MUMBAI: In felicitation of Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi that was partly shot in its locales winning four Oscars, the Puducherry Government has planned to honour Ang Lee and his team, according to their convenience, averred Puducherry Tourism Minister P Rajavelu.
Expressing his joy and jubilation over the film bagging Oscars at the 85th Academy Awards Sunday, the minister said that the film had brought to focus Puducherry (Pondicherry) abroad.
The film has met with good response in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and a few other countries, he said, "We hope that we would be able to attract a large number of foreign tourists and we would also develop the locations where the movie was filmed here into excellent tourist spots with the assistance from the Union Tourism Ministry," he added.
The locations where the film was shot include more than a century old botanical garden, the 12th century temple of Tirukameeswar at Villianoor near here and the 136-year-old Calve College Higher Secondary School.
Tourism Secretary W V R Moorthy, who was also present when the minister talked about the felicitation, said that a Life of Pi campaign would be held on a sustained basis in Puducherry and a hop-in tourist vehicle would also be pressed into service in the Union Territory through its Tourism Department.
Tag: Oscars
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Puducherry to felicitate Ang Lee and team of Life of Pi to put it on Tourism map
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Afghan kid heads for Oscars
MUMBAI: A 14-year old Afghan street kid Fawad Mohammadi is on his way to Hollywood to get the red-carpet treatment at the Oscars.
Fawad used to sell maps to passing foreigners on Kabul‘s famed Chicken Street to help feed his family when he met American director Sam French who cast him as one of the main characters in Buzkashi Boys, a film shot entirely in Afghanistan. It has been nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at this year‘s Academy Awards.
The film is about two youngsters growing up in Kabul who dream of becoming Buzkashi horseback riders in Afghanistan‘s dramatic national sport, which uses a headless goat in place of a ball in a wild version of polo. Both are forced to spend long hours in his father‘s dark workshop sharpening axe heads.
Fawad, whose ambition is to become a pilot, said he hoped to be able to visit the cockpit of the airplane during his flight to Los Angeles. He is the youngest of seven siblings. Their father died several years ago, and his five brothers also work. He started selling chewing gum on the streets and expanded his trade to selling maps and dictionaries to foreigners.
He learned English as he worked on Chicken Street, a popular destination for expats shopping for Afghan carpets, jewellery and craftwork.
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PVR to celebrate 85th Academy Awards from 15-21 Feb
MUMBAI: PVR, the leading entertainment company in India, will be celebrating the 85th Academy Awards by showcasing popularly celebrated movies at the Oscars at PVR multiplexes from 15-21 February in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad.
The multiplex brand, PVR intends to keep the movie lovers hooked with an interesting showcase of movies like Silver Linings Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, Life of PI, Les Miserables and The Impossible.
PVR JMD Sanjeev Bijli said, “We feel delighted to showcase the Oscar nominated movies known for its excellence in cinematic achievements at PVR cinemas. With the film fraternity looking up to the Academy Awards for its quality cinema and global outlook, it is a feeling of pride to celebrate the Oscars.
“Over the years, PVR has offered to its movie aficionados an interesting mix of movies, satiating the appetite of entertainment of different classes. We at PVR cinemas intend to bring quality entertainment to our audience so that it does not have to wait to catch its favorite stars, action and drama for long.”
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Theron, Tatum, Gordon-Levitt to make appearances at Oscars
MUMBAI: Hollywood‘s biggest night, The Oscars, will feature special appearances by Academy Award winner Charlize Theron, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Daniel Radcliffe at the upcoming Awards ceremony this month.
Telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron said, “We are quite excited to have Charlize, Chan, Joe and Dan join us on the show. We are happy to feature them as special guests in our production.”
This will be Gordon-Levitt, Radcliffe and Tatum‘s first time appearing on the Oscar show.
They join a stellar list of previously announced Oscar presenters including ‘The Avengers‘ cast members Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo; returning 2011 Oscar winners Jean Dujardin, Christopher Plummer, Octavia Spencer and Meryl Streep; co-stars Mark Wahlberg and Ted; and musical performers including Adele, Norah Jones and Barbra Streisand.
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Mark Wahlberg, Ted to present at Oscars
MUMBAI: Actor Mark Wahlberg and his co-star in the film ‘Ted‘ who was a teddy bear will be presenters on the Oscar show, telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced.
Zadan and Meron said, “We are happy to make it possible for Mark and Ted to make their debut appearance on the Oscar stage. And we won‘t deny that Ted used his pull with our host to get himself the booking.”
