MISMFF 2022, 05: Silence! Here comes the Founder-Director, Dr. Khatuna Khundadze: Exclusive interview, by Siraj Syed       Q.: How was the first festival conceived and why? A: If you are in Georgia, in Mestia, and standing on the Terrace Theatre, the first word that come to you will be “mountain”. In Georgia, and in the Caucasus, there was no mountain film festival. I, and my partner, Gegi Paliani, there should be a mountain film festival, and so ...

RIFF 2020: Winners all Below is the complete list of award-winners at the 6th Rajasthan International Film Festival (RIFF), Jaipur, January 18-22, 2020. The distribution ceremony was held at the Jawahar Kala Kendra. It was announced at the end of the awards function that the 7th RIFF will be not be held in Jaipur, but in another city of Rajasthan. Sources confirm that this was being done to avoid clashing with the other film festival, which is held parallel to RIFF, the Jaipur International F...

IFFI 50: Open Forum debates benefits of digital distribution for independent film-makers The 50th edition of IFFI held an Open Forum on the 27th of November, 2019. The topic debated in the session was: whether independent producers are benefiting because of digital distribution or not. Speakers on the panel were renowned film-makers Shaji N. Karun, Rahul Dholakia (Parzania and Raees fame), famous editor Carol Littleton (ET), Ujwal Nirgudkar, Technical Advisor to IFFI, wildlife film-maker S...

Very nice initiative from our correspondent in India Siraj Syed "A press conference was held on 19th November, on the eve of the inauguration of the 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), at Maquinez Palace, Panaji, Goa. It was addressed by the Chief Minister of Goa (ESG), Mr. Pramod Sawant, who is also the Chairman of the Entertainment Society of Goa, and Mr. Chaitanya Prasad, Director of IFFI, among others. It was revealed at the PC that the cost of organising IFFI 2019 was...

Award Winners at 5th Aurangabad International Film Festival (AIFF), January 09-13, 2019 A city that is home to numerous historical monuments, Aurangabad, in Maharashtra, was the venue for a film festival that attracted housefull audiences to all the shows. My friend Ashok Rane, who is a film society veteran, journalist and festival regular, has been serving as its Director since last year. He invited me to serve on the feature film Jury, along with Chairperson N. Chandra (director-producer-wr...

IFFI Goa 2017, XIV: Open Forum: 'Social media an enabler, not competitor for documentary filmmaking' Panellists, however, added a caveat that the authenticity of videos needs to be verified as they have the potential to create social unrest. 27 Nov 2017 12:57 IST The Open Forum organised by IDPA (Independent* Documentary Producers' Association) on Sunday, 26 November, was the topic, 'Crowding the social media: Is documentary only source of genuine information?'  &nb...

Aamir, Nasir, Tahir, Tariq, Mansoor, Amjad: Movies, Masti, Modernity, Flashback 6 To remind you, Aamir is indeed Aamir Khan, Amjad is definitely Gabbar Singh, and the triple M above is to acknowledge that it was Akshay Manwani’s biographical book on the cinema of Nasir Hussain that got me delving into the period of about 15 years, when I interacted with the Hussain Khans (first five) and the bare Khan (last, but the most imposing personality). Actually, Mansoor did not use his middle na...

Aamir, Nasir, Tahir, Tariq, Mansoor, Amjad: Movies, Masti, Modernity, Flashback 3 To remind you, Aamir is indeed Aamir Khan, Amjad is definitely Gabbar Singh, and the triple M above is to acknowledge that it was Akshay Manwani’s biographical book on the cinema of Nasir Hussain that got me delving into the period of about 15 years, when I interacted with the Hussain Khans (first five) and the bare Khan (last, but the most imposing personality). Actually, Mansoor did not use his middle na...

DILIP KUMAR: Me and the Padma Vibhushan winner Getting the nation’s second highest civilian honour at 92 years and 45 days of age maybe a good example of beating the clock by the proverbial whisker, and Dilip Kumar is a most deserving recipient. But his art has already bagged all possible honours in the 54 year acting career he had, from 1944 to 1998. As a teenager, I earned tons of appreciation for mimicking him in the famous temple-deity confrontation scene from Dil Diya Dard Liya. L...