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Tag: International Film Festival

  • 27th Kolkata International Film Festival to be held from 25 April to 1 May

    27th Kolkata International Film Festival to be held from 25 April to 1 May

    Mumbai: The 27th edition of Kolakata International Film Festival will be held form 25 April to 1 May, according to an official notification of Information and Cultural Affairs Department.

    The film festival was earlier scheduled to take place in January, but it was postponed due to sudden rise in Covid-19 cases. 

    All the sections of the festival – competitive and retrospective – will remain as usual and its details will be announced later, an official from the film festival told PTI. “With the lifting of the restrictions, the theatres will have full capacity. There will also be more public screenings than what was planned in January,” the official said.

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  • India wants Indo-Chinese pact on co-production and export of movies to China

    India wants Indo-Chinese pact on co-production and export of movies to China

    NEW DELHI: The Government today proposed that the National Film Development and its Chinese counterpart should explore the possibilities of a memorandum of understanding for joint production and distribution of films between the two countries.

    Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sunil Arora stated this in a meeting with Fuzhou People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries President Yang Yue and his delegation members.

    The meeting was held here to discuss cooperation between the two countries in areas pertaining to co-production of movies and import of more Indian films to China. Joint Secretary (Films) K Sanjay Murthy and Senior Officers from the Ministry were also present during the meeting.

    Yue agreed to examine the suggestion. He invited Indian representatives to visit Fuzhou for the 3rd Silk Road International Film Festival.

    India had earlier participated as a focus country in the 2nd Silk Road International Film Festival in September last year and a delegation from the Ministry and the Directorate of Film Festivals attended the festival.

    India and China had earlier signed an Audio-Visual Co-production Agreement in September 2014.
    In the recent past, India had permitted filming of three Chinese films in the country namely: ‘Lost in India’, ‘Kung Fu Yoga’ and ‘Xuan Zang’. The film ‘Xuan Zang’ was a co-production between the Chinese Film Company Ltd. and Eros (India) International. The movie ‘Kung Fu Yoga’ is currently being filmed in India.

  • India wants Indo-Chinese pact on co-production and export of movies to China

    India wants Indo-Chinese pact on co-production and export of movies to China

    NEW DELHI: The Government today proposed that the National Film Development and its Chinese counterpart should explore the possibilities of a memorandum of understanding for joint production and distribution of films between the two countries.

    Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sunil Arora stated this in a meeting with Fuzhou People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries President Yang Yue and his delegation members.

    The meeting was held here to discuss cooperation between the two countries in areas pertaining to co-production of movies and import of more Indian films to China. Joint Secretary (Films) K Sanjay Murthy and Senior Officers from the Ministry were also present during the meeting.

    Yue agreed to examine the suggestion. He invited Indian representatives to visit Fuzhou for the 3rd Silk Road International Film Festival.

    India had earlier participated as a focus country in the 2nd Silk Road International Film Festival in September last year and a delegation from the Ministry and the Directorate of Film Festivals attended the festival.

    India and China had earlier signed an Audio-Visual Co-production Agreement in September 2014.
    In the recent past, India had permitted filming of three Chinese films in the country namely: ‘Lost in India’, ‘Kung Fu Yoga’ and ‘Xuan Zang’. The film ‘Xuan Zang’ was a co-production between the Chinese Film Company Ltd. and Eros (India) International. The movie ‘Kung Fu Yoga’ is currently being filmed in India.

  • India-born American filmmaker bags two awards at Manhattan Filmfest

    India-born American filmmaker bags two awards at Manhattan Filmfest

    NEW DELHI: Emmy-nominated America-based filmmaker Tirlok Malik has been honoured with the special Outstanding Achievement in Multicultural Arts in acting, filmmaking, and immigrant advocacy at the International Film Festival in Manhattan.

     

    The Festival held recently showed films dealing with social issues. The festival has the most diverse selection of world class films and a focus on social issues and advocacy as part of the programming and goals.

     

    Malik has made many films starting from Lonely In America, Khushiyaan, On Golden Years, and many more. They all deal with the effects of migration in America.

