Acclaimed Indian actor Irrfan Khan has been finalized as the special guest for the upcoming River to River Florence Indian Film Festival. The 14th edition of this festival will take place from December 6 to 12 at Cinema Odeon in Florence. The festival will pay special tribute to the versatile actor, and the event will conduct the screening of movies like, ‘Qissa’, ‘The Namesake’ and ‘Paan Singh Tomar’. The third season of ‘In Treatment’, an HBO television series which feature Irrfan Khan in one prominent role will also get screened in the festival.
The festival will screen more than 40 movies in its 14th edition, and in the course of 13 years, River to River Florence Indian Film Festival has succeeded to proclaim its presence in the International Film Festival circuit. A special list of films which are screened in the festival will get yet another screening in Rome ((December 13 – 14) and Milan (February 2015).
Irrfan Khan is now touted as one of the most impeccable actors in India. With unending Indian projects, the actor is also being roped to play a role in the fourth installment of ‘Jurassic Park’ franchisee.
‘Titli’ directed by Kanu Behl and Bauddhayan Mukherji’s ‘Teenkahon’ came out with flying colors in the recently concluded, Seattle South Asian Film Festival. Titli won the Jury Award for Best Feature Film in the Festival, whereas ‘Teenkahon’ bagged the audience award for the best feature. Prasanna Vithanage, renowned Sri Lankan Filmmaker was given the ‘Tasveer Emerald Award’ for his unquestionable contributions to the Sri Lankan Cinema.
Tasveer SSAFF 2014 Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary was given to ‘Are you Listening?’ directed by Kamar Ahmed Simon. ‘Jaya’ by Puja Maewal won the 2014 audience choice award for best short film.
‘Titli’ is one real gem of a film, and it is produced by Aditya Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films and Dibakar Banerjee Productions Pvt. Ltd. The movie showcases the story of ‘Titli’ the youngest member of a carjacking family. He is very much frustrated about his family business, and he always plans things to combat it. Titli’s marriage changes his life from grass root level as he finds an unlikely ally in his new wife, Neelu.
Titli stars, Ranvir Shorey, Amit Sial, Shashank Arora, Lalit Behl and Shivani Raghuvanshi in the lead roles.
The 3rd edition of ‘The Heritage Film Festival’ is scheduled from November 19th – November 25th 2014. The festival which was initiated in the year 2012 is now a very prominent event in the Indian Film Festival Circuit, and it is literally proclaiming the rich artistic heritage of the country in front of the Global Public.
The festival organizers have unleashed the themes for the festival in March 2014, and they received 200+ submissions for screening movies. The selection panel has finalized the movies for screening after a thorough filtering process.
The Jury panel for this year’s Heritage Film Festival comprises of some eminent personalities, and it includes, Smt. Aditi Desai, renowned actress, activist and script writer, Smt. Villoo Mirza, Founder of Design Deals, Smt. Esther David, Award winning author and artist, and Shri. Ravji Sondarva, renowned Cinematographer.
Some of the noted films which will be screened in this year’s Film Festival includes, ‘Unfolding the Pata Story’, ‘Tradition’, ‘The Idols of Kinnal’ etc. Stay Tuned on All Lights Film Magazine for all the updates about ‘The Heritage Film Festival’.
48th annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival is scheduled from April 10th – 19th 2015, and this year the festival will be much bigger and mightier than never before. The World Fest will screen nearly 60 feature film premiers, and it will also pay special emphasis on classic American and International independent films. The festival will give special preference and encouragement to award-winning short films and documentary films.
The festival offers International competition in various sections which includes, Features, Shorts, TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media, 3D and Music Videos.
“We are fiercely dedicated to the Indie Feature and Short Film and look for a quality selection of individual films to maintain a smaller, yet effective program rather than an overly large and unwieldy slate of 150-300 films. For the 2015 WorldFest we continue to use ‘A good story, well told’ as our time-tested approach to film selection”, said Kathleen Haney, World Fest Artistic and Program Director.
The next deadline for submitting your films and videos for this festival is November 15th 2014.
The 2014 edition of the much reputed NFDC Film Bazaar will be conducted from November 20th – 24th at the Marriott Resort in Goa. One of the main highlights of the Film Bazaar is the ‘Work in Progress Lab’. The Lab allows filmmakers to showcase their rough cut feature films in front of an eminent International panel. The filmmakers will also get a chance to discuss various aspects of filmmaking, and it will in turn help them to make their movie in the most impeccable manner. The recent news from this corner is regarding the selection of movies for the ‘Work in Progress Lab’.
The organizers have announced the selection in Documentary and Fiction Categories, and the full list is given below.
Fiction :
Bokul by Reema Borah
Highway by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Nil Battey Sannata by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Tathagat by Manav Kaul
Thithi by Raam Reddy
Documentary :
12 Acres by Rajesh Thind
Maidaan (Home Ground) by Kavita Carneiro
Nehi Mozo Hanü Dizo Le (Without You, I am Nothing) by Anushka Meenakshi and Iswar Srikumar
Proposition for a Revolution by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla
Waiting for Herzog by Shaan Khattau
The International Panel of mentors for the Work in Progress Fiction Lab are Marco Müller, Philipo Campbell, Sunmin Park, Francesca Calvelli and Gabor Greiner.
On the other hand, Claudia Tronnier, Noemi Schory, Iikka Vehkalahti, Per K. Kirkegaard and Derek Malcom forms the International panel of mentors for Work in Progress Documentary Lab.
