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Tag: Chaitanya Tamhane

  • Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films partners with Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023

    Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films partners with Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023

    Mumbai: Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films collaborated with Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023, a platform that brings the best of contemporary world cinema to the City of Dreams, to celebrate the art of cinema in the short-film format. Over the course of two days (Nov 1-2) at PVR Maison, Jio World Drive BKC, the platform offered passionate filmmakers the opportunity to bring forth authentic stories and engaged audiences with stellar performances.

    As part of the association, Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films premiered two original short films at the festival – ‘Badminton’ (directed by Dibakar Banerjee) and ‘Next, Please’ (written-produced by Chaitanya Tamhane, directed by Rishav Kapoor). Starring Jim Sarbh, both films received a fantastic response from the audience. Equally engaging was the panel discussion that followed, where the moderator RJ Malishka spoke to the filmmakers, scriptwriters and Jim Sarbh about the significance of short format filmmaking and their association with Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films platform. Other cast members, including Sayani Gupta, Vijay Maurya, Shreya Dhanwantry and Shardul Bhardwaj were also present at the premiere.

    This year, Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films also curated a short film contest #ForTheSelectOnes, inviting entries for 8 to 10-minute films across genres. The top 10 shortlisted entries were screened at the film festival, and the winners in two categories were acknowledged for their cinematic brilliance. Fostering a creative environment for filmmaking enthusiasts, the screenings were followed by engaging discussions about the rise of the short-film format, moderated by actor Inayat Sood and featuring the film creators. Awards for best film and best actor were also announced. Best Film winner was Summer of Soul by Sanjib Gogoi and Best Actor winner was James Elia from the film, Vakuppu (The Clause).

    Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival head of marketing, PR and partnerships Abhishek Kumar said, “This is a very special partnership for us, and we are thankful for the continued support by Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films to Jio MAMI. The curation is incredible by some established and new talent from different parts of the country. Our aim collectively is to provide a stage for filmmakers to showcase their authentic stories and further bolster the rapidly growing demand and appetite for the short film format in India.”

  • Film on Tagore’s sister-in-law wins top award at Washington S. Asian Fillmfest

    Film on Tagore’s sister-in-law wins top award at Washington S. Asian Fillmfest

    NEW DELHI: Bengali film Kadambari by Suman Ghosh about Kadambari Devi, sister-in-law of Rabindranath Tagore with whom he is supposed to have had a close personal relationship and who eventually committed suicide, won the Best Film award at the Fourth Washington South Asian Film Festival.

     

    Chaitanya Tamhane won the Best Director award for Court, a Hindi and Marathi film, which is India’s official entry for the Academy Awards.

     

    Aparna Sen received the Special Achievement Award, while Huma Beg from Pakistan (Veils and Walls) got the Special Appreciation Award Documentary. Sarmad Khoosat received the Special Award for Contribution to Pakistan TV and Films.

     

    The Festival of independent alternate cinema on the theme of “Art and culture transcend boundaries” had 14 features, 10 shorts and one documentary from India, Pakistan, the United States and Canada.

     

    Rough Book by Anant Mahadevan won the best story award, while the actor awards went to Kishor Kadam (Partu) and Konkona Sen Sharma (Kadambari). Bonjour ji by Satinder Kassona was adjudged the best short film.

     

    The audience rated Partu by Indian-American Nitin Adsul as the Best Film and Billu’s Flight by India’s Mayank Tripathi as the Best Short Film.

     

    Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Islam, who inaugurated the festival said the theme of the Festival reflected a reality. “This is so even though we live in a deeply divided world. These are unsettling times-wars, refugees, terrorism, hate crimes of all types, and boundary disputes. Events such as these dominate the headlines daily,” he said.

     

    He said marketing was a big challenge for independent films, which had to compete with extravagant, studio-backed and star-studded films from Bollywood.

     

    In order to succeed, independent films from India must overcome this stereotype and sea of noise, Islam said.

     

    “This year there was more awareness about the film festival here in the US and in South Asian countries,” said DCSAFF executive director Manoj Singh.

     

    Saari Raat, Aparna Sen’s film adaptation of Bengali playwright Badal Sircar’s drama, was the opening film. There were three films from South Asian Americans: Partu, Miss India America by Ravi Kapoor and For Here or To Go by Rucha Humnabadkar.

     

    The festival also featured two Pakistani films, Manto by actor-director Sarmad Sultan Khoosat on the life of short-story writer Sadat Hassan Manto, and Shah by actor-director on Pakistani boxer Hussain Shah who won the bronze medal at 1988 Summer Olympics. 

  • Chaitanya Tamhane’s ‘Court’ acquired by Zeitgeist Films for US distribution

    Chaitanya Tamhane’s ‘Court’ acquired by Zeitgeist Films for US distribution

    MUMBAI: Chaitanya Tamhane’s provocative film, Court, which premiered and won two major awards at the prestigious Venice Film Festival, has been acquired by New York based Zeitgeist Films, for US distribution. 

