Festival Catalogue 2010 - International Film Festival of India

Transcription

CONTENTS
International Competition
Jury
Films
Cinema of the World
Retrospectives
Jan Jakub Kolski (Poland)
Mira Nair (India)
Michael Cacoyannis (Greece)
Jean Becker (France)
Jim Jarmusch (USA)
Country Focus
Mexico
Georgia
Taiwan
Sri Lanka
Homage
Eric Rohmer
Cannes Kaleidoscope 2010
Contemporary Iranian Cinema: A Glimpse
Cinema Digital
Inspirations: Tales of Courage
Students Cinema: The New Risk Takers
Australian Indigenous Images on Screen
Indian Premieres
Indian Panorama: Features & Non-Features
COMPETITION SECTION/JURY
Jerzy Antczak
Writer, Director, Producer
Poland
Jerzy Antczak graduated from the Theatre Academy in
Lodz in 1949. He directed two versions of Maria
Dabrowska’s novel, Nights and Days (1972) both for
theatrical release and as a TV series of 12 episodes. It
opened to great reviews and became the highestgrossing feature ever in the history of film business in
Poland.
In 1975, he made Nights and Days, which, among other
accolades, won the Silver Bear for best female lead role
and was nominated for an Academy Award in the best
language film category.
Among the most significant films of his career are The Shot
(1966), Countess Cosel (1968) and The Nuremberg
Epilogue (1970).
Antczak is co-founder of the Polish Masterpiece Theatre.
From 1963 to 1978, he was the head of the Polish
Theatrical Programs. He has to his credit more than 100
productions as a writer, director and producer. The Master
(1966), a TV special, earned Antczak the Prix Italia at the
prestigious World Television Festival in Palermo, Italy.
Since 1985 Antczak has been teaching at the Film School
at UCLA in Los Angeles as a tenured professor.
In 2002, he wrote, produced and directed Chopin – Desire
for Love, a feature film that sold in 35 countries and
fetched him a Platinum Remi at the World Fest Houston in
the period piece category. His other notable directorial
work includes The Lady of the Camellias (1994), a feature
for TV; Path of Glory (1995), a production for Polish
Masterpiece Theatre; and Caesar and Pompey (1996).
-------------------------------------
Sturla Gunnarsson
Filmmaker
Canada
Oscar nominated, Genie, Gemini and Emmy Awardwinning director Sturla Gunnarsson is one of Canada’s
most prolific and eclectic filmmakers, moving with ease
between feature
films, documentaries and television drama.
Feature films include the medieval epic, Beowulf &
Grendel, starring Gerard Butler, Stellan Skarsgaard and
Sarah Polly, Rare Birds, starring William Hurt, Andy Jones
and Molly Parker,
and Such A Long Journey, starring Roshan Seth, Om Puri
and Naseeredin Shah. Between them the films received
over 20 Genie Award nominations and were among the
top
grossing Canadian films in the years they were released.
Gunnarsson’s most recent film is Force of Nature, a
feature documentary about iconic Canadian
environmentalist David Suzuki. It premiered at this year’s
Toronto International Film Festival where it won the
People’s Choice Documentary Award. Other
documentaries include the non-fiction thriller,
Air India 182, the post-apartheid love story, Gerrie & Louise
and the cinema verite classic, Final Offer.
Gunnarsson has worked extensively in television, directing
both long form and episodic drama, including Defying
Gravity, Intelligence and DaVinci’s Inquest, for which he
won a Gemini Award for best directing. Long form drama
includes Scorn and 100 Days In The Jungle, both of which
won Gemini Awards for best TV movie, and the
Canada/UK mini-series Above And Beyond, for which
Gunnarsson received the Directors Guild Award for best
direction.
Gunnarsson is the national president of the Directors Guild
of Canada.
--------------------------
Mick Molloy
Writer, Actor, Producer
Australia
Mick Molloy is one of Australia’s most recognised and
successful comedians. He has made his mark across the
media as a popular writer, performer and producer in film,
television and radio. He has been named Australian
Movie Star of The Year at the prestigious Australian Movie
Convention in recognition of the outstanding success of
his films at the Australian box office. He has been named
Producer of the Year by The Screen Producers Association
of Australia, which is the highest accolade possible from
Australia’s most important industry body.
In a huge career spanning more than two decades
Molloy has been crucial to the growth, development and
success of Australian comedy. He has been involved in
seminal Australian projects such as Crackerjack, BoyTown,
The Degeneration, The Late Show and Kath & Kim. His
national radio show Martin/Molloy revolutionised the
drive-time radio slot in Australia.
Mick is a much loved and sometime controversial
Australian cultural icon.