‘Court’ the Indian judicial drama directed by Chaithanya Tamhane is continuing its dream run in the International Film Festival circuit. The recent recognition of ‘Court’ came from Vienna, where the film won the FIPRESCI prize at the Vienna International Film Festival. The festival was concluded on November 6th, and the recognition of Court in this festival became another feather in the crown for Chaithanya and her crew.
“This film is a quietly sophisticated, emotionally restrained yet hugely affecting account of the politics, incompetence and casual corruption of the Indian justice system, which has a universal resonance. While focused on legal procedure, glimpses into the everyday lives of the protagonists add depth and surprising humour to the iniquities within the court”, said the Jury about the film.
‘Court’ is a movie with huge social significance. The film paves light to the unholy alliances and partnerships which prevail in the much glorified Indian Judiciary system. This is not the first time that ‘Court’ is winning award from an International event. The film has previously won the Golden Gateway award for Best Film, Best Director and Jury Special Mention for Ensemble Cast at the 16th Mumbai Film Festival. ‘Court’ also won the Best Film Award in the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival
‘Lucia’ was a turning point in the history of Kannada cinema. The industry which was revolving through Masala Movies tasted a change when Pawan Kumar made this movie with the help of crowd funding. The film garnered highly positive reviews from various International Film Festival circuits, and it literally changed the face of Sandalwood. Now, the director is all set to make another film, and he is planning to raise amount for this film through crowd funding.
The movie is titled C10 H14 N2, and the director has started his crowd funding campaign on October 31 at Indiegogo. The director is planning to fund as much as 3 crore, and this is considered as the biggest crowd funding campaign for any Indian feature film on the internet. “Though we have mentioned the target as Rs. 3Cr, we’d like to see it stretch up to 5Cr if the audience finds the project interesting. There are a few sequences in the film which will benefit largely from higher budgets”, wrote the director on Indiegogo.
The campaign will continue till November 30th. Within a day, the director has succeeded to fund 2.8 lakh from the Kannada speaking community who lives in all corners of the world. The new movie is expected to be an action packed thriller, and it will have all the elements required to satisfy the needs of a normal moviegoer.
Lucia was big success, and it grossed more than 1.3 crores from the Kannada Box Office. The film was made with a budget of 95 lakhs. The makers also sold the Hindi remake rights of the movie, and this amount is yet to get revealed.
‘Tigers’ the much expected movie directed by Danis Tanovic will hit the Indian screens on March 6th 2015. The movie has Emraan Hashmi and Geethanjali Thappa in the lead role, and it is produced by Prashita Chaudhary of Cinemorphic and co-produced by Guneet Monga of Sikhya Entertainment. The film had its world premiere in the Toronto International Film Festival 2014, and it was soon followed by another screening in San Sebastian Film Festival.
Upon the screening, the film received highly positive reviews, and the same response is expected when the film hit the Indian theaters. I’m curious to see how Indians react to Tigers. I’m very happy with the response at the festivals. The theatrical release is the next frontier,” said Danis Tanovic regarding the Indian release.
‘Tigers’ portrays the story of Ayan, a pharmaceutical salesman who begins his unending fight against a multinational medicine manufacturer after he realizes that they are marketing a deadly baby formula that’s responsible for the death of hundreds of babies every day.
Two Indian Films, Gulabi Gang and ‘Unravel’ won awards at the 10th edition of the recently concluded AlJazeera Documentary Film Festival in Doha. Meghna Gupta’s ‘Unravel’ won the jury award in the short film category whereas ‘Gulabi Gang’ directed by Nishtha Jain won the prestigious Public Liberty and Human Rights Award in the Long Film Category.
‘Unravel’ has earlier been screened in the Sydney and Raindance film festivals, and there it was opened to highly positive critical acclaim. The short film follows the Western World’s least wanted clothes which are now being sent to a textile recycling factory in the sleepy town of Panipat, Northern India. With the help of these clothes and imagination, they construct the picture of the west, and this is the main theme of this short.
‘Gulabi Gang’ is a documentary which portrays the story of a group of women in Bundelkhand who is fight against gender bias, corruption and rights for the Dalit. They always wear pink sarees, and thus the name ‘Gulabi Gang’.
The 28th edition of Leeds International Film Festival will open on 5th November 2014, and it will run through 20th of this month. The main highlight of the festival will be the attendance of James Kent and Rosie Alison. ‘Testament of Youth‘ directed by James Kent will open the festival, and it will be soon followed by the World Premier of ‘The Taking’. The festival is renowned as the largest film festival in the north, and it will feature more than 250 screenings at venues across the city, including Leeds Town Hall, Hyde Park Picture House, Everyman Leeds, City Varieties, Belgrave Music Hall and Cottage Road.
‘Testament of Youth‘ is a movie which is based on the book written by Vera Brittain in the same name. The movie showcases Vera’s personal experiences in the backdrop of World War I. During the time of War, she postpones her studies, and started to serve as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in London. In the later part of her life, she turns to a pacifist and writer.
Another noted films which will be screened in the festival are, ‘Catch Me Daddy’ and ‘X+Y’. Both these films were supported with investment from Screen Yorkshire’s Yorkshire Content Fund. ‘Catch Me Daddy’ is a thriller film directed by Daniel Wolfe, and ‘X+Y’ is crafted by Ryan Piers Williams.