     

    Opening to rave reviews, Court won two coveted awards at Venice – the Orizzonti award for Best Film and the Lion of the Future award for a Debut Film. Lauded for its thought-provoking take on India’s judicial system, it generated a strong buzz on the festival circuit last year, playing at 19 festivals and winning sixteen awards.

     

    Zeitgeist is renowned for bringing path breaking, auteur-driven films to theatres, and has previously distributed films such as Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste Of Cherry, Christopher Nolan’s Following, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Three Monkeys and many more. 

     

    Zeitgeist Films co-president Nancy Gerstman said, “Anyone who is interested in the constantly changing face of India — with its fascinating contradictions — will appreciate Court. We don’t use the word ‘amazing’ too often, but there is no other way to describe this film and the amount of awards it has collected confirms that others feel the same way.”

     

    Among its other accolades, Court won best film and best director in the international category, honouring the first film by a director, at the Mumbai Film Festival. This was the first time an Indian film won in this section. From there on, it went on to win a FIPRESCI award at the Vienna International Film Festival, the New Talent award at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, and the Grand Prix at the Auteur Film Festival in Serbia.

     

    The 27 year old debutant writer-director, Chaitanya Tamhane said, “We could not have asked for a better collaborator for our US release. Given the fact that over the past two decades, Zeitgeist has discovered and supported the films of some of my favourite filmmakers, this feels like a true honour.”

     

    The young producer, Vivek Gomber, who also stars in the film added, “I am thrilled to have Zeitgeist on board. As filmmakers, we want our work to reach as many audiences as possible, across the world. With such an established, well respected, and fearless distributor supporting us, I feel we are in good hands for our American release.” 

     

    A Zoo Entertainment production, Court is slated for an early summer release in India.

  • French sales agent acquires Tamhane’s ‘Court’

    French sales agent acquires Tamhane’s ‘Court’

    NEW DELHI: Artscope, the art film label of Paris-based international sales and production company Memento Films, has acquired Chaitanya Tamhane’s debut feature film Court which has already won several international awards.

     

    The film won the New Talent award at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival where the Jury commented, “The production is well executed, making use of bold and creative film language, that supports an in-depth exploration of the themes. The film’s concerns for social conflicts can also inspire profound impacts on audiences outside India.”

     

    Earlier, the film won the Victor Turov Memorial Award for Best Film in the ‘Youth on the March’ Feature Films Competition at the 21st Minsk Film Festival Listapad in November last year and a special jury mention at the Molodist Film Festival in Ukraine.

     

    “A sewage worker’s dead body is found inside a manhole in Mumbai. An ageing folk singer is arrested and accused of performing an inflammatory song, which may have incited the worker to commit suicide. The trial unfolds in a lower court, where the hopes and dreams of the city’s ordinary people play out. Forging these fates are the lawyers and judge, who are observed in their personal lives beyond the theatre of the courtroom,” goes the official synopsis of Court. 

  • ‘Court’ once again wins accolades on the international circuit

    ‘Court’ once again wins accolades on the international circuit

    NEW DELHI: Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court, which has been on a winning streak for the past few months, has now won the FIPRESCI (The International Federation of Film Critics) Prize at the Vienna International Film Festival (Viennale).
     

    In the citation, the jury said: “This film is a quietly sophisticated, emotionally restrained yet hugely affecting account of the politics, incompetence and casual corruption of the Indian justice system, which has a universal resonance. While focused on legal procedure, glimpses into the everyday lives of the protagonists add depth and surprising humour to the iniquities within the court.”

    This is director and writer Chaitanya Tamhane’s first film.

     
    Court recently won the Golden Gateway award for Best Film, Best Director and Jury Special Mention for Ensemble Cast at the 16th Mumbai Film Festival. Besides, it also won the Turkish Film Critics’ Association (SIYAD) award for the Best Film at 51st International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival.

     
    A folk singer who sings about social ills is charged with abetting the alleged suicide of a BMC worker and thrown into judicial custody. What follows is an acidic satire that shows the absurdity of the Indian legal system and society’s callousness with elegant savagery. Court manages to talk about everything from the need for judicial reform to freedom of expression without ever turning preachy or becoming self-indulgent. The cast is made up of theatre actors and non-actors who comfortably slip between Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and English.

     

  • Indian Film funded by Hubert Bals in Venice Film Festival

    Indian Film funded by Hubert Bals in Venice Film Festival

    NEW DELHI:  Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court has been selected for the 71st Venice Film Festival. The multilingual movie will be screened in the Horizons (Orizonti) section of the festival, which runs from August 27 to September 6.

     

    The film based on the exploration of the Indian judiciary, had received the Hubert Bals fund for script and project development in 2012 and was part of Film Bazaar co-production market of the National Film Development Corporation in 2012.

     

    Tamhane, an English literature graduate, has previously directed short film Six Strands, which was screened at international film festivals like Roterdam, Clermont-Ferand, Edinburgh, and Slamdance.

     

    Bengali film Labour of Love will be screened in Venice Days, a sidebar of the Venice Film Festival.