‘Ted’ is now the highest-grossing R-rated original comedy of all time. Ted said, “I‘m excited to present an Oscar with Mark Wahlberg. I‘m spending the next month learning to pronounce ‘Quvenzhané.‘”
Wahlberg has twice been nominated for Academy Awards, in 2006 for his supporting role in ‘The Departed‘ and in 2010 as a producer of the best picture nominee ‘The Fighter‘.
Wahlberg and Ted join a list of previously announced Oscar performers including Adele, Norah Jones and Barbra Streisand.
The Oscar Awards take place on 25 February 2013 and will air on Star Movies.
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Goafest 2013 to be ‘Just what you unexpected’
MUMBAI: Goafest 2013, the annual South Asian advertising festival, will be held on 5 and 6 April at the Zuri White Sands in Goa. The theme chosen for this year’s advertising festival is ‘Just What You Unexpected’.
The theme selection is based on the trend experienced last year. “In 2012, the trend was that consumer attention has become very fleeting. Since he uses multiple screens, there is also a phenomenon of over-exposure and thus creativity calls for doing the unexpected,” said Goafest Committee chairman Nakul Chopra.
Goafest was last year opened up for advertising fraternity from all countries in south Asia. This is for the sixth consecutive year the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and The Advertising Club are coming together to deliver Abby Awards, described as the Oscars of the Indian advertising to honour creative excellence.
Abby’s will continue to be open to all who want to participate and membership of AAAI or The Advertising Club is not required.
In 2012, over 225 organisations sent their entries. This year the entries are expected to cross 250 and have invited entries from the first week of February. The Goafest organising committee will be approaching advertising agencies from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for foreign entries.
This year too there will be a Grand Prix for all nine verticals including Film, Print, Radio, Out of Home, Ambient, Design, Interactive Digital, Direct and Integrated.
There will be a Grand Prix for Media as well. Media awards function will be held on 5 April, together with Digital, Design and Direct. The creative awards will given away on 6 April.
Chopra said Goafest 2013 will focus on strengthening the new initiatives that were launched in 2012. “Last year we opened Goafest to all nations in South Asia and we also brought strong client participation through the Marketing Wizards initiative. Our endeavour this year is to further expand and grow these initiatives, apart from of course celebrating creativity and excellence,” he said.
The Industry Conclave will be held on the day before Goafest on 4 April. According to the Goafest Committee, this year the conclave will focus only on speakers from client organisations to bring perspective to our industry.
“Goafest is the festival for all in South Asia who are involved in creating ideas. Be it other countries in this region, the marketing fraternity or other allied professionals who participate in creating ideas – we want them all to equally own and participate in Goafest. We are taking a virtual conference/road show to neighbouring South Asian countries to increase awareness for Goafest and invite active participation,” AAAI president Arvind Sharma said.
Goafest will continue to have strong participation from senior clients in the Knowledge seminars. “Clients are our equal partners in creating ideas – we naturally strive to have their equal participation in Goafest both as speakers and delegates – this year we aim to attract participation from over 75 client organisations and hopefully over 250 people,” Chopra said.
Shashi Sinha, president of The Advertising Club and chairman of the Abby Awards Governing Council, the joint body of AAAI and The Advertising Club, said the committee will take on board improvements from their past learnings and continue to follow the stringent, well accepted norms for the Abby’s in 2013.
A total of 3,167 delegates had participated in Goafest 2012.
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Oscars to honour James Bond this year
MUMBAI: Following the success of Skyfall, the latest film in the James Bond series, the Academy will honour James Bond this year. The 85th Academy Awards will also pay a tribute to the Bond movie franchise that is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Oscar producer Craig Zadan said, "We are very happy to include a special sequence on our show saluting the Bond films on their 50th birthday. Starting with Dr. No back in 1962, the 007 movies have become the longest-running motion picture franchise in history and a beloved global phenomenon."
Skyfall is expected to pick up a handful of nods when the Oscar nominations are announced this Thursday. Former Bond star Timothy Dalton feels Skyfall, the most successful Bond movie ever, is worthy of serious consideration in a number of categories.
In a recent interview, Dalton said that the latest blockbuster is "right at the forefront" of modern cinema. In the past, only two (films in the) spy series won Oscars, the 1964 release Goldfinger won the best sound effects trophy while the next Thunderball got the best special visual effects award.
"It is absolutely time for Bond to get proper attention at the Oscars. On almost every level, this Bond movie is right at the forefront of what cinema is capable of. It is an absolutely modern James Bond, a movie truly of its time. Daniel Craig is fantastic and it feels very real. I thought the film was fabulous," observed Dalton.
