River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival celebrates its 10th edition with a tribute and a photographic exhibition on multi-award winner and celebrated director Satyajit Ray, in addition to the films in competition and special screenings.

The 10th River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival, founded and directed by Selvaggia Velo, will take place in Florence, Italy, from 3rd to 9th December, 2010.
Under the Patronage of the Embassy of India in Rome, the Festival will take place in the cinemas Odeon and Spazio Uno, under the aegis of Fondazione Sistema Toscana-Film Commission, as part of Cinquanta Giorni di Cinema Internazionale a Firenze.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival will be doubling up its venues: in addition to the main one at Odeon cinema, the Festival will also take place at Spazio Uno cinema, which had been it’s venue from 2002 to 2006.

In addition, the Animation Studio Eeksaurus Productions of Mumbai will produce a short film to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Festival.










CINEMA ODEON
This will be the main venue for the films in competition - features, short films and documentaries - which will include some Italian and European premieres, while some of the directors will be there to meet the audience.

Odeon will also host a retrospective of the multi-award-winner director Satyajit Ray (1921-1992). In collaboration with the Directorate of Film Festivals of New Delhi, the National Film Archive of India in Pune and the National Film Development Corporation of Mumbai, four masterpieces of the Bengali director will be screened at the Festival:
- Jalsaghar (The Music Room), 1958. Set in the Thirties, the film tells the passing and the changing of times through the eyes of a music-loving Zamindar.
- Charulata (The Lonely Wife), 1964. From a novel by Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the Berlin Silver Bear for Best Director in 1965, this is the story of Charu, a woman living in Calcutta in the late XIX century in a privileged condition but in deep loneliness.
- Aranyer Dinratri (Days and Nights in the Forest), 1969. A stellar cast - including Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore - for an elegant comedy which wittily explores the lifestyle of the Indian middle-class, with extremely modern female figures.
- Shatranj ke Khilari (The Chess Players), 1977. Set in Lucknow one year before the Indian Mutiny of 1857, it tells about a game of chess between two lords while the British Army is marching into town. This has been Ray’s most expensive film and is a reflection about the circumstances that led to the colonisation of India by the British. The cast includes Sir Richard Attenborough.
Furthermore, Odeon will also include the screenings of the best animation films from Anifest India 2010 in collaboration with The Animation Society of India, as well as the established partnership with 1takemedia.com for the third Advantage India 3-minute short film competition, of which the winning films will be screened on the closing night of the Festival.


CINEMA SPAZIO UNO
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Festival, this cinema will be the venue for seeing all the films - including feature films, short firms and documentaries - which won the River to River Digichannel Audience Award in the past nine years.


SIDE EVENTS
• As a tribute to Satyajit Ray’s films, Florence’s Museo Marino Marini will host a photographic exhibition on Nemai Ghosh, Ray’s director of photography, who will be in Florence to present his works. The exhibition is organised in collaboration with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations of New Delhi.
• On the mornings of Saturday 4th, Sunday 5th and Wednesday 8th December, talks and workshops on India, its cinema and its culture will be held at Cinema Odeon.





Among the selected films, the audience will pick the winner of the River to River DigiChannel Audience Award. The award (one per category: feature films, short firms and documentaries) consists in the free promotion of the film on Digichannel.net, the publication on the website, a presentation in the newsletter, a preview on the homepage and a link to the international DC network.


River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival is organised with the sponsorship of Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali-Direzione Cinema, Regione Toscana and Fondazione Sistema Toscana-Film Commission, Consiglio Regionale della Toscana and Assessorato alla Cultura del Comune di Firenze, Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze along with OAC and the National Indian Tourism Office of Milan, with the invaluable support of Angela Caputi Giuggiù, Apt Firenze, Hotel Roma, Hotel River, Instyle and Swiss International Air Lines, in collaboration with CTS and Deaphoto.


Industry, press and cultural accreditations are open until November 15th, and can be filled in online from the accreditations section of the Festival website.
Last minute accreditations will be possible during the Festival week.


All through the Festival there will be the Maharaja dishes of India Restaurant in Fiesole, in collaboration with Odeon Bistrot.














For info:
River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival
Piazza Santo Spirito, 1
50125 Florence - Italy
ph. +39 055 286929
+39 335 5743364
fax +39 055 284983
pressoffice@rivertoriver.it
www.rivertoriver.it