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Tickets are available at meraticket.com |
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Opening Night Feature:
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Saawariya (World)
Hindi - English Subtitiles; India; 2007
Cast: Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Zohra Sehgal, Begum Para
Synopsis: Saawariya is based on White Nights which is a short story written by Fyodor Dostoevsky, originally published in 1848. It is the story of a shy dreamer, Raj (22 years old), who spent most of his time isolated in his apartment, creating riddles and finding answers to them, jabbering poetry or arguing with his foolish landlady Miss Disa, with whom he shared a love/hate relationship. Raj was loved by one and all, for he always brought happiness to the people around him. Destiny plans a magical tale for Raj over the next four nights of his life that shall change his entire being "Saawariya" is the story of a couple's chance encounter and the advance of their parallel obsessions over four successive nights. An impromptu romance is initiated in a remote town in the serene beauty of picturesque Simla, a quaint hill station in Northern India that was once the summer capital of India under the British Raj, known for its lakes, mist, heavenly snowfall, rains and the tall swaying pine trees. The bright, fun-filled winding streets of the mall come alive with singing clubs, rustic folklore, dancing, love ballads, flourishing colonies of artists and weavers, and chants from the monastery- all woven in perfect harmony into a magical dream. It is here that the dreamer finds the 'lost' self in himself.
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a highly acclaimed Indian film director. He is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India. Bhansali has adopted the middle name "Leela" as a tribute to his mother, Leela Bhansali. His debut film Khamoshi: The Musical was the touching narration of a daughters struggle to communicate with her deaf mute parents. Acclaimed by all the film garnered a bouquet of awards and Bhansali emerged as a director to watch. It proved to be a rewarding watch. His next film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam showcased another facet of the director enveloping the simple story of relationship, with visual splendour and an aura of celebration and festivity which bore a very individualistic stamp. He has just wrapped the much awaited project Saawariya, starring Salman Khan, Rani Mukerji and debutantes Ranbir Kapoor (son of actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh) and Sonam Kapoor (daughter of actor Anil Kapoor). |
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Feature #1
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street & Broadway Theatre # 2 - Thursday 6:00pm
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DOSAR (The Companion)
125 Mins, Bengali with English subtitles
Cast: Prosenjit Chatterjee, Konkona Sen Sharma
Synopsis: A car accident on the highway at 9 o’ clock in the morning..
A shattering start to what might have been an ordinary working
day. Woman, Kaberi, finds her life turned inside out by a phone
call from the police. Her husband, Kaushik, has been involved in the
accident and is in the hospital. His companion, a female colleague,
dead. On rushing to the hospital, she discovers something that shakes
all certainties about her marriage. For Kaushik and Kaberi, the accident
is the beginning of a whole new world of discoveries, of love, of
companionship, of lust… Filmed in black and white, the canvas lends
amazing character to the story. Rituparno’s brilliance in story telling,
Prosenjit’s persona and Konkana’s natural flair – they all come together
to create magic on screen that has never been seen before.
Director: Rituparno Ghosh
Rituparno Ghosh was born in Kolkata to a family of artists. He graduated with a Master’s degree in economics from Jadavpur University and has served as editor of the Bengali film magazine Anandalok. His films have screened at festivals around the world, winning numerous accolades. Since making his feature debut in 1991 with Diamond Ring, he has directed fourteen feature films in total, ten of which he also wrote. Among them are Crossfire (97), The First Monsoon Day (01), Chokher Bali, A Passion Play (03), Raincoat (04), Dosar (06) and The Last Lear (07). |
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Short Docs # 1
Screening Time: Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 1- Thursday 6:00PM
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Love Story (NYC)
13 Mins; English; United Kingdom; 2007
Cast: Anthony Green, Shelley Conn, Alan McKenna, Echo Phillips and Colin Salmon
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Rhode Island International Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, London
Synopsis: What would you do for the woman you love? A young girl asks her father ‘Why do you love Mummy?’ As the man considers his daughter's question, memories of how he came to meet his wife reveal something unexpected about the story of their relationship.
Director: Amit Gupta
Amit Gupta read history at university before training as a director at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. He has written and directed a number plays and is a former winner of the Royal Court Young Writers' Competition. |
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Kali Ma
14 Mins; Hindi, English; USA; 2006
Cast: Kamini Khanna, Brendan Bradley, Manish Dayal
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Winner, Audience Award, 2007 NewFest; Winner, Audience Award, 2007 Philadelphia International LGBT Film Festival; Winner, Grand Jury Prize, 2007 Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival Nominee, Best Short Film, 2007 Iris Prize; Palm Springs International Festival of Shorts; Frameline 31; Outfest; Atlantic Film Festival; Sidewalk Moving Picture Film Festival
Synopsis: When a suburban mother finds out her son is the victim of a vicious bully, she delivers her own brand of vigilante justice.
Director: Soman Chainani Soman Chainani is a graduate of the MFA program at Columbia University and the winner of the FMI Fellowship given for excellence in writing and directing. His short films have played over 150 international film festivals and won over 20 jury and audience awards. He is also the winner of the CINE Golden Eagle Prize, an award for directing which launched the careers of Robert Altman, Steven Spielberg, and Ron Howard amongst others. His first feature, the Indian-themed LOVE MARRIAGE, will begin shooting in London,UK in Summer 2008. |
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The Trident (NYC)
16 Mins; English; USA; 2007
Cast: Aalok Mehta, David Carradine, Anup Sugunan, Anisha Nagarajan, Sandra Teles
Synopsis: To raise the ransom needed to free his kidnapped wife, Arjun (Aalok Mehta) takes their family jewelry to a Pawnshop. With the help of an ancient Indian Trident and a healthy dose of Hindu spirituality, the mysterious and wise Shopkeeper helps Arjun discover his inner warrior.
Director: Anurag Mehta
Anurag Mehta is best known for writing and directing AMERICAN CHAI – about an Indian-American college boy who pursues his rock & roll dreams. AMERICAN CHAI won the coveted AUDIENCE AWARD at the SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL in Utah and the GEN ART FILM FESTIVAL in NYC. |
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Guroor (World)
43 Mins; Hindi - Yes; India/USA; 2007
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: SVA's Inhouse Dusty Film Festival/Best Director
Cast: Karuna Parikh, Nayantara parikh, Sabaazad, Abhijeet Dutta, Karam Puri
Synopsis: Once upon a time in a village in India, there was a house; within its stonewalls were rooms with locked doors and within those rooms were fine silks over heavy mirrors.When those silks were lifted,beneath the dust and grime, two girls found their solace and one, her grief. When Ketki, the eldest of Baoji's three daughters is shunned by her father, who refuses to love her despite her efforts, she vows to take revenge. The one to blame, she believes is her youngest sister Devaki.Devaki who is their father's favourite, who is intelligent and devout is on the cusp of adolescence and threatens to become more beautiful than any of the sisters.In order to access the private world Devaki lives in, Ketki employs the assistance of the unsuspecting middle sister Pratigya. Using Pratigya's weakest points - her lack of confidence and later her love for Ketki's own ex-lover Ashfaak. The eldest sister manages to weave a web of lies and black magic within which the three sisters become increasingly entangled. This tale is primarily one of narcissism. Though it deals with family ties, the silence, the ego and the envy that often sever them, it remains at its core a film about vanity. Is it truly a sin? Is it the driving force for confidence and subsequent happiness? Does love feed vanity? Or does it demolish it?
Director : Ishaan Nair
Ishaan Nair discovered cinema in a sack of old videos sent to him by an uncle. From old Hollywood to communist china he experienced a world of film that had been entirely unknown. The intoxication of a lonely summer that was filled by the rewinding of films with translations running at the bottom has stuck with him since. After having completed four years of film school, he would like to come back to his home turf and tell stories contrary to the majority of films being churned out of Indian cinema today. In the year 2000 being caste as Varun Verma, in Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding further fueled this desire to pursue film. Life In front of the lens was not half as enticing as one behind it. After graduating high school he pursued film in New York at the School of Visual Arts, where he double majored in cinematography and direction. In 2007 his thesis film Guroor (Pride and vanity) Picked up the outstanding achievement in directing award at the schools in house 18th annual Dusty Film Festival. The film will be doing the festival circuit from September 2007 onward. Concentrating on writing he hopes to get his first feature off the ground within the next year and will ardently pursue his desire to make cinema. |
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Losing Ahmad
68 Mins; Arabic –English Subtitles; Kuwait;
Synopsis: Losing Ahmad, captures the story of Ahmad Sharif, a seven year-old from Baghdad, who lost his sight and right arm after an American bomb exploded on his way home from school one day. A group of four Americans traveled to the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border to pick up Ahmad and escort him to New York for medical care in the hope that he would one day be able to see again. On the way to the US, however, everything changed.
Director: Abdullah Boushahri
Abdullah is a member in various artistic organizations and institutions including:
The Kuwaiti Theater, Kuwait. South Florida Independent Film Group, Florida. Orlando Visual Artists League, Florida. Kuwait Fine Arts Association. The Kuwaiti Cinema Club, and The World Artist Association - UNESCO. During his education period in Florida, Boushahri has produced a number of short independent films including:
Boiling Over, short narrative film, Beyond Dreams Productions 2002, Producer, Director. AKTHAR, documentary film, Beyond Dreams Productions 2003, Producer, Director, Editor. Kuwaiti Champion, documentary film, Beyond Dreams Productions 2004 Writer, Producer, Director. His film “Our Catastrophe Is Still Alive” was selected for Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and got a theatrical screening at the Regal Cinemas in Florida. |
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Feature # 3
Screening Time: Newport Mall Theatre Thursday Nov. 8th 6:00PM
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Via Darjeeling (USA)
104 Mins; Hindi – English Subtitles; India; 2007
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: 9th Osian's Cinefan
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Sonali Kulkarni, Parvin Dabas, Vinay Pathak, Rajat Kapoor, Simone Singh, Sandhya Mridul and Prroshant Narayannan.
Synopsis: A labyrinth of relationships. A tributary of tales. The 'oral tradition' rediscovered in a trip via Darjeeling. A couple on their honeymoon is about to return to the city. On the last day, one of them dissapears. The mystery returns to Calcutta one night...via Darjeeling. Faces are unmasked. New discoveries made.
Director:Arindam Nandy
A student of Comparative Literature, Arindam has spent 20 years in advertising as a Creative person. He now heads the Creative department of Response, in Calcutta. An avid filmwatcher and writer, Arindam has made an hourlong documentary and some television commercials before his debut feature film. |
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Hearts Suspended (World)
27 Mins; English; USA; 2007
Synopsis: Hearts Suspended traces the filmmaker’s personal journey as she reveals how educated South Asian immigrant women struggle with depression, loss of self-identity, strained marital relations and other issues in the US on H4 (dependent spouse) visas, which deny them work-authorization. Through turmoil emerge spiritual strength, resolve and hope for change.