-----------------------------------------
Olivier Père
Festival Programmer and Author
France
Olivier Père was appointed artistic director of the Locarno
International Film Festival (Switzerland) in 2009, having
been the director of the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight since
2004. Born in 1971 in Marseilles, France, and educated at
the Sorbonne in Paris, Père joined the French
Cinémathèque in 1995, serving as a programmer. He has
written about films for the publication Les
Inrockuptibles since 1997. In 2010 he participated in the
book Take 100 the Future of film (Phaidon, New York) and
co-wrote with Marie Colmant Jacques Demy (La
Martinière, Paris).
----------------------------
Revathy
Actor, Director
India
Revathy has done more than 100 films in five Indian
languages as an actor. Recipient of several major awards
for her performances in Mann Vasanai (Tamil), Manasa
Veena (Telugu), Killukam (Malayalam), Kakothi Kavile
Appuppan Thadigal (Malayalam), Anjali (Tamil) and
Devar Magan (Tamil), she also won the Tamil Nadu State
Award for her on-screen work in Pudumai Penn and
Thalamurai.
She was given the National Award for the Best Supporting
Actress for her portrayal in the film Devar Magan, directed
by Bharathan.
She turned director in 2002 with Mitr – My Friend. The film
won the National Awards for best actress (Shobana), best
editing (Bina Venu) and best English feature film. For Mitr –
My Friend, Revathy also received the Silver Peacock, Jury
award for Direction, in the International Film Festival of
India at Delhi in 2002.
Phir Milenge, staring Shilpa Shetty, Salman Khan and
Abhishek Bachchan, in Hindi was her second directorial
venture. The film is based on an individual’s fight against
the attitude of the society towards an HIV+ person. She
won wide critical acclaim for the film.
Verukku Neer, a television serial for Doordarshan Kendra,
Chennai, was also directed by Revathy. It was based on a
Sahitya Academy Award-winning novel of the same
name by Rajam Krishnan.
COMPETITION SECTION/FILMS
IFFI 2010: Opening Film
West is West
United Kingdom, 2010, 102 minutes
Director: Andy de Emmony
Screenplay: Ayub Khan Din
Camera: Peter Robertson
Editor: Jon Gregory, Stephen O’Connol
Production Design: Aradhana Seth, Tom Conroy
Sound: Simon Willis
Music: Rob Lane, Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Producer: Leslee Udwin
Cast: Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Aqib Khan, Jimi Mistry, Emil Marwa,
Lesley Nicol, Ila Arun, Vijay Raaz, Nadim Sawlha
Synopsis
Manchester, North of England, 1975. The now much diminished,
but still claustrophobic and dysfunctional, Khan family continues
to struggle for survival. Sajid, the youngest Khan, the runt of the
litter, is deep in pubescent crisis under heavy assault both from his
father's tyrannical insistence on Pakistani tradition, and from the
fierce bullies in the schoolyard. So, in a last, desperate attempt to
'sort him out', his father decides to pack him off to Mrs Khan No 1
and family in the Punjab, the wife and daughters he had
abandoned 35 years earlier. It is not long before Ella Khan (Mrs
Khan No2) with a small entourage from Salford, England, swiftly
follows to sort out the mess, past and present.
Andy de Emmony
Andy is an award winning director in all formats: from commercials
to TV series, and comedy to drama. He started his career on
Spitting Image, directing ten series of the BAFTA nominated
satirical show. And has directed many sitcoms including RED
DWARF (Winning an Emmy) and FATHER TED (Winning a BAFTA).
After moving across to drama, he was BAFTA nominated for the
first series of Cutting It and The Wife Of Bath one of two
Canterbury Tales he directed, and again for Fantabulosa! starring
Michael Sheen and based on the Kenneth Williams Diaries.
Other notable credits include Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee, the
three-part adaptation of the novel by Meera Syal, and the series
At Home with the Braithwaites, A Thing Called Love and 55
Degrees North. Andy recently directed the single drama Recovery
(starring David Tenant and Sarah Parish) and Filth, The Mary
Whitehouse Story, starring Julie Walters. His last completed film,
God on Trial, set in Auschwitz was broadcast in Autumn 2008.
-----------------------------------China
Apart Together
China, 2010, 93 minutes
Director: Wang Quan’an
Screenplay: Wang Quan’an and Na Jin
Camera: Lutz Reitemeier
Editing: Wu Yuxiang
Music: Na Peng
Production Design: Yu Baiyang, He Xufeng
Cast: Lu Yan, Xu Kaigen, Mo Xiaotian, Ling Feng
Production and Sales: Lighshades Film Production
Synopsis
A former nationalist soldier (Feng Ling) who fled mainland China in 1949
returns home to his family years later. But his wife (Lu Yan) has a new
common- law husband and he has never met his son before. The film won
the Best Screenplay award at the 60th Berlin Film Festival.
Wang Quan’an
Wang Quan’an is a Sixth Generation Chinese film director. He was born in Yan’an.
He graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1991. Unlike many of his
contemporaries, who focus on urban life, Wang's films emphasise China's rural life.
He has directed three films thus far. His next film, titled Bai Lu Yuan (White Deer Plain),
is currently in development. Wang has made it known that he would like to cast
fellow director Zhang Yimou in the lead role. Wang won the Golden Bear at the 2007
Berlin Film Festival for his film Tuya’s Marriage.
----------------------------------
Czech Republic
Protektor
Czech Republic, 2009, 98 minutes
Director: Marek Najbrt
Screenplay: Robert Geisler, Benjamin Tuček and Marek Najbrt
Camera: Miloslav Holman
Editor: Pavel Hrdlicka
Sound: Tomas Zubek, Marek Hart
Art Direction: Ondrej Nekvasil
Production: Negativ Film Productions
Synopsis
Emil Vrbata, a radio host, is in love with his wife Hana, pursuing together a life
they enjoy. It’s Prague 1939. Then comes war, and with it, German
occupation. To survive and protect his wife Emil chooses to collaborate.
Ultimately that threatens to destroy the very thing he is trying to protect:
Hana. In dark times, a man becomes a hero even if it’s the last thing he wants
to do.
Protektor is Marek Najbrt’s second film. His first, CHAMPIONS, won three Czech
lions (Czech Academy Awards).
The title is cunningly ironic. The film opens on a Prague street in 1942, with a
man, journalist Emil Vrbata, bicycling home furiously; it is the day that the
Butcher of Prague, Reinhard Heydrich, Reichsprotektor of Czechoslovakia,
has been assassinated. The film flashes back to the late 1930s, showing us Emil
and his wife (Marek Daniel and Jana Plodková, both superb), popular movie
star Hana Vrbatová, whose greater success tries her husband’s professional
self-esteem; he becomes her “protector” for real, however, when to spare
her reprisals, and to court success for himself, he joins a radio station and
propagandizes on-air for the Third Reich. Hana, you see, is Jewish. Emil’s
compromises to protect the love of his life generate horrible results. Now he is
ordered to divorce and denounce his wife. Proceeding ahead in time, even
beyond the (now comprehensible) 1942 starting-point, the loop-around
structure, suggesting a noose, pulls tight. Drawing on the closing shot of
Pabst’s Die Dreigroschenoper (1931), Protektor ends with a hauntingly out-offocus evocation of the Holocaust.
Marek Najbrt
Graduated from Charles University with degrees in social sciences and
documentary filmmaking (FAMU). He lives and works in Prague. From 19911998, he wrote and directed a number of amateur and professional
audiovisual projects. Among the most important are the multi-media
performances Balconies (Balkóny, 1994) and Seven Dreams Realized (Sedm
splněných snů, 1996-1997), staged in the Prague theater Archa. In recent
years, he has devoted his efforts towards directing films, the most ambitious
project of which was Encyclopedia of the Universe, 2 cycles of short films for
television produced by the production company Negativ and Czech
Television. He debuted with the feature Champions.
Denmark
In a Better World
Denmark, 2010, 100 minutes
Director: Susanne Bier
Screenplay: Susanne Bier, Anders Thomas Jensen
Camera: Morten Soberg
Editor: Pernile Bech Christensen, Morten Egholm
Sound: Eddie Simonsen, Anne Jensen
Music: Johan Soderqvist
Producer: Sisse Graum Jorgensen
Production: Zentropa Entertainment
Synopsis
The story traces elements from a refugee camp in Africa to the
grey humdrum of everyday life in a Danish provincial town. The
lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary
but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and
sorrow lie in wait. Soon, friendship transforms into a dangerous
alliance and a breathtaking pursuit in which life is at stake.
Susanne Bier
Susanne Bier is Danish film director and screenwriter. She was born
in Copenhagen in 1960 to Jewish parents. Her father’s family fled
to Denmark in the 1930s when Hitler wrested power in Germany.
Soon after her graduation, Bier made the critically acclaimed
Freud’s Leaving Home, following it up with Family Matters. After the
Wedding (2006), which she co-wrote with Anders Thomas Jensen
and also directed, was Denmark’s official nomination for the
Oscars. In a Better World, too, will represent Denmark at the
upcoming 83rd Academy Awards.
-------------------------------------
India
Just Another Love Story
India, 2010, English, 129 minutes
Director: Kaushik Ganguly
Screenplay: Kaushik Ganguly
Cinematography: Soumik Haldar
Creative Director and Production Design: Rituparno Ghosh
Art Direction: Tanmay Sengupta
Music: Debojyoti Mishra
Sound: Anirban Sengupta & Dipankar Chaki
Cast: Chapal Bhaduri, Rituparno Ghosh, Indraneil Sengupta, Jisshu
Sengupta, Churni Ganguly, Raima Sen, Arindam Sil, Charlotte
Haywards
Synopsis
Seventy-plus Chapal Bhaduri, once famous for the feminine lead
roles he played, is essentially a woman, biologically trapped in a
man’s body. He lives a forsaken life, surviving on memories of his
past until he meets Abhiroop Sen, an openly gay filmmaker who
lures him with big money to reveal his tragic story in every detail
for a documentary.