     

    Malik, who has given a break to many new faces in his films in front or behind the camera, said, “I am happy to be a part of this festival and I feel honored for this awards.”

     

    Malik also received an award for best film award for On Golden Years.

     

     Luis Pedron, co-founder of the festival, said the film On Golden Years deals with social issues of retirement that millions of first generation immigrants face in their lives.

     

    Films from many countries, including Israel, Australia, Philippines, Sweden, Singapore, and the United States were shown at IFFM.

     

    Malik accepted the award on the behalf of the team of On Golden Years and said, “It was team work making this film.”

     

    The film is produced by Golden Movies. The idea of the story is inspired by the book Seeking Roots by Iggy Ignatius who is also the co-director of the film. The film stars among others Ranjit Chowdhry, Jyoti Singh, Reeves Lehmann, Shetal Shah, Noor Naghmi, Tirlok Malik, among others.

     

    The film has been shot at the Indian retirement community Shantiniketan in Florida.

     

    Meanwhile, Malik recently launched a website for streaming Indian-American movies www.nritvfilmclub.com. The website seeks to promote new talents as Malik wants to create what he calls ‘NRI-wood’ just like Hollywood and Bollywood. 

  • Directorate of Film Festivals ropes in Sabu Cyril as art director for IFFI 2015

    Directorate of Film Festivals ropes in Sabu Cyril as art director for IFFI 2015

    NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Film Festivals of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry, which organises the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has roped in four-time National Award winner production designer Sabu Cyril to design all the sets for different components of this year’s festival. 

     

    The 46th International Film Festival of India will be held from 20 – 30 November, 2015.

     

    Right from the motif of the peacock as the logo for the festival to creating an appealing ambience at different event venues for delegates at Panaji in Goa, he will be bringing alive cinema in different shades at the IFFI.

     

    With a career spanning over two decades, Cyril has been associated with some of the landmark films in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil cinema.

     

    Speaking about his association with IFFI 2015, Cyril said, “I am very pleased to be a part of one of the biggest film festivals of Asia. In a commercially competitive world of filmmaking, the International Film Festival of India is doing a great job of promoting aesthetically rich Indian films, which are no less than a masterpiece in the context of cinematography and art direction. It feels good to handle the creative responsibilities of one of the prestigious film festivals in the world. IFFI is a great platform for aspiring as well as established filmmakers to showcase their talent to global audience and let them experience the creativity of Indian cinema.”

     

    Directorate of Film Festivals director C. Senthil Rajan added, “Saby Cyril is a perfect combination of great credentials and imaginative skills and has been a part of some of the best and globally renowned Indian films. Under his creative guidance, I am sure the 46th IFFI would be a wonderful journey of visual opulence that will impress the film lovers across the globe.”

     

    Cyril began his production designing career in 1988 and till date has directed more than 2500 advertisements, three tele-serials and 115 feature films in various languages. In 1996, he directed the stage design for the Miss World beauty pageant.

     

    IFFI will showcase movies across sections including Indian and International Panorama, Indian and Foreign Retrospectives, tributes, special focus, workshops, short films, Master Classes and the Film Bazaar.

  • Rajnikant, Wong Kar Wai to be honoured at International Film Festival of India, China is country in Focus

    Rajnikant, Wong Kar Wai to be honoured at International Film Festival of India, China is country in Focus

    NEW DELHI: A total of 179 films from 75 countries across different categories would be screened and China will be the focus country for the forthcoming International Film Festival of India in Panaji, later this month.

     
    Megastar Amitabh Bachchan will inaugurate the annual filmfest to be held from 20 to 30 November.

     
    Popular star Rajnikant would be bestowed with the Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year, and Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar Wai would receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.

     
    This information was given by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who said the first meeting of the “Indo-China Joint Working Group” would be held on the sidelines of the festival. The Minister added that this partnership provided a platform opening new avenues for film makers from both the countries by sharing best practices and technologies.

     

    Referring to the opening ceremony, the Minister stated Chinese film actress Zhang Ziyi, Swedish filmmaker Jan Troell, and Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi would be the Guests of Honour.

    The President directed by renowned filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf from Iran will be the opening film on 20 November and The Grandmaster by Wong Kar Wai would be the closing film of the festival on 30 November.