Director: Meghna Damani
Meghna grew up in Mumbai. She has a Masters in Marketing and has been a journalist, model and advertising executive at JWT. Unauthorized to work in the US since 2002, her struggles inspired her first film. A Documentary Film Graduate of the New School in Manhattan, she lives in Jersey City. |
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Unfinished
18 Mins; English; USA
Cast: Reena Dutt (Raju), Haskell Vaughn Anderson III (Lee)
Synopsis: Upon returning home with her mother's ashes, Raju Dhillon, a young Indian American woman faces unanswered questions about her past and her identity. A request in her mother's will to return her ashes to her native homeland -- India, sets off a chain of events which presents Raju with a choice. To remain in her isolated world, or, open her heart to a father she never knew and take a journey that could transform them both forever.
Directors: Arun Vir
Arun Vir is an award-winning writer/director/producer whose experience reaches both sides of the Atlantic. A recipient of the Directing Workshop for Women Award; a prestigious program for nascent women directors sponsored by the American Film Institute and The Sony Corporation, Arun's first film "The Last Weekend" starring Suzzanne Douglas, won numerous awards including BEST SHORT at the International Pan African Film Festival founded by actor/activist Danny Glover, in Los Angeles. She is currently raising funds to produce Unfinished as a feature, including finishing funds for another feature titled "SUBURBAN TURBAN" a coming of age urban drama about a young Indian man's struggle with his identity in post 9/11 NYC. Some of Vir's credits include feature film, "The Bulls' Night Out, shorts such as "BB Gun" dir, Garrett Williams, and "Finding Kate" dir, Katherine Brooks, - a short film series on virginity. |
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Manasarovar
90 Mins; English; India; 2004
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Winner of the Aravindan Puraskaram for debut director in
India and the Gollapudi Srinivas National Award for best debut director in India; Official selection to the London Film Festival; Opening film of Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India, Goa; Winner of Best Picture Prize at IFFM (International Film Festival of Mumbai/MAMI 2005) and Special Jury Prize for Atul Kulkarni; Official Selection - Focus on Asia, FUKUOKA International Film Festival, Fukuoka, Japan, September 2005 and In Competition for Asian New Talent Prize at Shanghai International Film Festival; Showcased at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC as "one of the six films from the state of Kerala in the last 50 years" at the 'celebration of Kerala cinema' event.
Cast: Atul Kulkarni, Neha Dubey, Zafar Karachiwala
Synopsis: Manasarovar is about two brothers who meet the same woman a few years apart and the changes that happen to them. Ravi Roy (National Award winner Atul Kulkarni) meets Malathy Chandran (Neha Dubey) in a city in India on a short visit. A few years later Ravi's brother, George (Zafar Karachiwala) happens to meet Malathy. She learns from him that Ravi had disappeared and her past comes back through the letters they wrote to each other. Shot in Pune, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, Manasarovar takes the viewers across the rugged landscapes of the Deccan Plateau, greenery of Kerala and the serenity of Dharamsala.
Director: Anup Kurian
Manasarovar is the first feature film of Anup Kurian. Infact its the first feature film for everyone except the actors.
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FLIGHT 208 (US)
5 Mins; English; India; 2006
Festival Played/ Awards Won: Best Short Film- Nautanki.tv IDPA Online Awards, 2007
Synopsis: An experiment in style & thought, it travels in space and time, spanning across more than two hundred persons, cutting across cultures and nations, in just about 5 minutes. A fast paced audiovisual experience that reflects upon the pace of life and the death of reasoning around us. A dream, a thought, a cutting monologue (or a multi-logue) ...whatever it is, it takes one through a most unusual flight. This short film is an experiment in style & thought.It travels in space and time, spanning across more than two hundred persons, cutting across cultures and nations, in just about 5 minutes. A fast paced audiovisual experience that reflects upon the pace of life and the death of reasoning around us. A dream, a thought, a cutting monologue (or a multi-logue) ...whatever it is, it takes one through a most unusual flight.The script of this film was written in South America. It was not a planned, premeditated effort but rather a vent to the anger that has been brewing within me for years as i experienced more and more inequality throughout the world.
Director: Parvez Imam
Parvez has more than 50 films and a background in Psychiatry to his credit. He constantly experiments with form and style, taking up different genres from 30 second ads to fiction and from music videos to documentaries or an experimental mix of styles. His film 'BETWEEN THE LINES', a 11minute documentary on Bangladeshi immigrants in India was screened and nominated at various festivals. It won the Best Film Award at the NDVF film festival in Delhi besides reaching the nominations at the MITIL awards 2002 in Switzerland. It was also screened at Film South Asia-2001 in Nepal and the People's Film Festival, Bangalore in India beside some other festivals. |
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The Ant and The Monkey (NYC)
20 Mins; Hindi,English - English Subtitles; U S A; 2007
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Nominated for the Princess Grace awards, Recipient of the Emerging Arts Fellowship, Work-in-progress screening, San Francisco South Asian International Film Festival, Invited to Giffoni Film Festival, Mendocino Film Festival
Cast: Tushar Raghuram,Ishana Raghuram,Shreelata Suresh,Reid Gunion
Synopsis: Tired of her brother Pranav's macho swagger, little Tamara dares him to climb a rickety old fence. When he comes crashing down the fence; so does her own world, for what seems like an eternity. The Ant and The Monkey is about how the children, cope with the accident.
Director: Alka Raghuram
Alka Raghuram's short films Tired of Dancing and Panchali have screened at festivals in the US and abroad. Panchali received the John Gutman award, and was a regional finalist in the Student Academy Awards (2004). The Ant and The Monkey is her Graduate thesis film from San Francisco State University. |
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Short/ Docs. #2
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street & Broadway Theatre # 1 - Thursday 8:30 Pm.
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Speaking Tree (World)
70 Mins; Gujarati, Kutchi – English Subtitles; India/France; 2007
Cast: Deva Raja Rabari, Sonibai Deva Rabari, Sura Raja Rabari, Sonibai
Synopsis: An unusual destiny of man named Deva who lost his mind while grazing camels in the desert of northwestern India. He was tied to the only tree in his village for years. Deva's wife left him, meanwhile his mother looked after him. Till one day, a massive earthquake erased the region. The disaster killed thousands and made millions homeless but Deva found his mind, his sanity, and his life -again. Natasha De Betak passionately followed Deva and his story over five years of filming. Today Deva stands at the crossroad -which world to choose that of sane people or that of insane.
Director: Natasha de Betak
Natasha de Betak won “Best Short Fiction Award” at Tempere International Film Festival for KAAL; which was chosen by Sundance among ten best short films of the year. Her documentary Vaudeville du Diable received critical acclaim worldwide. Natasha is also designed costumes for Pan Nalin’s Samsara and Valley of Flowers. |
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Chabi Wali Pocket Watch (US)
28 Mins; Hindi/ Urdu – English Subtitles; India; 2006
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Cannes Film Festival, Sydney international Film Festival, IFFI, Goa, PIFF, Best Film Feature, Ibda’a Awards, Dubai, Special Kodak Award to the director, Mediaschool, Film school competition, Lodz, Poland
Cast: Lalit Mohan Tiwari, Jameel Khan, Gayatri Kacharu
Synopsis: Urdu, the Hindustani language whose words resonate music, is fast dying. So is Babba, an old Urdu poet who is dying an unknown death. Having shut his eyes to the callous world that weighs art with money, he has woven a charming little world of his own. Babba's state of nonchalant bliss inadvertently drives his daughter Minni into a world of bitter silences. And, across the road lives Pappan, a small-time debt-ridden publisher who is eyeing Babba's treasured verses and his beautiful daughter. A self-indulgent, romantic old man, a stoic but essentially soft-hearted daughter and an opportunist but naive publisher. Amidst all this, Babba, Minni and Pappan struggle to keep their culture alive, their ethos alive, their language alive, their love alive...in vain...
Director: Vibhu Puri
Born and brought up in Old Delhi, Vibhu Puri grew up on a staple diet of old Hindi classics and mystical Sufi music. A degree in management, round table briefs in advertising, lazy lessons at Jamia, before he formally studied cinema at the FTII. Having passed out of the institute almost a year back and currently working on a feature film in Bombay, he misses the brisk evening walk to the film archives and sleepless nights under the wisdom tree. A tribute to the poet in his mother and the labyrinth lanes of Old Delhi, Chabiwali Pocket Watch, his diploma film has traveled to various festivals, was India’s official entry to the Student Oscars, 2006 and has won him the Jury’s Special Mention at the National Film Awards. |
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27,000 Days
11 Mins; Hindi/ English; U S A; 2007
FestivalsPlayed/ Awards Won: WINNER 1st Place, Experimental Shorts: South-by-Southwest, USA FilmFestival, NextFrame Film & Video Festival, First Look Film Festival
Cast: Subash Kundanmal,Naila Azad,Anup Sugunan,Jamen Nanthakumar,Michelle Haner,Kavi Raz
Alone and on theverge of death, an elderly man writes a final letter to his estranged son. As he puts words to paper, the man's advancing illnessforces his mind to confront intense and harrowing moments from his fleetinglife. Ultimately, the man's search for respite collides with the existential and the spiritual, as he awakens to his final epiphany.
Director: Naveen Singh
Naveen Singh has made numerous short film and videos. He received hisMaster's degree from the University of Southern California in FilmDirecting. While at USC, he was awarded the Broccoli Scholarship for academic achievement. In addition to his work as a writer/director, he has edited several projects which have screened at venues as diverse as the DGA, the Television Academy, and Country Music Television. He is also an Honoree of Film Independent's Project Involve, a workshop for emerging filmmakers. |
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Antaral (NYC)
18 Mins; Hindi- English Subtitles; India, 2005
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: International Bunker Film Festival, Italy 2007 Tongues on Fire - Asian Woman Film Festival, London 2007, Let It BE! A Festival of Independent Films, Bombay 2007, San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival 2007, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2007, European Media Art Festival, Osnabruck 2006 Images Festival, Toronto 2006 Bangkok International Film Festival 2006
Cast: Ashwini Deo, Aditi Deo, Kuheli Das
Synopsis: Three women reminisce about their times at school and rekindle and affirm old friendships. They share a strange secret about each other that is never made known to us. The film is a cinematic interpreation of Samuel Beckett's 1967 dramaticule, "Come and Go"
Three women reminisce about their times at school and rekindle and affirm old friendships. They share a strange secret about each other that is never made known to us. The film is a cinematic interpreation of Samuel Beckett's 1967 dramaticule, "Come and Go"
Director: Ashish Avikunthak
Ashish Avikunthak is an award winning experimental filmmaker who has been making films in India from the mid nineties.In 2006 he had a retrospective of his work at Les Inattendus, Lyon and recently his work has been exhibited at the Tate Modern, London, Centre George Pompidou, Paris and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley. He is has a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University and is now teaching in Yale University. |
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The Son Also Rises
9 Mins; English Subtitles,2007
Synopsis: The Son Also Rises' is director Deepak Chetty's short film meditation on the conflict between nature and industry in the second and third world. Shot on location in Kerala, India, the film follows the thoughts of an elderly man who stands on the edge of the ocean, looking out across the horizon towards an uncertain future. The film is a visual poem of an evolving nation, a nation whose roots are rife with a symbiotic connection to the Earth, yet at the same time finds itself in the midst of an industrial and technological revolution brought on by an exploding middle class. It is a film that muses over the concerns of a dwindling generation that has left it's mark and passed on the torch for those who follow. The question is where will they go?