Skyfall has become the first Bond film to earn more than $1 billion at the global box office. -
Academy shortlists 10 films to fight in VFX category at Oscars
MUMBAI: The Academy has shortlisted ten films to compete for the Oscar in the visual effects category at the 85th Academy Awards.
The films are, The Amazing Spider-Man, Cloud Atlas, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, John Carter, Life of Pi, The Avengers, Prometheus, Skyfall and Snow White & the Huntsman.
Two films like Men in Black 3 and Battleship that were among the hopefuls, didn‘t make the cut. Neither did the final installment of the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn — Part 2.
Franchise films figured heavily in the selection. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first of three Hobbit films that will make up a prequel to Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy. All three LOTR films had earlier won Oscars for visual effects.
Sony Pictures Imageworks‘ work on the Spider-Man franchise has also previously been recognized by the Academy. Both Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 were nominated, with the second film taking home the Oscar.
Another sequel that has some history in the category is The Dark Knight Rises. The Dark Knight was nominated for a VFX Oscar in 2009. Double Negative returned as the lead VFX house for the series‘ finale.
Skyfall‘s inclusion is notable since 007 has made only two previous appearances in the VFX category, scoring one win, for 1965‘s Thunderball, and an additional nomination for 1979‘s Moonraker.
The convincing tiger that‘s featured in Life of Pi helped Ang Lee‘s movie secure a spot. Rhythm & Hues was the lead VFX house on Pi.
If any of the short-listed films also earns a best picture nomination when the Academy Awards nominations are announced on 10 January that could boost its chances in the VFX category.
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Paul Cox feels anyone can get Oscars by spending money
PANAJI: His love for India has not diminished despite his not having come here for some years. And his energy does not appear to have diminished even when he is in his seventies.
But there is one thing that Australian filmmaker Paul Cox is very troubled about. He is unable to understand the fascination that everyone including Indian filmmakers have with the Academy awards (Oscars). He says anyone with money can get these awards, and therefore has no respect for them.
Talking about Indian cinema at press meet at the ongoing International Film Festival of India, he said he did not feel India has had a bigger filmmaker than Satyajit Ray. Ray was fantastic, a splendid human being, Paul added.
And he was very clear that he prefers Bollywood to Hollywood. He wondered why Indians are always comparing Bollywood with Hollywood. He said Indian cinema should not try to find similarities with films from America.
"We should be ashamed most films are pathetic. I would rather read a book than see a bad film", says this award-winning Dutch born director who did not have any film here but has stopped over on his way to the International Film Festival of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram where he is in the Jury.
Referring to the abysmal content of some films, Paul deplored cinema‘s exploitation of sex and violence, “If incest occurs in society, should that be an excuse to show it in graphic detail? Must filmmakers pander to base desires? Everyone is making commercial films to please others."
"I love India, it is a home away from home for me and when I nearly died from cancer, I longed for India. Kindness matters above all else in life. But today, I feel some Indians have lost their capacity for kindness.”
Krzysztof Kies‘lowski, the Polish film director and screenwriter best known internationally for The Decalogue (1989), was the last great filmmaker who touched the true potential of cinema. "But today, we (filmmakers) have lost their humanity,” he added.
He prefaced his critique by a humorous anecdote of how a print of his film had been stolen from the projection box at a Delhi filmfest and the next day copies flooded the grey market.
His other great loves are the Italian composer Vivaldi, the 17th century Dutch painter Vermeer and his (Cox‘s) wife Cathy, whom he met while both were being treated for liver cancer in hospital where he even wrote a book. Needless to add, signature traits of Cox’s work are a deep humanism and an affinity with the arts, as evinced in Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent van Gogh and The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky.
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Theatres to cash in on Barfi being sent to Oscars
Mumbai: Exhibitors (single screens as well as multiplexes) have decided to increase the number of shows of Barfi after it was announced that the film is the country‘s official entry to the Academy awards next year.
Said Fun Republic Head of Operations Anand Vishal, “We are still receiving an overwhelming response for the film at the box office. Currently, I have seven shows of the film running and all are doing well. We shall take the final call on the new programming by today afternoon.”
Observed Cinemax Pvt Ltd, Head Marketing Girish Wankhede, “We have increased about two shows at all of Cinemax plexes with effect from Monday. This will not affect other films. We will adjust the extra Barfi! shows by changing the timings from today.”
“We have been showing Barfi! in only one show, and for the rest we are showing Heroine. But we will take a call today itself to increase the number of shows of the Anurag Kashyap-directed film.” said a Chitra Theatre (single screen) manager.
Barfi has been selected by the Film Federation of India to represent the country in the foreign films segment at the 85th Academy Awards.