The 1st International Film Festival for the Persons with Disabilities was held at Siri Fort, Delhi from December 1-3, 2015 and concluded with Top awards presented to Chotoder Chobi (Best Feature Film) Algorithms (Best Docu Feature), Goonga Pehelwan (Best Docu Film), Fingertip (Best short) and Yellow (Special Jury Mention)
The awards to the winners were presented by Hon’ble MoS, I&B Shri Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore”
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A large Nigerian delegation is at the 46th IFFI in Goa led by Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) managing director Danjuma Wurim Dad who invited Indian filmmakers to screen their films at the 7th Nigerian International Film Festival in 2016. He said filming permits would be issued 48 hours, a salutary lesson for Indian bureacracy mired in red tape.
We learnt Nigeria has three channels dedicated to the telecast of Indian films.Wow.
Talks with the Indian ...
"Spanish cinema is a centre-piece of Spanish contemporary culture. From Luis Buñuel’s mid-century masterpieces to Almodóvar’s “fin-de-siècle” follies, cinema has been both a tool to understand the evolution of Spanish society and a mirror to examine ourselves. " Thus spake Gustavo de Arístegui, Spain's Ambassador in India at the 46th IFFI in Goa. "Given the already existing interest in Spain (interest ...
On behalf of GOI's Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD),and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) to organize the first International Film Festival for the Persons with Disabilities' (IFFPD), a unique three-day film festival for persons with disabilities, which will be held at Siri Fort, New Delhi, from December 1- 3, 2015. The concluding day of the festival is the Internat...
“Cinema is beyond entertainment.“Making films is about what you yourself want to narrate and we should be open to all kind of cinema” says Nitin Kakkar director of Ram Singh Charlie.
which has Divya Dutta in the lead role.The film traces the life of an impersonator who performs in a circus.
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The film industry should seriously think about unconventional methods for screening of so called non-commercial fims says B S Lingadevaru, director of Nanu Avenal whose film "Nanu Avanalla’ was screened at the 46th IFFI in Goa. These may include screening in schools, open theatres and other places for selected groups.Social media now helping such film producers reach a larger audience, he noted.
‘Nanu Avanalla’ narrates the story of Madesh, a boy from ru...
Korean offering at the ongoing 46th IFFI in Goa, ‘Daddy, Grandpa and My Lady revolves around three men who fall in love with a foreigner and how they react, behave and understand one another even when they speak a different language and live in a different culture.
Jung Hyun Kim, director of ‘Daddy, Grandpa and My Lady’ says he wanted to speak about love in three different generations.
"Falling in love is not a process but an understandin...
Debesh Chattterjee,debut director of ‘Natokar Moto’ (Bengali for ‘like a play’) says helming was a great experience but he will always remain hopelessly devoted to the stage because “Theatre is in my blood.”
‘Natokar Moto’ traces the journey of ‘Kheya’, a theatre artist and depicts Kolkata's socio-cultural circuit from 1950 to the 1970s. It depicts the struggles and conflicts that a female artist experiences...
In Goa, for a retro on his actor father, Shashi Kapoor, Kunal recollects his childhood experiences of attending past IFFIs with his dad and their house in Goa.( Shashi had two other children with Jennifer Kendall: the elder Karan now lives in the UK, daughter Sanjana has moved on from running the Prithvi Theatre to a new travelling theatre project,Junoon) Kunal has taken over Prithvi and points out that it is "a catalyst and does not put up shows of its own."
The d...
Milt Shefter, an associate of the prestigious Writer’s Guild of America and a member of the Academy Awards (Oscars) believes India does not need digital preservation as reels are more long-lasting than digital and digital guarantees less preservation space than reels.
(He also prefers the nitrate print of Casablanca to the new version since it has a more intense print.)
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‘Pakaram’ a film by Shankar Debnath revolves around the life of a painter. The central character is a 10 year old boy named Tapu.
Says Debnath: “ If a man takes hold of every moment he experiences, he can go anywhere with great success and belief in his heart”.
Debnath is a script and fiction writer who is passionate about art, the reason he made this film.
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‘Sohra Bridge’ directed by the late Bappaditya Bandopadhyay is Bengali film which tells the story of a daughter who embarks on a journey, across the remote expanses of north east India, looking for her father. She finds herself drawn
towards a complex labyrinth of memory and imagination . Drawing from local folklores and the history of violent sectarian politics of the north east, poetry and actually, the film conjures magic realism wh...
In ‘I Cannot Give You My Forest’, Kondh adivasis from Rayagada in Orissa simply but powerfully demonstrate their symbiotic relationship with the forest, which is a rich source of nutrition for them. Screend at the ongoing 46th IFFI in Goa, the 30-minute documentary directed by Nandan and Kavita emphasises the need to preserve India’s forests from commercial exploitation, and is the latest attempt by the filmmakers to throw a light on the fragile state of India’s nation...