Director: Deepak Chetty
Deepak Chetty was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was there he realized at a young age his passion for filmmaking after being entranced by Spielberg's dinosaurs in 1993. After graduating in 2003 from Holland Hall Private School he moved to Brooklyn to attend Pratt Institute where he received his BFA in Film and Video production in 2007. During his time at Pratt he received the prestigious Steve and Linda Horn Scholarship for Media Arts, bestowed upon a single student whom the faculty deems worthy of recognition for their work. Currently he works freelance as a videographer and editor, but has plans to return to India soon to shoot his first feature length film. |
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Make UPS
Director: Jehangir Jani
9 Min, English, 2005
Synopsis:
This short film is about people living an alternate lifestyle in the city of Mumbai. The three characters are in a way rejects of society in terms of their desires. They are involved in search of their utopias even though they lead mundane lives. The three protagonists are a gay typist from a middle class family, a prostitute of an ordinary level and an ageing actress who is afflicted by paranoia and has no one to turn to.
Director: Jehangir Jani is a painter/sculptor for the last 17 years, living in Mumbai, India. 'Make Ups' is his first directorial film in 35mm. His website is www.jehangirjani.com |
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Missed Call (NYC)
105 Mins; English, Hindi – Yes; India; 2005
Cast: Ankur Vikal, Heeba Shah, Ram Kapoor, Tinu Anand
Synopsis: Aspiring filmmaker Gaurav Sengupta lives his life through the viewfinder of his camcorder. He struggles to juggle social and familial demands with his passion for filmmaking. When he finds love in Gayatri, and the camera begins to threaten his future with her, he must decide whether to let go or to continue telling his story.
Directors: Mridul Toolsidas and Vinay Subramanian
Mridul Toolsidass: Born and brought up and educated in Kolkatta.After graduation , with three papers left to clear Chartered Accountancy, he moved to Delhi to do MBA in finance. Post classes, he worked with a music director friend on jingles and at night he’d write film sequences, his longest running hobby. Through his writing, he realised soon, that his quest lay in rearranging reality and dealing with it. So he rearranged his own and turned to Bombay in 2002 to deal with it. For a year he did odd jobs in as many capacities for films, documentaries, T.V., Ads, and a theatre group. Missed Call is his first film as a writer- director.
Vinay Subramanian: After graduating in bachelors of commerce from Bombay University, he attended a 10-month diploma programme at Xaviers Institute of Communications. While in the course he got an opportunity to assist one of the course instructor Veena Bakshi on her documentary venture and later on got absorbrd into her production house(Searchlight Productions), which also produced ads. Failing attempts to get into a film school he moved on to work briefly with ad and documentary filmakerAshim Ahluwalia(Film Republic) |
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London Bridge is Falling Down (World)
28 Mins; English; India; 2007
Cast: Tinti, Aishee
Synopsis: If you fall with a thud you become a thudani. This punchline is the first among the many thoughts both ridiculous and sublime that our hero has as he prepares to hit the ground during a long fall.
I'm at a bar. I hear about this guy who went to a party at a high rise. He spots this girl, goes up to her, tries to get comfortable beside her. Falls. And dies. I fictionally reconstruct his life which flashes past his eyes as he takes a fall
Director: Jagannathan Krishnan
I worked as a sales man, clerk, forex dealer and equities analyst before I moved to non fiction television where I did news, game shows and documentaries with gaps in between. All the work was either writing or directing. I then moved to Calcutta where I've done four and half years at film school. Been out now for the last few months
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Feature # 5
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Th # 2- Friday Nov. 9th 6:00PM
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Valley of Flowers (NYC)
155 Mins; Hindi - English Subtitles; USA; 2006
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Jury Award for Best Feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival
Cast: Milind Soman, Mylene Jampanoi, Naseeruddin Shah
Synopsis: A greatest Asian love story, an unforgettable tale about passion, death and reincarnation. A mesmerizing Himalayan epic that spans two centuries, from the Silk Route of the early 19th century to the bustling metropolis of modern-day Tokyo. In the Himalayas, intrepid JALAN and his gang earn their living by stealing. All is routine until the arrival of the mystifying USHNA, she adheres to Jalan. Sensing the unsettlement of the gang, Ushna offers to help them in their endeavours. She leads the gang to tremendous exploits, gaining their respect, admiration of Jalan, who falls passionately in love with Ushna. No longer heeding of the world around them, they venture too far in their exploits; like stealing energy, luck and the powers of levitation… But life always reserves surprises…
Director: Pan Nalin
Pan Nalin, came into limelight with his debut feature film SAMSARA. A huge commercial and critical success worldwide and won many international awards. His documentary AYURVEDA: ART OF BEING has celebrated a year long theatrical run in Spain and France. Nalin's latest feature VALLEY OF FLOWERS, is currently being released worldwide.
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Short /Docs # 3
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 1- Friday 6:00PM
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Still in Transit
51 Mins; Spanish,Portuguese,English; India/U S A; 2006
Cast: Abhi Tambe, Steve Clack
Synopsis: 'Still in Transit' is a documentary about travel, transition, cross-cultural friendship, and musical harmony. The two main characters, Abhi (an Indian) and Steve (an American), are friends who are in a period of transition in their lives. Both musicians and travelers at heart, they embark on a songwriting world tour, which takes them from the US, through Latin America, and on to Europe, and India. As they write and record songs describing their inner and outer worlds, local musicians in each country visited add improvised layers... a process which gives their work, and their lives, new direction and wholeness.
Directors: Steve Clack
Steve Clack is a musician-songwriter turned documentary filmmaker. His style of storytelling is both deep and playful, using personal reflection and ample humor to tell the tough tales of life with a smile. |
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Writings on the Wall (World)
24 Mins; Hindi, Tamil, English – English Subtitles; Canada/ India; 2007
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Silver Remi Award - 2007 Worldfest Houston, 2007 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
Synopsis: A journey beyond the surface of vibrant images that cover India's walls to the intimate aspirations of three young men surviving in the countries biggest cities
Director: Angad Bhalla
Drawn to film for the mediums ability to communicate complex ideas on an emotional level Angad Bhalla tries to chose projects that highlight marginalized voices. He has produced videos for groups including Human Rights Watch and is currently developing a feature documentary on a political prisoner who remains in solitary confinement after 35 years building his dream house. |
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Salim Baba
15 Mins; Bengali – English Subtitles; USA; 2007
Festivals Played/Award Won: Telluride Film Festival,
Palm Springs Film Festival - Award 2nd Place Best Short Documentary, Sidewalk Film Festival - Award Best Short Documentary, Tribeca Film Festival, IDFA, Festival De Nouveau Cinema Montreal, IDA Docuweek
Synopsis: Salim Muhammad is a 55 year old man who lives in North Kolkata with his wife and five children. Since the age of ten, he has made a living screening discarded film scraps for the kids in his surrounding neighborhoods using a hand cranked projector that he inherited from his father. A pragmatic businessman as well as a cinephile, Salim runs his projector with his sons in the hope that they will carry on his legacy of showing films to the local children.
Director: Timothy Sternberg
Tim Sternberg started working in the editing rooms of Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope Studios in San Francisco while still in high school. After moving to New York he's worked in positions as diverse as sound effects recordist on Nora Ephron's "Sleepless in Seattle" and Robert Benton's "The Human Stain", re-editing the 1992 Acacemy Award winning "Mediterraneo" for US release and acting as script consultant for the IFP and American Zoetrope. Most recently he has worked as music editor on Milos Forman's "Goya's Ghosts" and the Academy Award winning documentary "The Taint of Yingzhou District" directed by Ruby Yang. |
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Jatra
Director: Junaid Memon
6 min USA (2007)
Language Hindi / Marathi (Subtitles In English)
Year of Production - 2007
Synopsis This is an informative documentary based on a cultural event called 'Jatra' which takes place in various villages in the state of Maharashtra in India. The event includes a section where people still see films through touring cinemas. It is an amazing experience to see the way people enjoy cinema. The director has captured some good moments from the life of the operator of touring talkies - their own daily routines & the threat from piracy which is reaching even remote places where they don't even have proper cinema theaters.
Director: Junaid Memon started his career in the film industry in 1995, as a production co-coordinator. He then started his own production company, Nomad Films, in 2000. In the span of 7 years, Nomad Films has become a respected advertising production company in India. 'The Film' was Junaid Memon's debut film - more details on this are available on www.cholchitro.com. Junaid is currently working on two scripts, 'Karanchi Express' and 'The Unbroken Record', expected to go on the floor in mid-2008.
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Feature # 7
Screening Time: Newport Mall Theatre Friday November 9th 6:00PM
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Manasarovar
90 Mins; English; India; 2004
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Winner of the Aravindan Puraskaram for debut director in India and the Gollapudi Srinivas National Award for best debut director in India; Official selection to the London Film Festival; Opening film of Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India, Goa; Winner of Best Picture Prize at IFFM (International Film Festival of Mumbai/MAMI 2005) and Special Jury Prize for Atul Kulkarni; Official Selection - Focus on Asia, FUKUOKA International Film Festival, Fukuoka, Japan, September 2005 and In Competition for Asian New Talent Prize at Shanghai International Film Festival; Showcased at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC as "one of the six films from the state of Kerala in the last 50 years" at the 'celebration of Kerala cinema' event.
Cast: Atul Kulkarni, Neha Dubey, Zafar Karachiwala
Synopsis: Manasarovar is about two brothers who meet the same woman a few years apart and the changes that happen to them. Ravi Roy (National Award winner Atul Kulkarni) meets Malathy Chandran (Neha Dubey) in a city in India on a short visit. A few years later Ravi's brother, George (Zafar Karachiwala) happens to meet Malathy. She learns from him that Ravi had disappeared and her past comes back through the letters they wrote to each other. Shot in Pune, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, Manasarovar takes the viewers across the rugged landscapes of the Deccan Plateau, greenery of Kerala and the serenity of Dharamsala.
Anup Kurian
Manasarovar is the first feature film of Anup Kurian. Infact its the first feature film for everyone except the actors. |
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FLIGHT 208 (US)
5 Mins; English; India; 2006
Festival Played/ Awards Won: Best Short Film- Nautanki.tv IDPA Online Awards, 2007
Synopsis: An experiment in style & thought, it travels in space and time, spanning across more than two hundred persons, cutting across cultures and nations, in just about 5 minutes. A fast paced audiovisual experience that reflects upon the pace of life and the death of reasoning around us. A dream, a thought, a cutting monologue (or a multi-logue) ...whatever it is, it takes one through a most unusual flight.
