors – Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Karan Johar – will have a gala screening at the festival.

    Kashyap will also be screening his Ugly in festival‘s Directors‘ Fortnight sidebar where he earlier showcased his two-part revenge drama Gangs of Wasseypur.

    Dabba (Lunchbox) and Monsoon Shootout, co-produced by Kashyap, have been selected for Cannes Critics Week and Midnight Screening sections respectively.