The international community was represented by Ruth Harley (Former CEO Screen Australia and New Zealand Film Commission), Gisella Carr (Chief Executive, Film New Zealand), James Weyman from Ontario Media Corp., German producer Michael Henricks, French Producer Marc Irmer among others.
The last word must go to Nina Lath Gupta, MD, NFDC who said, “ that it has been our endeavour over the years to facilitate the ease of shooting films in Indi...
Industry Delegates at the first Film Symposium
Eminent film fraternity members included Shyam Benegal, Ramesh Sippy, Prakash Jha, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Sudhir Mishra, Raj Kumar Hirani, Anubhav Sinha, Kabir Khan, Vani Tripathi Tikoo, Bharat Bala, Sanjay Suri. Also,well-known Producers and line producers, Iqbal Kidwai, Pravesh Sahni, Raman Lamba, Deborah Bennatar.
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Shanker Raman’s Gurgaon (Work In Progress-Fiction) and Rahul Jain’s Machines (Work In Progress-Documentary) won the Prasad DI Award for the best WIP projects in their categories.
The awards were presented by Marco Mueller (Mentor, WIP Lab-Fiction) and Derek Malcolm (Mentor, WIP Lab-Documentary) to the winners. While announcing the award, Derek Malcolm said, “Every year I come here, the documentaries get jus...
Deepti D'Cunha,India Curator,Rome Film Festival curated Film Bazaar Recommends for the Viewing Room from a whopping 156 submissions in 29 different Indian languages including features, shorts and documentaries.
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This year 19 projects were selected to participate in the Co-production Market, including
Bombay Rose directed by Gitanjali Rao, Manto directed by Nandita Das, Agra directed by Kanu Behl(of Titli), Pirates by directed Ritesh Raj More and produced by Ritesh Batra, A Goat’s Life directed by Fahad Mustafa, Newton directed by Amit V Masurkar (of SulemaniKeeda fame) and Memories and My Mother (Bengali) directed by Aditya Vikram Sengupta.
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The Knowledge Series at NFDEC's four day Film Bazaar included insightful sessions addressed by luminaries too man ytoo name here: Let me cite a few: Shekhar Kapur, Rohit Sippy, A R Rahman - Today and Tommorrow Beyond Films (moderated by Nasreen Munni Kabir) Kabir Khan - Traversing across Real Stories to Features with Stars ( moderated by TV anchor Rajeev Masand ) and Vikas Bahl who spoke on Choosing the Story and Positioning It Right. Satya Raghavan- Head of Content Operat...
The Film Symposium, which emphasized the economic potential of film tourism in the country as a whole included sessions with the Archaeological Survey of India, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Railways. Not sure why it was a closed door session though.Kyon? Pourquoi? Warrum? Lama? Kiteac?Perche? Porqué?
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Also in attendance were A-list film professionals like Marco Mueller, chief advisor to the Beijing International Film Festival and former artistic chief at the Rome, Venice and Locarno festivals, Ruth Harley, CEO New Zealand Film Commission and Gisella Carr, Film New Zealand's Chief Executive.
Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, visited the Film Bazaar twice, once to watch Arun Frank's DadHold My Hand starring starring Denzil Smith, and Ratna Pathak Sha...
Exclusively created to encourage collaboration between the international and South Asian film fraternities,NFDC's Film Bazaar aims at facilitating the sales of world cinema in the region. The 2014 market saw an attendance of 1042 delegates from 38 countries with country delegations from Canada, South Korea and Poland. This year saw an increase in the number of international buyers and sellers of film rights from all over the world: Remi Burah of Arte France ( one of the biggest TV compa...
NFDC's Film Bazaar rocked with many firsts at its ninth edition in India's littlest state, Goa, my Goa.
A Film Facilitation Office, a Film Tourism Workshop and Symposium,a Children’s Screenwriters’ Lab and 3 Investor Pitches which included 19 Co-Production Market projects selected across genres with a special focus on South Asian stories from across the globe.
There were too, nine Film Offices set up at this ye...
by Ronita Torcato
A couple of blue chips have freshly oxygenated the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image's filmfest which was resuscitated by two film professionals, Kiran Rao and Anupama Chopra who unveiled the upcoming 17th Mumbai Film Festival (29th October-5th November ) new brand identity with its new sponsor partners.
"We are delighted Reliance Jio and Star Network see the rightful potential of MAMI and have joined hands with us ...
by Ronita Torcato
The Singapore Consulate-General in Mumbai held its 2nd Singapore Film Festival from 20–21 April 2015 at the Little Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai. The film festival marks the start of the celebrations lined up in Mumbai to commemorate Singapore’s 50th year of independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Singapore and I...
Torcato Agnela Ronita 