This short film is an experiment in style & thought.It travels in space and time, spanning across more than two hundred persons, cutting across cultures and nations, in just about 5 minutes. A fast paced audiovisual experience that reflects upon the pace of life and the death of reasoning around us. A dream, a thought, a cutting monologue (or a multi-logue) ...whatever it is, it takes one through a most unusual flight.The script of this film was written in South America. It was not a planned, premeditated effort but rather a vent to the anger that has been brewing within me for years as i experienced more and more inequality throughout the world.
Director: Parvez Imam
Parvez has more than 50 films and a background in Psychiatry to his credit. He constantly experiments with form and style, taking up different genres from 30 second ads to fiction and from music videos to documentaries or an experimental mix of styles. His film 'BETWEEN THE LINES', a 11minute documentary on Bangladeshi immigrants in India was screened and nominated at various festivals. It won the Best Film Award at the NDVF film festival in Delhi besides reaching the nominations at the MITIL awards 2002 in Switzerland. It was also screened at Film South Asia-2001 in Nepal and the People's Film Festival, Bangalore in India beside some other festivals.
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The Ant and The Monkey (NYC)
20 Mins; Hindi,English - English Subtitles; U S A; 2007
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Nominated for the Princess Grace awards, Recipient of the Emerging Arts Fellowship, Work-in-progress screening, San Francisco South Asian International Film Festival, Invited to Giffoni Film Festival, Mendocino Film Festival
Cast: Tushar Raghuram,Ishana Raghuram,Shreelata Suresh,Reid Gunion
Synopsis: Tired of her brother Pranav's macho swagger, little Tamara dares him to climb a rickety old fence. When he comes crashing down the fence; so does her own world, for what seems like an eternity. The Ant and The Monkey is about how the children, cope with the accident.
Director: Alka Raghuram
Alka Raghuram's short films Tired of Dancing and Panchali have screened at festivals in the US and abroad. Panchali received the John Gutman award, and was a regional finalist in the Student Academy Awards (2004). The Ant and The Monkey is her Graduate thesis film from San Francisco State University. |
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Feature # 6
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 2- Friday 8:30Pm
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Frozen (USA)
110 Mins; Hindi/Ladakhi – English Subtitles; 2007
Cast: Danny Denzongpa, Gauri, Angchuk, Yashpal Sharma, Raj Zutshi, Aamir Bashir Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival, New Delhi, 2007; Toronto International Film Festival, 2007; Special Jury Award for Best Film at Osian’s.
Synopsis: This is a touching and somber journey of Lasya, who lives with her father Karma and younger brother Chomo in a remote village in the Himalayas. Pristine snow capped mountains surround their tiny hamlet and barren harsh land stretches for miles into nowhere. One day the army moves in, settles a hundred yards across their doorstep. The last bit of comfort the family draws from their familiar surroundings changes into a harsh ceaseless irreversible conflict. The film depicts the life of this family whose dream like existence is interrupted by inevitable odds, one after the other.
Director: Shivajee Chandrabhushan
Shivajee Chandrabhushan has a bachelor degree in Sociology. He began his career producing music videos for Indian TV. But it was his interest in photography and travelling coupled with a love for film making which culminated into a journey to Ladakh. With a firm belief that any project undertaken should be made with love and dedication, Shivajee began the grueling task of producing and directing Frozen- his first feature length film. He is 35 years old and lives in Mumbai. |
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Inside the Kalari (US)
20 Mins; English; India; 2007
Festivals Played / Awards Won: Pune International Film Festival, India, Moves07: A Dance and Movement Film Festival, Manchester, UK, Parnu International Documentary Festival, Estonia, International Festival of Tourist, Sport and Ecology Films, Belgrade, Serbia, Film South Asia, Kathman
Synopsis: Inside the Kalari is a lyrical and atmospheric portrayal of kalarippayattu, a martial art indigenous to the southern Indian state of Kerala.
Kalari: a sacred pit. Payattu: exercise. Kalarippayattu is a martial art indigenous to the southern Indian state of Kerala. Originating as a form of combat in medieval south India, its followers claim that it is 'the mother of all martial arts'. Yet few people outside of Kerala have seen or even heard of this practice. Inside the Kalari is a lyrical and atmospheric portrayal of kalarippayattu filmed in a traditional kalari located in
Thiruvananthaparum. Set against Keralite music and beats, it focuses on the aestheticised movements of the practitioner's bodies as they progress through the various levels of training and practice, to capture the aura and essence of kalarippayattu through the day-to-day-ness of its existence.
Director:Ian McDonaldInside the Kalari is Ian McDonald's first film. As a sport-sociologist at the University of Brighton (UK), Ian has been filming physical practices in India for a better understanding of body cultures. Inside the Kalari is a culmination of his quest to distil the essence and the aura of kalarippayattu |
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Aris & the Art of Parkour Bhangra-Fu ()
12 Mins; USA; 2007
Festivals Played / Awards Won: 2007 Action on Film International Film Festival; 30th Annual Asian American International Film Festival; New York Hip Hop Festival – Best Cinematography;
5th Annual Bronx Independent Film Festival
Cast: Zack Roberts, Damon Honeycutt,Victor Paguia
Synopsis: Aris and the Art of Parkour Bhangra-Fu tells the story of Aris, who one day, stumbles upon a thief in his apartment. Aris anxiously runs after the thief, only to be lured to competitive territory, where the thief's counterpart, Maimou of the Monkey style, is patiently waiting. Unrelentingly, Aris, also known as the God of War, battles the two foes that put his name to the test.
Director: Chrysovalantis Stamelos
Greatly influenced by the films of Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Tony Jaa, I imagined "Aris" as an homage to the great martial arts films while making it unique to our vision and our New York City influences. |
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Gearing Up: The Fire Within
68 Mins; Hindi,English - No; Hong Kong,India; 2007
Synopsis: Gearing Up: the Fire Within explores the life of a fourteen year old who lives 1500 miles from home to pursue his dream of playing cricket for India; it also examines the desires and motivations of the Indian youth as they prepare themselves for the global stage.
Sheetal S. Agarwal
Director: An MFA from the City University of Hong Kong, Sheetal has won several awards for her thesis documentary "Ordinary Lives," including the Michael Moore Award for Best Documentary Film at the 44th Ann Arbor Film Festival . This is her first feature length documentary.
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Feature # 8
Screening Time: Newport Mall Theatre Friday November 9th 8:30 PM
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Aids JaaGO (USA)
80 Mins; Hindi, Malayalam, English - English Subtitles; India; 2007
Cast: Shiney Ahuj, Raima Sen, Sameera Reddy, Irrfan Khan, Siddhartha, Pankaj Kapoor, Ayesha Takia, Shabana Azmi, Prabhudeva, Boman Irani
Synopsis: Under the auspices of Mirabai Films and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the AIDS Jaago Project presents four short dramatic films by cutting-edge Indian directors Mira Nair, Vishal Bhardwaj, Santosh Sivan, and Farhan Akhtar that aim to dismantle myths and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS. Each film uses top Indian movie stars to maximize the exposure of the films to audiences throughout India.
Mira Nair's Migration deals with the AIDS Virus as the great class leveler in society by following its transmission through interweaving stories linking urban and rural India.
Blood Brothers, directed by award-winning new wave director Vishal Bhardwaj- stars Siddhartha (Rang de Basanti) as a young man who gets a positive HIV diagnosis and henceforth allows his life to fall apart.
Prarambha- The Beginning, directed by renowned cinematographer and director Santosh Sivan, features South Indian superstar Prabhudeva as a truck driver who discovers a young boy stowed away in his vehicle. Sivan explores the question of how society deals with those who are infected. Farhan Akhtar is one of Mumbai's mose prominent young filmmakers. His film, Positive, follows the story of a young boy and his parents and how they cope with the devastation that AIDS can visit on the family.
Directors: Mira Nair, Vishan Bhardwaj, Farhan Akhtar, Santosh Sivan
Santosh Sivan is from Kerala and is a renowned cinematographer, having lensed Ashoka, Title, and Title. His directorial debut, The Terrorist, was internationally acclaimed. His forthcoming feature film, Before the Rains will receive its world premiere at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. Vishal Bhardwaj received critical and commercial success of his newest film, Omkara, a Hindi version of Shakespeare’s Othello. Arguably India’s most recognized New Wave director. Farhan Akhtar, the director of hit films Dil Chahta Hai and Don is one of Bombay’s most prominent young filmmakers. Mira Nair’s latest film, The Namesake, opened to rave reviews, and is currently the most successful art house release of 2007. She is currently directing Shantaram for Warner Brothers, starring Johnny Depp and Amitabh Bachchan. She was nominated for an oscar for her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay. Her 2001 film, Monsoon Wedding is still one of the highest grossing foreign films of all time. |
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Rainwater Harvesting, Roll Call, Learning is Child's Play 1 and 2
1 Min each; Hindi; India;
Public Service Announcements created by Nandita Das
Director: Nandita Das
Indian actress Nandita Das is known for her critically acclaimed performances in the films Fire, Earth (both directed by Deepa Mehta), Bawander (directed by Jagmohan Mundhra) and Amar Bhuvan (directed by Mrinal Sen). She has performed in over 25 feature films. She won the Best Actress award for her performance in the film Bawander at the Santa Monica Film Festival (2001). She also won the Best Actress award for performance in Amar Bhuvan at the Cairo Film Festival (2002). In May 2005 Das served as a Member of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. |
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Feature # 9
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 2- Saturday 12:30PM
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Sita Sings the Blues: Agni Pariskha (World)
3 Mins; None; USA; 2007
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Excellence in Design
Cast: Reena Shah
Synopsis: An expressionistic animated fantasy from Nina Paley's upcoming feature, "Sita Sings the Blues". Sita immolates herself for love and encounters the divine in this expressionistic animated fantasy from Nina Paley's upcoming feature, "Sita Sings the Blues."
Director: Nina Paley
Nina Paley is an independent animator who for the last 5 years has been self-producing an animated musical feature based on Sita's adventures in the Ramayana. It should be done - finally! - by the end of this year. |
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Fly by Red Shoes (NYC)
7 Mins; India; 2005
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: 11th International Animation Festival HIROSHIMA 2006, Japan, 4th Berlin Asia-Pacific Film Festival - BAPFF 2006, Germany, 4th International Animated Film Festival Tindirindis 2006, Lithuania, Best Animation Short - 3rd Ashvita Film & Photography Competition.
Synopsis: The myriad consequences of Human fascination with flight and freedom. Man's fascination with flight is perpetual. This has led to glorious achievements and some spectacular failures. But his journey and quest for ideas like accomplishment and freedom continues. Fly by Red Shoes is a tribute to this indomitable spirit of Man, which lends him wings.
Director: Harsha Nagaraju
Born in April 1979 in Mysore, Harsha Nagaraju graduated in B.E. Polymer Engineering from University of Mysore (2000) and obtained a PG Diploma in Animation Film Design from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad (2006).Having worked as a Cartoonist & Illustration Designer in Print Media, he is passionate about Storytelling through Animation Films. |
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The Guitar (US)
5 Mins; English - No; United Kingdom; 2006
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Cannes Short Film Corner; Edinburgh Videotheque
Cast: James Macartney,Helena Harpham
Synopsis: A father grieves at the death of his wife and cannot find a way to reconnect to his daughter...until he visits his wife's graveside.
