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Tag: Jerusalem

  • ‘The Lunchbox’, ‘Monsoon Shootout’ travelling to more festivals overseas

    ‘The Lunchbox’, ‘Monsoon Shootout’ travelling to more festivals overseas

    NEW DELHI: The Lunchbox directed by Ritesh Batra appears to be garnering much more attention than it would have got at the Oscars. The film has visited many international festivals and is set to go to two more soon.

    The Lunchbox will compete at the 24th Stockholm Film Festival being held from 6 to 17 November, and at the American Film Institute Festival from 7 to 14 November.

    Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout and Remo D’Souza’s Any Body Can Dance (ABCD) will screen under the Asian Images section in Stockholm.

    The Lunchbox, making its Nordic Premiere at the festival, will compete with films like Paul Wright’s For Those in Peril, Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo and Amat Escalante’s Heli. The section showcases directors making their first, second or third feature film.  .

    Monsoon Shootout has earlier been screened at Cannes, Durban, Sydney, Jerusalem and London Indian Film Festivals. Remo D’Souza’s Any Body Can Dance (ABCD) is a 3D dance film directed and choreographed by Remo D’Souza and produced by UTV.

    Meanwhile, a total of 32 titles will be screened in the World Cinema section of the AFI. The complete programme includes 119 films (83 features, 36 shorts) from 43 countries.

    The Lunchbox, featuring Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, had its world premiere at the International Critics’ Week of the Cannes Film Festival and has since travelled to several important festivals including Telluride, Toronto, Karlovy Vary, Zurich and BFI London.

  • BBC celebrates Easter with ‘Passion’

    BBC celebrates Easter with ‘Passion’

    MUMBAI: UK pubcaster the BBC will celebrate Easter with a series, The Passion.

    The setting is Passover week, Jerusalem, 33AD. As thousands of pilgrims pour into the city, tensions between the Jewish religious authorities and the occupying Romans are already running high.

    When news arrives that a preacher from Galilee is about to enter the city’s East Gate on a donkey’s colt, thereby fulfilling ancient prophecies about the coming of a Messiah to free the Jews from oppression, the mood becomes even more incendiary.

    The tumultuous events of the next seven days will resonate through the next 2,000 years of human history. Written by Frank Deasy, directed by Michael Offer and produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark, The Passion is a retelling of the story of Jesus’s final days on earth and will air in the UK on BBC One.

    Inspired by both the Gospels and other contemporary historical sources, the three-hour drama, for the first time, tells the story from the perspective of all the main figures involved – Jesus and his disciples, the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate and the High Priest, Caiaphas.

    Stafford-Clark explains, “It puts it all into context, digs deeper into the characters and their actions. Why did Pilate agree to have Jesus crucified? Why did Caiaphas want him condemned to death? Why was there such excitement when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday?”

    The pubcaster adds that The Passion allows the audience to feel as if they were members of the crowds moving through the chaotic streets of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.

    Michael Offer, who shot The Passion in Morocco, says, “I wanted to project the experience of what it would have been like to have been living in that place at that moment in time.”

    The series stars Joseph Mawle as Jesus, James Nesbitt as Pilate and Ben Daniels as Caiaphas.

    Deasy says, “It is, I hope, a version that everyone, whatever their level of faith or scepticism, finds rewarding. By the end, I hope people feel they have been on a very deep journey with these characters, that they feel they have shared the most powerful week of their lives.”

    A special website bbc.co.uk/thepassion launches on 28 February to provide a lively and exciting multiplatform companion to the drama. Users can explore a wealth of extra material, ask questions and contribute their own opinions and programme reviews.

    Features include episode guides, video interviews with cast and crew, picture gallery and specially commissioned articles giving the background to the drama and the Passion itself.

  • Rolando Santos is CNN Intl senior VP, international relations

    Rolando Santos is CNN Intl senior VP, international relations

    MUMBAI: Rolando Santos is joining CNN International as senior VP, international relations. The announcement was made by CNN international MD Chris Cramer. In this role, Santos will play an integral part in the development of future CNN services around the world while working closely with CNN’s International affiliates and joint venture partnerships.

    Santos, currently executive vice president and general manager of Headline News, takes up his new role with CNN in mid-September. Cramer says, “Rolando has unrivaled experience in the creation of numerous CNN services, including CNN en Español in 1997, CNN + in Spain and CNN Turk in 1999,” Cramer said. “As we continue to build upon CNN’s international heritage and global influence, he is the perfect choice to work alongside our worldwide partners, affiliates and colleagues.”

    As a member of CNN International’s senior management group, Santos will work closely with Turner Broadcasting’s global business development teams identifying potential new platforms and editorial partnerships. He will also assume editorial liaison with some of CNN’s sister channels, CNN-IBN in India and CNN Turk in Turkey and will oversee CNN’s International Professional Program, which brings together journalists from around the world for hands-on editorial training in Atlanta

    He says, “I have enjoyed working in the international arena and helping launch so many successful CNN services around the world and, more recently, building Headline News into the dynamic news channel that it has become. This is the perfect opportunity to return and help shape CNN’s international growth and future.”

    Since 2002 Santos has served as executive VP and GM of Headline News, responsible for its development and overall operations. Prior to that he was president of CNN en Español, CNN’s 24-hour Spanish-language news network, where he oversaw all daily operations and editorial content of CNN en Español and CNN en Español Radio. He was also played a significant role in the development and launch of new international news networks such as CNN+ and CNN Turk.

    Additionally, he oversaw the Spanish-language newsgathering operations, including a fully bilingual staff in Atlanta, a worldwide network of Spanish-speaking correspondents and eight full-service bureaus in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Washington, D.C., Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, London and Mexico City.