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Tag: Jalpari

  • Jalpari sent to the Oscars as direct entry

    Jalpari sent to the Oscars as direct entry

    MUMBAI: Critically acclaimed film Jalpari – The Desert Mermaid has been submitted as a direct entry for the Oscars.

    Ultra Distributors CMD Sushilkumar Agrawal said, "In all, 17 films were competing to be sent as India‘s official entry for the foreign film category at the Oscars. Every film had a potential in some way or the other way to compete for the Oscars, but unfortunately only one film can go as an official entry from India. The original story and concept is the USP of our film. The blazing subject, the treatment of the film and the powerful performances has the potential to compete to the Oscars. So we decided to submit our film as a direct entry for the Academy Awards."

    Jalpari… is directed by Nila Madhab Panda director of award winning I Am Kalam. The film deals with the various predicaments that a girl child encounters in rural India and also addresses the divide between rural and urban India. The film depicts India‘s national shame ‘female foeticide‘ in a lighter way, without getting preachy.

    The distributor has submitted the film to the Academy of Motion Pictures and its team will shortly visit US for promotion of the film and it exhibition.

    Recently Jalpari… received the Audience Choice Award at the Minsk International Film Festival in Belarus and selected as an official entry for International Film Festival in Montreal that will take place in March next year and many other international film festivals.

  • Jalpari wins MIP Junior Kids Jury Award 2012 at Cannes

    Jalpari wins MIP Junior Kids Jury Award 2012 at Cannes

    MUMBAI: Ultra Distributors‘ Jalpari – The Desert Mermaid recently won the MIP Junior Kids Jury Awards 2012 at Cannes. The MIP Junior Kids Jury award is the international showcase for children‘s and youth programmes and films.

    As many as 115 producers from around the world had entered their programmes that were divided into three categories – Tweens (11-14 years), Kids (7-10 years) and Pre-school (3-6 years). This included both live action and animation in every category.

    A jury of fifteen children from the International School of Nice judged their favourite film during a private screening session with the help of French TV presenter and producer, Billy. And the winning choice for the Tweens category, was the India presentation Jalpari – The Desert Mermaid.

    The other entries for this category were Chilli Girl (Domo Animato – Columbia), Monster Mountain (Dancing Digital Animation – China), One and a Half Heroes (Fantawild Animation Inc – China) and The Eternal Song, Jazzit II – Zhejiang Dishun Tech Co, Ltd – China).

    One interesting and shocking revelation noted by the experts in this year‘s MIP Junior was the Tweens are just not watching kids TV or only animation was not on their viewing list. They moved onto a more aspirational live action offering. They want to be immersed in stories and this bears out with their winning choice for the Tweens category, that was Jalpari – The Desert Mermaid.

    This is the first time that an Indian film was selected that as well as won the award.

  • Nila Madhab Panda’s Jalpari to screen at Lucasi Intl. Children’s fest

    Nila Madhab Panda’s Jalpari to screen at Lucasi Intl. Children’s fest

    MUMBAI: Ultra‘s latest offering Jalpari (The Desert Mermaid) will screen at the 35th Lucas International Children‘s Film Festival that will be under way from 2 to 9 September in Germany.

    Jalpari – The Desert Mermaid is the second directorial venture of Nila Madhab Panda who had made the critically acclaimed and multiple-award-winning film I Am Kalam in 2010.

    Akin to that film, Jalpari also revolves around a child and is about the journey of 10-year-old Shreya as the city girl explores rural life for the first time with her brother Sam.

    Jalpari will release in theatres in India on 31 August.

    Incidentally, I Am Kalam won the best feature film award at the Lucas International Children‘s Film Festival in 2010.

  • Panda approaches Gere for film on food security

    Panda approaches Gere for film on food security

    MUMBAI: With both his debut film I Am Kalam and Jalpari-The Desert Mermaid having won rave reviews, Nila Madhab Panda is making a film based on the issue of world food security.

    The film, which will span from 2001 to 2010, will be like a realistic version of Avatar.

    Panda has approached Richard Gere to star in the film. If Gere accepts, he will play the sutradhar, that of a foreigner who comes to India and gets involved with the socio-political setup of a village in the India-Australia joint production.

    The director has also proposed Harrison Ford’s name for the film.

    “We’re talking to a lot of people. Nothing is confirmed yet, but this film will be much bigger (compared to his past films),” observed Panda.

    Talking about Jalpari-The Desert Mermaid , Panda averred, “It’s more than just a children’s film. It falls in the family adventure space.”

    Panda is gearing up to release Jalpari on 28 July through producer-distributor Ultra Distributors.

    The distributor has already received distribution offers from far flung countries like Korea, Taiwan, Germany and Far East.