Director: Adil Akram
After studying at Cambridge I learnt filmmaking working on Alexander (Dir Oliver Stone), Green Street (Dir Lexi Alexander), American Daylight (Dir Roger Christian) and with Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton). My first short, Detained was nominated for Best European Dramatic Short Film at the ECU International Festical in Paris 2007. |
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Pot of Gold (NYC)
5 Mins; India; 2006
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: National Geographic All Roads Film Festival - Los Angeles, Washington DC, Santa Fe, Hawaiin Film Festival, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
Synopsis: Pot of Gold has been adapted from a tale from the Warli tribe of Maharashtra, India. It has been drawn and animated in the Warli folk art form. This art form is 3000 years old and is still practised in the villages of Maharashtra. In a Warli tribal village, there lived a couple. The man was a painter and his wife did all the household chores. She was frustrated by his lack of support in her work and nagged him constantly. His only reply was, "God will provide". The tale tells the story of what happens when they find a pot of gold.
Directors: Dipa Donde and Nitin Donde
Dipa Donde is a graduate in Fine Arts from Delhi College of Art. She has worked as an Artist and Filmmaker for the past 20 years. In this duration of time she has made films for the Scottish Screen, UK, Doordarshan, India, UNICEF, PSBT and screened at national and international festivals |
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The Peace Tree
47 Mins, English, 2005
Festivals Played/ Awards Won.
Bite the Mango, National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford, England; South Asian Arts and Literary Festival, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; San Diego International Children's Film Festival, 2005; Chicago International Children's Film Festival, 2005; Fici International Children's Film Festival, Madrid, Spain, 2005 Taiwan International Children's Film Festival, 2006 Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth, Vancouver, 2006 Cairo International Children's Film Festival, 2006 Sarasota Film Festival, Florida, 2006 Philadelphia Film Festival, 2006 Viewfinder's Film Festival for Youth, Halifax, 2006 Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles, 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, New York, 2006 Film Festival Zlin, Czechoslovakia and others
Liv Ullmann Peace Prize, 22nd Chicago Int'l.; Children's Film Festival for promoting peace and harmony; Audience Award, Taiwan International Children's Film and Television Film Festival 2006; Nominated Best Feature, Taiwan International
Children's Film and Television Festival 2006; Silver Cairo for Short Film, Cairo International; Film Festival for Children 2006; Children's International Jury Prize, Cairo International Film Festival for Children 2006 and others
Cast List: Aiishwariya Haran, Sonika Ramachandran, Jacoba Barber-Rozema
Synopois: The Peace Tree tells the story of two little girls, one Muslim and one Christian, who dream of celebrating each other's festivals, Christmas and Eid. But when they share their dreams, they are met with resistance from their parents who express their concerns. Through their struggles, they create a unique symbol - The Peace Tree, a tree that highlights the symbols from all our cultures and faiths to reflect the beauty of 'diversity in unity'.
Director: Mitra Sen
Mitra is a graduate of York University's Film Production program in Toronto. Upon graduation, Mitra became the Assistant Director of the critically acclaimed CBC series Degrassi Junior High. Her first independent production was, 'just a little red dot…', a docu-drama which empowers children to challenge racism and spread respect. The film received 12 international awards including the Most Popular Film at the Chicago Children's International Film Festival and was invited to 35 film festivals including Roger Ebert's Film Festival. The Peace Tree film was invited to over 40 film festivals including Tribeca and received 12 international awards. The film has also triggered the creation of Peace Trees internationally and the proclamation of Peace Tree Day on June 1st. by the Mayor of Toronto. Mitra was also the Director of Programming for ReelWorld Film Festival in 2003 and 2004. |
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Short/Docs # 5
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 1- Saturday 12:30P
Click here for tickets to this program |
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India Untouched - Stories of a People Apart (NYC)
110 Mins; Gujarati,Hindi,Punjabi,Tamil,English,Bhojpuri,Telugu – English Subtitles; India; 2007
Synopsis: India Untouched' is a new documentary that will make it impossible for anyone in India to deny that Untouchability is still practiced today. The film is perhaps the most comprehensive look at caste oppression ever undertaken on film. This feature-length documentary exposes Untouchability in eight states and across four religions. 'India Untouched' is a new documentary that will make it impossible for anyone in India to deny that Untouchability is still practiced today. The film is perhaps the most comprehensive look at caste oppression ever undertaken on film. Director Stalin K. spent four years traveling the length and breadth of the country to bear witness to the continued exclusion of Dalits, who bear the weight of a 4000 year-old religious system. From Manu to matrimonial columns, from the campus of JNU to medieval villages just outside our metropolises, this feature-length documentary exposes Untouchability in eight states and across four religions.
Director: Stalin K
Stalin K is the co-founder and Director of Drishti, India Director of Video Volunteers and Convener of the Community Radio Forum. His earlier film on caste, "Lesser Humans" is internationally acclaimed for bringing the issue of Untouchability into public discourse. India Untouched is his 14th film so far. |
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Saving Hinduism (World)
5 min., English, USA, 2007
Cast: Andrew Guilarte, Sam Ghosh
Synopsis: The Hindu Gods, Krishna and Brahma, discuss how they will "creatively" secure the future of Hinduism.
Director: Rakesh Chaudhary
Rakesh is part of Desipina & Co.'s CoLab (www.Desipina.org ) -- where he met Uday Jhunjhunwala (screenwriter) -- together they collaborated with Desipina to create this short film, which was used as a promo for the Seven.11 show in Spring 2007. Rakesh's other directing credits include: "Everyone is Welcome" – Short Animation (2006), "Door Step School" – Short Documentary (2005) and "Kwik Meal" – Short Documentary (2004).
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Short Docs # 8
Screening Time: Newport Mall Theater - Sat. Nov 10th 12:30 PM
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Love Story (NYC)
13 Mins; English; United Kingdom; 2007
Cast: Anthony Green, Shelley Conn, Alan McKenna, Echo Phillips and Colin Salmon
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Rhode Island International Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, London
Synopsis: What would you do for the woman you love?
A young girl asks her father ‘Why do you love Mummy?’ As the man considers his daughter's question, memories of how he came to meet his wife reveal something unexpected about the story of their relationship.
Director: Amit Gupta
Amit Gupta read history at university before training as a director at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. He has written and directed a number plays and is a former winner of the Royal Court Young Writers'Competition. |
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Kali Ma
14 Mins; Hindi, English; USA; 2006
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Winner, Audience Award, 2007 NewFest; Winner, Audience Award, 2007 Philadelphia International LGBT Film Festival; Winner, Grand Jury Prize, 2007 Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival Nominee, Best Short Film, 2007 Iris Prize; Palm Springs International Festival of Shorts; Frameline 31; Outfest; Atlantic Film Festival; Sidewalk Moving Picture Film Festival
Cast: Kamini Khanna, Brendan Bradley, Manish Dayal
Synopsis: When a suburban mother finds out her son is the victim of a vicious bully, she delivers her own brand of vigilante justice.
Director: Soman Chainani
Soman Chainani is a graduate of the MFA program at Columbia University and the winner of the FMI Fellowship given for excellence in writing and directing. His short films have played over 150 international film festivals and won over 20 jury and audience awards. He is also the winner of the CINE Golden Eagle Prize, an award for directing which launched the careers of Robert Altman, Steven Spielberg, and Ron Howard amongst others. His first feature, the Indian-themed LOVE MARRIAGE, will begin shooting in London, UK in Summer 2008. |
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The Trident (NYC)
16 Mins; English; USA; 2007
Cast: Aalok Mehta, David Carradine, Anup Sugunan, Anisha Nagarajan, Sandra Teles
Synopsis: To raise the ransom needed to free his kidnapped wife, Arjun (Aalok Mehta) takes their family jewelry to a Pawnshop. With the help of an ancient Indian Trident and a healthy dose of Hindu spirituality, the mysterious and wise Shopkeeper helps Arjun discover his inner warrior.
Director: Anurag Mehta
Anurag Mehta is best known for writing and directing AMERICAN CHAI – about an Indian-American college boy who pursues his rock & roll dreams. AMERICAN CHAI won the coveted AUDIENCE AWARD at the SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL in Utah and the GEN ART FILM FESTIVAL in NYC. |
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Guroor (World)
43 Mins; Hindi - Yes; India/USA; 2007
Cast: Karuna Parikh, Nayantara parikh, Sabaazad, Abhijeet Dutta, Karam Puri
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: SVA's Inhouse Dusty Film Festival/Best Director
Synopsis: Once upon a time in a village in India, there was a house; within its stonewalls were rooms with locked doors and within those rooms were fine silks over heavy mirrors.When those silks were lifted,beneath the dust and grime, two girls found their solace and one, her grief. When Ketki, the eldest of Baoji's three daughters is shunned by her father, who refuses to love her despite her efforts, she vows to take revenge. The one to blame, she believes is her youngest sister Devaki.Devaki who is their father's favourite, who is intelligent and devout is on the cusp of adolescence and threatens to become more beautiful than any of the sisters.In order to access the private world Devaki lives in, Ketki employs the assistance of the unsuspecting middle sister Pratigya. Using Pratigya's weakest points - her lack of confidence and later her love for Ketki's own ex-lover Ashfaak. The eldest sister manages to weave a web of lies and black magic within which the three sisters become increasingly entangled. This tale is primarily one of narcissism. Though it deals with family ties, the silence, the ego and the envy that often sever them, it remains at its core a film about vanity. Is it truly a sin? Is it the driving force for confidence and subsequent happiness? Does love feed vanity? Or does it demolish it?
Director : Ishaan Nair
Ishaan Nair discovered cinema in a sack of old videos sent to him by an uncle. From old Hollywood to communist china he experienced a world of film that had been entirely unknown. The intoxication of a lonely summer that was filled by the rewinding of films with translations running at the bottom has stuck with him since. After having completed four years of film school, he would like to come back to his home turf and tell stories contrary to the majority of films being churned out of Indian cinema today. In the year 2000 being caste as Varun Verma, in Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding further fueled this desire to pursue film. Life In front of the lens was not half as enticing as one behind it. After graduating high school he pursued film in New York at the School of Visual Arts, where he double majored in cinematography and direction. In 2007 his thesis film Guroor (Pride and vanity) Picked up the outstanding achievement in directing award at the schools in house 18th annual Dusty Film Festival. The film will be doing the festival circuit from September 2007 onward. Concentrating on writing he hopes to get his first feature off the ground within the next year and will ardently pursue his desire to make cinema. |
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Losing Ahmad
68 Mins; Arabic -English Subtitles; Kuwait;
Sysnopsis: Losing Ahmad, captures the story of Ahmad Sharif, a seven year-old from Baghdad, who lost his sight and right arm after an American bomb exploded on his way home from school one day. A group of four Americans traveled to the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border to pick up Ahmad and escort him to New York for medical care in the hope that he would one day be able to see again. On the way to the US, however, everything changed.