     

    The international films include World Cinema (61 films), Master-strokes (11 films), Festival Kaleidoscope (20 films), Soul of Asia (7 films), Documentaries (6 films), and Animated Films (6 films).

    In addition, the Indian Panorama section would include 41 feature and non-feature films. The North-East being the focus region of the festival, IFFI 2014 would be showcasing seven films from that region.

    Retrospectives will be held on Gulzar and Jahnu Baruah and a special tribute to Farooq Sheikh. One film each of eminent film personalities who passed away in the past year would be screened. These are Richard Attenborough, Robin Williams, Zohra Sehgal, and Suchitra Sen.

    A special section of films that focus on dance, personality based retrospectives, and Masterclasses and workshops would also form part of IFFI 2014.  

     

  • Goa to be permanent venue of International Film Festival of India

    Goa to be permanent venue of International Film Festival of India

    NEW DELHI: Although Goa has been the venue of the International Film Festival of India since 2004, there has been discussion year after year on whether it should continue to remain so, with a large section of the film industry particularly from eastern and north east India opposing this move.

     

    However, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar has reiterated that Goa will be formally made the permanent venue for the festival.

     

    The Minister made this statement after the signing of the ritual annual Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry and the state government at the State Secretariat in Panaji in the presence of Javadekar and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. The MoU was signed by Ministry secretary Bimal Julka and Goa Chief Secretary B Vijayan.

     

    The 45th edition of the festival will be held from 20 to 30 November.

     

     “With the signing of the MoU, Goa will now be designing permanent facilities and world-class infrastructure for the festival at Goa, which has matured as a venue for IFFI,” declared Javadekar. This year will be the State’s 11th time hosting the IFFI.

     

    With its peculiar culture and hospitable atmosphere, Goa would soon catch up with renowned international film festivals like Cannes, Javadekar added.

     

    With a few days to go, Javadekar expressed confidence in the facelift planned for the festival, which is being organised by a steering committee comprising representatives of the Directorate of Film Festivals, the State and reputed film industry stakeholders.

  • Over 790 entries for Mumbai International Film Festival

    Over 790 entries for Mumbai International Film Festival

    NEW DELHI: A total of 793 entries have been received from 34 countries for the Mumbai International film Festival for documentary, short and animation films.

    The festival organised by the Films Division will be held as usual at the NCPA, Mumbai, (also known as Tata Centre) from 3 to 9 February.

    Information and Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka, along with Joint Secretary (Films) Raghvendra Singh held a review meeting with the festival director V S Kundu and the organizing committee members in Mumbai.

    Of the entries, 588 are for the national section and 205 for the international section.

    MIFF is the oldest and the largest international film festival for the non-feature and animation films in Asia, and is often held at par with internationally renowned short film festivals like Berlin, Leipzig, Krakow (Poland) and Tampere (Finland).

    Julka said: “The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is committed to promoting documentary and short films, and MIFF provides one of the best platforms for showcasing our film making talent. MIFF 2014 brings a lot of valuable content for film makers and cineastes.”

    The total number of awards for MIFF 2014 has gone up from 22 to 32. Apart from the regular awards, new awards have been introduced for producer, cinematographer, editor, sound recordist and animator. Awards for the most innovative film (named after Pramod Pati who was an experimental filmmaker and head of the Films Division) and most popular film of the festival have also been instituted.

    A veteran Indian documentary filmmaker will be honoured with the V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award. MIFF will distribute cash awards worth Rs 55 lakhs apart from golden conches, trophies and certificates to the winners in different categories.

    MIFF 2014 will also see an increased international participation. As part of an initiative to take cinema to the students, Cinekids, Amsterdam and Lennep Media will hold a ‘Dutch Children’s film festival-cum-students film workshop’ for school children of Mumbai. ActionAid will hold a film festival on ‘Our City Ourselves’ as part of MIFF 2014.

    An attempt is being made to hold a Film Market for documentary films, which will be a first of its kind initiative in India.