Director: Abdullah Boushahri
Abdullah is a member in various artistic organizations and institutions including:
The Kuwaiti Theater, Kuwait. South Florida Independent Film Group, Florida. Orlando Visual Artists League, Florida. Kuwait Fine Arts Association. The Kuwaiti Cinema Club, and The World Artist Association - UNESCO. During his education period in Florida, Boushahri has produced a number of short independent films including:
Boiling Over, short narrative film, Beyond Dreams Productions 2002, Producer, Director. AKTHAR, documentary film, Beyond Dreams Productions 2003, Producer, Director, Editor. Kuwaiti Champion, documentary film, Beyond Dreams Productions 2004 Writer, Producer, Director. His film "Our Catastrophe Is Still Alive" was selected for Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and got a theatrical screening at the Regal Cinemas in Florida. |
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Feature # 10
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 2- Saturday 2:30PM
Click here for tickets to this program |
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The Voyeurs (Ami, Yasin Ar Amar Madhubala) (USA)
115 Mins; Bengali – English Subtitles; India; 2007
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Toronto Film Festival 2007
Cast: Amitav Bhattacharya, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Sameera Reddy
Synopsis: With an exceptional capacity for irony-tinged tenderness toward his characters, an unerring sense of where to place his widescreen camera and an ability to expand small-scaled stories into accounts of what it means to live in the modern world, Bengali director Buddhadeb Dasgupta adds another fine work to his impressive filmography with "The Voyeurs." Gentle pic involves a computer geek, his hick buddy and an aspiring dancer-thesp in a rich human comedy-turned-tragedy that deals with issues including high-tech abuse, AIDS and terrorism. – Variety.
Director: Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Buddhadev Dasgupta is a poet and prominent contemporary Indian filmmaker. His poeticism has been extended to cinema as well. During the early stages of his film career, Dasgupta made films inspired by Satyajit Ray's realistic films and later moved on to other forms. Some of his most acclaimed films are Bagh Bahadur, Tahader Katha, Charachar and Uttara. |
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Shanu Taxi
15 Mins; English; India; 2006
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Silver Award for the Best First Film from IDPA (Indian Documentary Producer's Association, International Competition at the Karachi International Film Festival, Pakistan, International Competition at the Asiana International Short Film Festival, Seoul
Cast: Vikas Kumar, Neel Bhattacharya, Rajesh Balwani, Rakesh Maudgal, Pramathesh, Takesh Singh, Zul Vellani
Synopsis: An honest Mumbai taxi driver looks to make the most of a cell phone rewarded to him by a customer, setting off on a path to achieve his dreams that extend well beyond the city's traffic.
Director: Vasant Nath
Vasant Nath (born 12/03/1980) studied English Literature at St. Stephen's College, New Delhi and went on to do a Master's in Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge, UK. He was assistant to director Deepa Mehta on her Oscar® nominated film Water, after which he joined director Bharatbala, whom he assists in production, shoot and script development. |
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Short /Docs # 6
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 1- Saturday 2:30PM
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TBA |
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Feature # 14
Screening Time: Newport Mall Saturday Nov 8th 2:30 Pm
Click here for tickets to this program |
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Manorama Six Feet Under (World)
140 Mins; Hindi - English Subtitles; India; 2007
Cast: Abhay Deol, Sarika, Raima Sen, Gul Panag, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Synopsis: A homage to the noir genre, Manorama is about an amateur detective in a small town who finds himself caught in a web of lies, deceit, and murder. Nothing is what it seems and redemption doesn't come easy.
Director: Navdeep Singh
Navdeep Singh studied filmmaking at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, graduating in 1997. He then directed commercials and music videos for Uground and Cognito in LA, and the Great Guns in London. Navdeep then moved to India in 2001 and has since directed a number of award-winning
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Feature # 11
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 2- Saturday 6:00PM
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Missed Call (NYC)
105 Mins; English, Hindi - Yes; India; 2005
Cast: Ankur Vikal, Heeba Shah, Ram Kapoor, Tinu Anand
Aspiring filmmaker Gaurav Sengupta lives his life through the viewfinder of his camcorder. He struggles to juggle social and familial demands with his passion for filmmaking. When he finds love in Gayatri, and the camera begins to threaten his future with her, he must decide whether to let go or to continue telling his story.
Directors: Mridul Toolsidass, Vinay Subramanian
Mridul Toolsidass: Born and brought up and educated in Kolkatta.After graduation , with three papers left to clear Chartered Accountancy, I moved to Delhi to do MBA in finance. Post classes, I worked with a music director friend on jingles and at night I'd write film sequences, my longest running hobby. Through my writing, I realised soon, that my quest lay in rearranging reality and dealing with it. So I rearranged my own and turned to Bombay in 2002 to deal with it. For a year I did odd jobs in as many capacities for films, documentaries, T.V., Ads, and a theatre group. Missed Call is my first film as a writer- director.
Vinay Subramanian: After graduating in bachelors of commerce from Bombay University, I attended a 10-month diploma programme at Xaviers Institute of Communications. While in the course I got an opportunity to assist one of the course instructor Veena Bakshi on her documentary venture and later on got absorbrd into her production house(Searchlight Productions), which also produced ads. Failing attempts to get into a film school I moved on to work briefly with ad and documentary filmakerAshim Ahluwalia(Film Republic) |
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London Bridge is Falling Down (World)
28 Mins; English; India; 2007
Cast: Tinti, Aishee
Synopsis: If you fall with a thud you become a thudani. This punchline is the first among the many thoughts both ridiculous and sublime that our hero has as he prepares to hit the ground during a long fall.
I’m at a bar. I hear about this guy who went to a party at a high rise. He spots this girl, goes up to her, tries to get comfortable beside her. Falls. And dies. I fictionally reconstruct his life which flashes past his eyes as he takes a fall
Director: Jagannathan Krishnan
I worked as a sales man, clerk, forex dealer and equities analyst before I moved to non fiction television where I did news, game shows and documentaries with gaps in between. All the work was either writing or directing. I then moved to Calcutta where I’ve done four and half years at film school. Been out now for the last few months |
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Gandhi My Father
136 Mins, Hindi, India, 2007
Lead Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Bhumika Chawla, Shefali Chhaya, Darshan Jariwala, Daniel Janks
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Shefali Shah has won The Best Actress Award at Tokyo International Film Festival,2007.for "Gandhi My Father". The Film is NOMINATED for the Best Screenplay at ASIA PACIFIC SCREEN AWARDS,2007.
Synopsis: Gandhi has always been compelling, complex and strangely contemporary. Sir Richard Attenborough introduced "Mahatma" the great soul to the West and the world remains grateful to him. I grew up understanding Gandhi through others: till I discovered a deep wound he carried in his heart. Somewhere in the shadows of this great man lived his son, roaming the streets of India like a beggar. Converting to Islam as a rebellion, reconverting to Hinduism as a penance and finally drinking himself to death. Mahatma Gandhi could transform the soul of a nation but could not save the soul of his own son. The unfolding of a personal tragedy against the racial hatred in South Africa and colonial humiliation in India moved me deeply. Finally my search to know the human side of Gandhi took me to South Africa, to different parts of India, libraries, scholars and his immediate family members. I then decided to make a film about a principled father and an unfortunate son. To me, Gandhi became a greater human being as he struggled personally, socially and politically. But always put his principles and quest for human dignity above everything else.
Director: Feroz Abbas Khan
At the forefront of Indian theatre today, Feroz Abbas Khan is recognized as much for exploring new forms, as for bringing Hindi theatre, mainstream recognition. In a career spanning more than two decades, he has directed some of India's finest acting talent, both from stage and cinema.
From the intensely contemplative to the utterly exhilarating, from autobiographical one man shows to two character plays to full scale musicals….his pioneering productions have traveled extensively in India and abroad. His plays have been staged to packed audiences and international critical acclaim. The Lincoln centre and the United Nations in New York, the Memorial Hall-Stanford University, the Universal Studios Amphi-theatre in Los Angeles, the waterman's Arts Centre in London and the Durban Playhouse in South Africa are some of the theatres he has performed at. He continues to travel wit his powerful plays to Europe, North America, Far East Asia, Middle East, South East Asia and South Africa.
His English theatre production of Mahatma v/s Gandhi created a sensation wherever it was staged. Major newspapers in India wrote laudatory editorials, news channels like BBC and NKK in Japan featured it in their prime time news and The New York Times called it " The finest English play to emerge from India in a long time." With 'Gandhi My Father' Feroz makes his first foray into the arena of motion picture.
About Film Makers
About Cast |
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Feature # 15
Screening Time: Newport Mall Saturday Nov 10th 6:00 Pm
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Valley of Flowers (NYC)
155 Mins; Hindi - English Subtitles; USA; 2006
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Jury Award for Best Feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival
Cast: Milind Soman, Mylene Jampanoi, Naseeruddin Shah
Synopsis: A greatest Asian love story, an unforgettable tale about passion, death and reincarnation. A mesmerizing Himalayan epic that spans two centuries, from the Silk Route of the early 19th century to the bustling metropolis of modern-day Tokyo. In the Himalayas, intrepid JALAN and his gang earn their living by stealing. All is routine until the arrival of the mystifying USHNA, she adheres to Jalan. Sensing the unsettlement of the gang, Ushna offers to help them in their endeavours. She leads the gang to tremendous exploits, gaining their respect, admiration of Jalan, who falls passionately in love with Ushna. No longer heeding of the world around them, they venture too far in their exploits; like stealing energy, luck and the powers of levitation… But life always reserves surprises…
Director: Pan Nalin
Pan Nalin, came into limelight with his debut feature film SAMSARA. A huge commercial and critical success worldwide and won many international awards. His documentary AYURVEDA: ART OF BEING has celebrated a year long theatrical run in Spain and France. Nalin's latest feature VALLEY OF FLOWERS, is currently being released worldwide. |
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Feature # 12
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 2- Saturday 8:30PM
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Via Darjeeling (USA)
104 Mins; Hindi - English Subtitles; India; 2007
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: 9th Osian's Cinefan
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Sonali Kulkarni, Parvin Dabas, Vinay Pathak, Rajat Kapoor, Simone Singh, Sandhya Mridul and Prroshant Narayannan.
Synopsis: A labyrinth of relationships. A tributary of tales. The 'oral tradition' rediscovered in a trip via Darjeeling. A couple on their honeymoon is about to return to the city. On the last day, one of them dissapears. The mystery returns to Calcutta one night...via Darjeeling. Faces are unmasked. New discoveries made.
Director:Arindam Nandy
A student of Comparative Literature, Arindam has spent 20 years in advertising as a Creative person. He now heads the Creative department of Response, in Calcutta. An avid filmwatcher and writer, Arindam has made an hourlong documentary and some television commercials before his debut feature film. |
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Hearts Suspended (World)
27 Mins; English; USA; 2007
Synopsis: Hearts Suspended traces the filmmaker’s personal journey as she reveals how educated South Asian immigrant women struggle with depression, loss of self-identity, strained marital relations and other issues in the US on H4 (dependent spouse) visas, which deny them work-authorization. Through turmoil emerge spiritual strength, resolve and hope for change.
Director: Meghna Damani
Meghna grew up in Mumbai. She has a Masters in Marketing and has been a journalist, model and advertising executive at JWT. Unauthorized to work in the US since 2002, her struggles inspired her first film. A Documentary Film Graduate of the New School in Manhattan, she lives in Jersey City. |
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Unfinished
18 Mins; English; USA
Cast: Reena Dutt (Raju), Haskell Vaughn Anderson III (Lee)
Synopsis: Upon returning home with her mother's ashes, Raju Dhillon, a young Indian American woman faces unanswered questions about her past and her identity. A request in her mother's will to return her ashes to her native homeland -- India, sets off a chain of events which presents Raju with a choice. To remain in her isolated world, or, open her heart to a father she never knew and take a journey that could transform them both forever.
Directors: Arun Vir
Arun Vir is an award-winning writer/director/producer whose experience reaches both sides of the Atlantic. A recipient of the Directing Workshop for Women Award; a prestigious program for nascent women directors sponsored by the American Film Institute and The Sony Corporation, Arun's first film "The Last Weekend" starring Suzzanne Douglas, won numerous awards including BEST SHORT at the International Pan African Film Festival founded by actor/activist Danny Glover, in Los Angeles. She is currently raising funds to produce Unfinished as a feature, including finishing funds for another feature titled "SUBURBAN TURBAN" a coming of age urban drama about a young Indian man's struggle with his identity in post 9/11 NYC. Some of Vir's credits include feature film, "The Bulls' Night Out, shorts such as "BB Gun" dir, Garrett Williams, and "Finding Kate" dir, Katherine Brooks, - a short film series on virginity. |
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Astoria Park
31 Mins; Gujarati,Hindi,English - No; U S A; 2007
Jose Perez,Christopher Rivera,Paras Chaudhari,Sam Ghosh,Ramfis Myrthil,Curtis Pierre,Manish Dayal,Anaam Shahjahan,Ami Sheth,Saila Rao,Damion Martin,Michael Fiore,Mark Katsaounis
Aman and his friends thought it was just another day on the basketball court in Astoria, Queens. However, the summer heat brings a group of old enemies their way. Tensions rise in a post 9/11 New York, and the anger between one another escalates into a battle no one saw coming.
Chrysovalantis Stamelos and Paras Chaudhari
Chrysovalantis Stamelos:
From a young age, Valantis Stamelos has been a filmmaker whose inspirations dwell from his exposure to international cinema and world music. As a growing director, producer, and writer, Valantis unrelentingly collaborates his love for classic cinema with that of gritty New York City filmmaking.
Paras H. Chaudhari
I aim to make a contribution. Since it is my surroundings that leave an imprint on me, I intend to leave an imprint on my surroundings. |
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Khayal Darpan: A Mirror of Imagination (US)
100 Mins; Hindi,Urdu,English; India; 2006
Delhi-based filmmaker Yousuf Saeed spent 6 months in Pakistan in 2005, interviewing musicians and scholars, attending music concerts, and observing the teaching of classical music in various institutions, culminating his work in this musical documentary film, featuring some well-known as well as many lesser known but talented musicians of Pakistan.
Yousuf Saeed
A post graduate in Mass Communication, Yousuf Saeed started his career in films and television in 1990 with the Times TV (Times of India) co-directing the science series Turning Point (45 episodes). Later, Yousuf produced many documentary films including a series on Ladakh and one on the Sufi poet Amir Khusrau. His recent short films Basant and Jannat ki Rail have been shown at international venues such as the universities of Harvard, Boston, Columbia, and Chicago, among others. |
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Chandni's Choice (US)
10 min 30 sec; English, Hindi - English Subtitles; 2006
Festivals Played - Preproduction versions at Cinema Asia Texas and Blowinupaspot, both in Austin, TX; prepro version at Society for Ethnomusicology 50th Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA
Synopsis:
Chandni's Choice provides a glimpse of the life and music of Chandni Kumari and her foremothers since 1996. Chandni is a teenager in a matrilineage of musicians, who identify themselves as tawaif and live at the edge of the courtesan and red light quarter in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Once esteemed for their refined artistry, today most women of this community live at society's margins, e erased their identities. Chandni, in whose world music is a way of life, is approaching a turning point. She has just begun college; her future is an unknown. She has grown up with virtually no father figure, watching her mother and grandmother often struggle to support her family with their music. Her mother Aruna has tried to shield her from the reality of sexual exploitation. Can Chandni choose her own path?
Amie Maciszewki and Ms Mars
Amie Maciszewski is an ethnomusicologist, sitarist (who sings), and educator who has spent three decades studying, practicing, and living India's music and culture, in India and outside. She created and led a variety of programs that have increased awareness of South Asian culture, music, and human/women's rights, locally, nationally, and internationally.
Ms. Mars is an independent film producer and editor. In addition to her collaborations with Maciszewski, she has co-produced with Cenozoic Studios (Austin) numerous shorts screened at venues such as the Los Angeles and Dallas International Short Film Festivals and Austin's S x SW Festival, as well as music and promotional videos. Prior to joining Cenozoic in 1999, she worked at Good Machine in New York and ShadowCatcher Entertainment in Seattle. |
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Feature # 16
Screening Time: Newport Mall Sat. Nov.10th 8:30pm
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Frozen (USA)
110 Mins; Hindi/Ladakhi – English Subtitles; 2007
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival, New Delhi, 2007; Toronto International Film Festival, 2007; Special Jury Award for Best Film at Osian’s.
Cast: Danny Denzongpa, Gauri, Angchuk, Yashpal Sharma, Raj Zutshi, Aamir Bashir
Synopsis: This is a touching and somber journey of Lasya, who lives with her father Karma and younger brother Chomo in a remote village in the Himalayas. Pristine snow capped mountains surround their tiny hamlet and barren harsh land stretches for miles into nowhere. One day the army moves in, settles a hundred yards across their doorstep. The last bit of comfort the family draws from their familiar surroundings changes into a harsh ceaseless irreversible conflict. The film depicts the life of this family whose dream like existence is interrupted by inevitable odds, one after the other.
Director: Shivajee Chandrabhushan
has a bachelor degree in Sociology. He began his career producing music videos for Indian TV. But it was his interest in photography and travelling coupled with a love for film making which culminated into a journey to Ladakh. With a firm belief that any project undertaken should be made with love and dedication, Shivajee began the grueling task of producing and directing Frozen- his first feature length film. He is 35 years old and lives in Mumbai. |
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Feature # 17
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 2 Sunday – 12:30 P
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Apna Asmaan (US)
110 Mins; Hindi – English Subtitles; India; 2007
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Bollywood and Beyond - Stuttgart, best Feature Film - German Star of India.
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Shobana, Rajat Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Dhruv Panjuani
Synopsis: An allegorical tale of Ravi, Padmini and their mildly autistic, intellectually handicapped teenage son Buddhi, who is a promising artist. The parents’ obsession to make Buddhi a genius, leads them to an experimental drug, which makes him their dream child – only to reveal the dark side that they had not bargained for.
Director: Kaushik Roy
Kaushik Roy (50) wrote his first script at 15, assisted film directors on features and documentaries and made an early entry in advertising as a visualiser. In the last three decades he has made a mark in the field of Indian advertising and marketing. After many group painting exhibitions his show with his son at The Nehru Center Art Gallery, Mumbai in 2006, was a great success. Apna Asmaan is his first feature film. |
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Feature # 20
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 1- Sunday 12:30 PM
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Grahanam (The Eclipse)
93 Mins; Telugu – English Subtitles; India; 2004
Cast: Tanikella Bharani, Jayalalitha, Surya, Goparaju Raman
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Indira Gandhi Award for the Best First Film of a Director for the year, Indian National Awards, Andhra Pradesh State Nandi Award for Best Debut Director, Andhra Pradesh State Nandi Award – Third Best Film, Andhra Pradesh Nandi Committee Special Commendatition.
Synopsis: Raghu, a middle-aged doctor, finds an old woman being insulted by a patient in his hospital. The woman claims the patient to be her son. Raghu recognizes her and is disturbed, much to the surprise of his friend/colleague, Srinivas. Upon Srinivas’s insistence, Raghu narrates the story of that woman..
Director: Mohan Krishna Indraganti
Recently completed his second full-length feature film Maya Bazaar (The Illusion Bazaar), which was theatrically released on December 1st 2006 in Andhra Pradesh, India. His first full-length feature film titled, Grahanam (The Eclipse), 2004, based on the short story Doshagunam (The Disease) by the famous Telugu writer, Chalam, has won Eleven major awards including the Indian National Award for Best Debut Director. |
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Short / Docs # 9
Screening Time: Newport Mall Theater Sunday Nov 11th 12:30 Pm
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TBA |
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Feature # 18
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 2 Sunday – 2:30 PM
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Aids JaaGO (USA)
80 Mins; Hindi, Malayalam, English - English Subtitles; India; 2007
Cast: Shiney Ahuj, Raima Sen, Sameera Reddy, Irrfan Khan, Siddhartha, Pankaj Kapoor, Ayesha Takia, Shabana Azmi, Prabhudeva, Boman Irani
Synopsis: Under the auspices of Mirabai Films and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the AIDS Jaago Project presents four short dramatic films by cutting-edge Indian directors Mira Nair, Vishal Bhardwaj, Santosh Sivan, and Farhan Akhtar that aim to dismantle myths and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS. Each film uses top Indian movie stars to maximize the exposure of the films to audiences throughout India. Mira Nair's Migration deals with the AIDS Virus as the great class leveler in society by following its transmission through interweaving stories linking urban and rural India. Blood Brothers, directed by award-winning new wave director Vishal Bhardwaj- stars Siddhartha (Rang de Basanti) as a young man who gets a positive HIV diagnosis and henceforth allows his life to fall apart. Prarambha- The Beginning, directed by renowned cinematographer and director Santosh Sivan, features South Indian superstar Prabhudeva as a truck driver who discovers a young boy stowed away in his vehicle. Sivan explores the question of how society deals with those who are infected. Farhan Akhtar is one of Mumbai's mose prominent young filmmakers. His film, Positive, follows the story of a young boy and his parents and how they cope with the devastation that AIDS can visit on the family.