    In another new initiative, the festival directorate has decided to hold parallel screenings of national competition films in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Guwahati and Nagpur, for the benefit of documentary film lovers, who are unable to travel to Mumbai to participate in the festival.

    The festival will pay tribute to the acclaimed Canadian documentary filmmaker Peter Wintonick who passed away on 18 November by screening his select works. Besides, the festival will have panel discussions, directors’ adda, retrospectives, homages, curated film  packages, seminars, workshops and master classes to make MIFF-2014 a rich and wholesome experience for filmmakers, students and cinephiles.

    The government of Maharashtra and the Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA) are the partners of MIFF 2014.

  • Second Kolkata Short International Filmfest to screen 74 films

    Second Kolkata Short International Filmfest to screen 74 films

    NEW DELHI: 74 films from 14 countries are expected to be screened at the Second Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival on 24 August.

     

    The KSFF-13 is an amalgamation of unleashed cinematic creativity and madness of cine-goers of Kolkata and its objective is to give momentum to the short cinema and foster the growth of a new breed of filmmakers. The festival will be held in different screening rooms at Hotel Tulip INN at Park Street.

     

    The festival received a total of 570 movies through online submission. On the basis of the synopsis of movies, a total of 216 films were invited of which 173 were received, and a majority of the 74 will be screened according to festival director Rambhul Singh who is also an award winning filmmaker.

     

    The main attractions of the festival are shorts films like Scenes from Suburbia which is a collage of three heartfelt stories directed by Sowrik Dutta, Jo Jo Lalli directed by Sandeep Malani which is a romantic drama based on AIDS awareness, the documentary Bhopal Shed-Unsaid directed by Syed Samar Mehdi telling the story of the after effects of the Bhopal carbide gas plant tragedy, the Bengali short films Bheja Chitti directed by Rishin Banerjee, Ekti Choto Chobi directed by Indrani Chakrabarti and Self directed by Avishek Dutta.

     

    International short films Lao directed by Gabriele Sabatino Nardis from Italy tells the story after a disaster, Efeito Casimiro directed by Clarice Saliby from Brazil tells the story of an alien’s appearance, and Traumfrau directed by Oliver Schwarz from Switzerland deals with relationship and loneliness.

     

    Renowned Music director Bappi Lahiri’s directorial debut short film World Love Peace Harmony will have its premiere at the festival.

     

    The festival jury includes two Bengali films directors Raja Sen and Pinaki Choudhuri who are both national award winning directors and known for their quality films in Bengali cinema. The jury includes Dr. D C Singh, a film scholar and researcher.

     

    In addition to film screenings, a master class on ‘promotion, marketing, distribution and revenue generations through short films’ also be conducted. Beside that, the festival offers professional networking opportunities with special short films packages. KSIFF is also observing ‘100 years of Indian Cinema’ with this festival.

     

    KSIFF-13 is conducted by Miniboxoffice, a Noida based short films marketing, promotion and film festival organizing company. It has established short film festivals in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Bhopal and the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival and Indian Cine Film Festival in Noida.

  • Four Indian films to screen at Seattle Intl. fest

    Four Indian films to screen at Seattle Intl. fest

    MUMBAI: Four films from India – Adaminte Makan Abu, Valley of Saints, The Last Marble and Water Problem – are scheduled to be screened at the upcoming Seattle International Film Festival, scheduled to take place from 17 May to 10 June in Seattle, Washington.

    “In this contemplative tale of hope, family, and sacrifice, an aging South Indian Muslim couple struggles to complete a once-in-a-lifetime religious pilgrimage to Mecca,” reads the festival website about Salim Ahamed‘s Adaminte Makan Abu.

    Valley of Saints Water Problem, a two-minute film by students at the American India Foundation, is described as a “youth-made photo essay illustrating the challenges of getting fresh water in rural India”.

    The film opens with misty hillsides and trickling water but tension draws the viewer into Musa Syeed‘s world where fiction and documentary seamlessly blend along the beautiful landscape of Kashmir‘s Dal Lake.

    The Last Marble is an eight-minute short film about a street kid by Manjari Makijany, daughter of veteran actor MacMohan.

    Seattle International Film Festival, founded in 1976, is considered as one of the top festivals in North America.