Directors: Mira Nair, Vishal Bhardwaj, Farhan Akhtar, Santosh Sivan
Santosh Sivan is from Kerala and is a renowned cinematographer, having lensed Ashoka, Title, and Title. His directorial debut, The Terrorist, was internationally acclaimed. His forthcoming feature film, Before the Rains will receive its world premiere at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. Vishal Bhardwaj received critical and commercial success of his newest film, Omkara, a Hindi version of Shakespeare’s Othello. Arguably India’s most recognized New Wave director. Farhan Akhtar, the director of hit films Dil Chahta Hai and Don is one of Bombay’s most prominent young filmmakers. Mira Nair’s latest film, The Namesake, opened to rave reviews, and is currently the most successful art house release of 2007. She is currently directing Shantaram for Warner Brothers, starring Johnny Depp and Amitabh Bachchan. She was nominated for an oscar for her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay. Her 2001 film, Monsoon Wedding is still one of the highest grossing foreign films of all time. |
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Rainwater Harvesting, Roll Call, Learning is Child's Play 1 and 2
1 Min each; Hindi; India;
Public Service Announcements created by Nandita Das
Director: Nandita Das
Indian actress Nandita Das is known for her critically acclaimed performances in the films Fire, Earth (both directed by Deepa Mehta), Bawander (directed by Jagmohan Mundhra) and Amar Bhuvan (directed by Mrinal Sen). She has performed in over 25 feature films. She won the Best Actress award for her performance in the film Bawander at the Santa Monica Film Festival (2001). She also won the Best Actress award for performance in Amar Bhuvan at the Cairo Film Festival (2002). In May 2005 Das served as a Member of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. |
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Feature # 21
Screening Time: Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street– Theatre 1 – Sunday 2:30 PM
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Partition (NYC)
English, USA, 2007
Cast: Jimi Mistry, Kristin Kreuk, neve Campbell, Irfan Khan, John Light
Synopsis: Determined to leave the ravages of war behind, 38 year old Gian Singh (Jimi Mistry) resigns from the British Indian Army to a quiet life. His world is soon thrown in turmoil, when he suddenly finds himself responsible for the life of a 17 year old girl, traumatized by the events that separated her from her family. Slowly, resisting all the taboos, Gian finds himself falling in love with the vulnerable Naseem (Kristin Kreuk) and she shyly responds. In a moving and epic story, woven into a rich and exotic tapestry, they battle the forces that haunt their innocent love, fighting the odds to survive in a world surrounded by hate.
Director: Vic Sarin
A passionate and diverse filmmaker, Vic Sarin is one Canada's most distinguished Directors and Cinematogaphers with over 150 films to his credit including award winning feature films, documentaries and Emmy Award winning television movies. With more than thirty years of experience as a Director of Photography, Vic has received numerous accolades including the prestigious Kodak Lifetime Achievement Award for having created some of Canadian cinema's most moving and memorable images. His celebrated work in feature films such as Margaret's Museum, Whale Music, Bye Bye Blues, Dancing in the Dark and On My Own have earned him world renown as one of Canada's premier cinematographers. Vic then turned his eye toward directing, where he is known for his unique storytelling ability that seamlessly weaves together the emotional and visual aspects of a film. Vic's films also have a distinct visual texture; a rich look and larger than life feel enhanced by his many years spent behind the lens. As a Director, Vic has won recognition for films such as the feature film Cold Comfort starring Maury Chaykin and Paul Gross which garnered five Genie (Canadian Academy Award) nominations including Best Picture. He received an Emmy nomination for his acclaimed television movie In His Father's Shoes starring Lou Gossett, which received a total of five Emmy nominations including Best Direction and took home two awards including Best Picture and Performance. |
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Feature # 23
Screening Time: Newport Mall Theatre Sunday Nov. 11th 2:30PM
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The Voyeurs (Ami, Yasin Ar Amar Madhubala) (USA)
115 Mins; Bengali – English Subtitles; India; 2007
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Toronto Film Festival 2007
Cast: Amitav Bhattacharya, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Sameera Reddy
Synopsis: With an exceptional capacity for irony-tinged tenderness toward his characters, an unerring sense of where to place his widescreen camera and an ability to expand small-scaled stories into accounts of what it means to live in the modern world, Bengali director Buddhadeb Dasgupta adds another fine work to his impressive filmography with "The Voyeurs." Gentle pic involves a computer geek, his hick buddy and an aspiring dancer-thesp in a rich human comedy-turned-tragedy that deals with issues including high-tech abuse, AIDS and terrorism. – Variety.
Director: Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Buddhadev Dasgupta is a poet and prominent contemporary Indian filmmaker. His poeticism has been extended to cinema as well. During the early stages of his film career, Dasgupta made films inspired by Satyajit Ray's realistic films and later moved on to other forms. Some of his most acclaimed films are Bagh Bahadur, Tahader Katha, Charachar and Uttara. |
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Shanu Taxi
15 Mins; English; India; 2006
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Silver Award for the Best First Film from IDPA (Indian Documentary Producer's Association, International Competition at the Karachi International Film Festival, Pakistan, International Competition at the Asiana International Short Film Festival, Seoul
Cast: Vikas Kumar, Neel Bhattacharya, Rajesh Balwani, Rakesh Maudgal, Pramathesh, Takesh Singh, Zul Vellani
Synopsis: An honest Mumbai taxi driver looks to make the most of a cell phone rewarded to him by a customer, setting off on a path to achieve his dreams that extend well beyond the city's traffic.
Director: Vasant Nath
Vasant Nath (born 12/03/1980) studied English Literature at St. Stephen's College, New Delhi and went on to do a Master's in Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge, UK. He was assistant to director Deepa Mehta on her Oscar® nominated film Water, after which he joined director Bharatbala, whom he assists in production, shoot and script development. |
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Feature # 19
Screening Time:Loews AMC Empire on 19th Street and Broadway Theatre # 2 Sunday – 6:00 PM
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Manorama Six Feet Under (World)
140 Mins; Hindi - English Subtitles; India; 2007
Cast: Abhay Deol, Sarika, Raima Sen, Gul Panag, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Synopsis: A homage to the noir genre, Manorama is about an amateur detective in a small town who finds himself caught in a web of lies, deceit, and murder. Nothing is what it seems and redemption doesn't come easy.
Director: Navdeep Singh
Navdeep Singh studied filmmaking at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, graduating in 1997. He then directed commercials and music videos for Uground and Cognito in LA, and the Great Guns in London. Navdeep then moved to India in 2001 and has since directed a number of award-winning |
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The Great Indian Butterfly
92 Min, English India/World 2007
Cast: Aamir Bashir, Sandhya Mridul, Koel Purie, Barry John
Synopsis: Sensitive to human pain, Sarthak's film deals with inquiries into simple truths and meanings of human existence. Unable to come to terms with the sacrifices required for success, a young urban couple takes a trip in search of a mystical butterfly. It brings peace, love, luck and happiness, if found. Can they survive the journey? Or is it a futile hunt for an answer to their to their crumbling lives? A simple tale in the complex miasma of a changing India.
Director: Five years into the high flying corporate world, Sarthak DasGupta (BE, MBA) realized, life needed a different definition. He left his cushy job and got down to writing and then gradually into directing.
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Feature # 24
Screening: Newport Mall Theatre Sunday Nov. 11th 6:00 PM
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Gandhi My Father
136 Mins, Hindi, India, 2007
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Bhumika Chawla, Shefali Chhaya, Darshan Jariwala, Daniel Janks
Festivals Played/ Awards Won: Shefali Shah has won The Best Actress Award at Tokyo International Film Festival,2007.for "Gandhi My Father". The Film is NOMINATED for the Best Screenplay at ASIA PACIFIC SCREEN AWARDS,2007.
Synopsis: Gandhi has always been compelling, complex and strangely contemporary. Sir Richard Attenborough introduced “Mahatma” the great soul to the West and the world remains grateful to him. I grew up understanding Gandhi through others: till I discovered a deep wound he carried in his heart. Somewhere in the shadows of this great man lived his son, roaming the streets of India like a beggar. Converting to Islam as a rebellion, reconverting to Hinduism as a penance and finally drinking himself to death. Mahatma Gandhi could transform the soul of a nation but could not save the soul of his own son. The unfolding of a personal tragedy against the racial hatred in South Africa and colonial humiliation in India moved me deeply. Finally my search to know the human side of Gandhi took me to South Africa, to different parts of India, libraries, scholars and his immediate family members. I then decided to make a film about a principled father and an unfortunate son. To me, Gandhi became a greater human being as he struggled personally, socially and politically. But always put his principles and quest for human dignity above everything else.
Director: Feroz Abbas Khan
At the forefront of Indian theatre today, Feroz Abbas Khan is recognized as much for exploring new forms, as for bringing Hindi theatre, mainstream recognition. In a career spanning more than two decades, he has directed some of India’s finest acting talent, both from stage and cinema. From the intensely contemplative to the utterly exhilarating, from autobiographical one man shows to two character plays to full scale musicals….his pioneering productions have traveled extensively in India and abroad. His plays have been staged to packed audiences and international critical acclaim. The Lincoln centre and the United Nations in New York, the Memorial Hall-Stanford University, the Universal Studios Amphi-theatre in Los Angeles, the waterman’s Arts Centre in London and the Durban Playhouse in South Africa are some of the theatres he has performed at. He continues to travel wit his powerful plays to Europe, North America, Far East Asia, Middle East, South East Asia and South Africa.
His English theatre production of Mahatma v/s Gandhi created a sensation wherever it was staged. Major newspapers in India wrote laudatory editorials, news channels like BBC and NKK in Japan featured it in their prime time news and The New York Times called it “ The finest English play to emerge from India in a long time.” With ‘Gandhi My Father’ Feroz makes his first foray into the arena of motion picture.
About Film Makers
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The Last Lear (USA)
130 Mins; English; India; 2007
Lead Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampa, Divya Dutta, Shefali Shah and Jisshu Sengupta.
Festival Played/ Awards Won: Toronto International Film Festival 2007
Synopsis: When first we meet veteran thespian Harish Mishra (Bachchan), he is gravely ill. The punishments of a film shoot have left the old man in a coma. His co-star, Shabnam (Preity Zinta), is wracked with worry, but their director, Siddharth (Arjun Rampal), keeps strangely distant and refuses to visit his ailing star. In flashbacks, their story emerges.
Siddharth first had to woo Harish from the comforts of his retirement, and the interaction between the two yields some of the film’s most delightful scenes. The impatient young auteur attempts to win the trust and collaboration of the aged performer, who sits raging against the modern world from the sanctuary of his study. Sporting a silver mane, Bachchan is irresistible here – vain, forceful and impetuous. He trumpets the superiority of Shakespeare over anything cinema can create. And yet, the movies hold out a new challenge.
Once he agrees to act in the film, The Last Lear becomes a captivating reflection on the comparative artifices of stagecraft and cinema. As the outsider in the cast, Harish is hilarious in dismissing movie fakery. His theatre skills are grander. Standing on a hillside, he teaches Shabnam how to project her voice clear across a valley to the next hill.
Director: Rituparno Ghosh
Rituparno Ghosh was born in Kolkata to a family of artists. He graduated with a Master’s degree in economics from Jadavpur University and has served as editor of the Bengali film magazine Anandalok. His films have screened at festivals around the world, winning numerous accolades. Since making his feature debut in 1991 with Diamond Ring, he has directed fourteen feature films in total, ten of which he also wrote. Among them are Crossfire (97), The First Monsoon Day (01), Chokher Bali, A Passion Play (03), Raincoat (04), Dosar (06) and The Last Lear (07). |
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