Media wrath, homophobia, emotional conflicts and attractions
ensue in the lives of the characters, while they come across their
similar complexities, divided loyalties and similar bonds of
sisterhood with a lover’s suffering ‘legitimate’ wife. Abhiroop is
eventually to question his fake liberation, and face his essential
solitude as a marginal being in society.
Kaushik Ganguly
Kolkata-born Kaushik Ganguly spent eight years as a teacher and
freelance scriptwriter before turning a director in the year 1995
with tele-serial Raahat (Zee TV, Hindi). What followed were other
serials - Bhalobasha Mandobasha, Amanisha, Khirki Theke SinghaDuar and acclaimed telefilms like Sesh Krityo, Ushno Tar Jonyo,
Atithi and Collage to name a few. Marking his feature film debut
with Waarish (2004), Kaushik went on to garner much acclaim for
his second film Shunyo e Bukey (2005) which was screened at the
London International Women’s Film Festival, Stuttgart Film Festival
and L.A. International Film Festival. His other noted works are Ek
Mutho Chobi, Brake Fail and Jackpot.
--------------------------------------
India
Moner Manush (The Quest)
India, 2010, Bengali, 150 minutes
Direction/Music/Choreography: Goutam Ghose
Screenplay: Goutam Ghose
Camera: Goutam Ghose
Author of the story: Sunil Gangopadhyay
Production Design: Samir Chanda
Costume: Bibi Russel (Bangladesh), Neelanjana Ghose (India)
Editor: Moloy bandopadhyay
Sound: Anup Mukhopadhyay
Lyrics: Lalan Fakir, Sahjad Firdaus
Cast: Prosenjit Chatterjee, Raisul Islam Asad, Chanchal
Chowdhury, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Syed Hasan Imam, Gulshan Ara
Champa, Paoli Dam,
Synopsis
Rabindranath Tagore’s elder brother Jyotirindranath Tagore, an
urban intellectual, meets the octogenarian Lalan Faqir and
exchanges views with this man of native wisdom. This exchange of
ideas forms the cinematic narrative of the film.
It is a saga of the life and times of Lalan Faqir and his liberal sect
who lived a life of high order in an otherwise superstitious 19th
century Indian society and developed an extremely secular and
tolerant philosophy based on the best of the liberal and
enlightened tradition of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. And thus
became an easy prey for the Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists.
The love and compassion of Lalan is relevant more than ever in
today’s world of intolerance and hate.
Goutam Ghose
An active part of group theatre movement in Calcutta, Goutam
Ghose started making documentaries in 1973. His second
documentary Hungry Autumn won him the main award at the
Oberhausen Film Festival. Since then his feature films and
documentaries has received world-wide recognition. Dakhal,
Padma Nadir Majhi and Abar Arannye are some of his noted
feature films; while Meeting a Milestone, Beyond the Himalayas
and Ray are some of his prominent works as a documentary
filmmaker.
Besides several National Awards, Goutam Ghose has won
accolades several eminent International festivals. The only Indian
to win the coveted Vittori Di Sica Award, he was also awarded the
Knighthood of the Star of the Italian Solidarity in July 2006.
----------------------------India
Vihir
India, 2009, Marathi, 115 minutes
Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Story: Girish Kulkarni
Screenplay: Girish Kulkarni
Camera: Sudhir Palsane
Editor: Niraj Voralia
Art Directors: Sachin Bhilare, Ravin Karde, Ramcharantej Labani
Costume Design: Kalyani Kulkarni, Minal Desai
Music: Mangesh Dhakde
Sound: Anthony B J Ruban, Pramod Thomas
Producer: AB Corp Limited
Cast: Madan Deodhar, Alok Rajwade, Renuka Daftardar, Jyoti
Subhash, Dr. Mohan Agashe, Sulbha Deshpande, Girish Kulkarni
Synopsis
A story of two adolescent boys Sameer and Nachiket (cousins
who are best friends) standing on the cross roads of life - to
choose between the life that leads to petty worldly small
existence or the life of free existence that would let them spread
their wings and soar high in open skies. They play a game of hide
and seek in a rather unusual way where one cousin hides in death
and the other is looking for him in the life around him. Sameer’s
search leads him towards the experience of oneness where he
can unite with Nachiket again!
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Kulkarni is an alumni of FTII, Pune with a specialisation in direction.
His Diploma film Girni won the National Award for Best Short Film
and Best Direction (2005). He was selected as the only Indian
student for the summer University course in LA Femis, Paris, in 2000.
His short documentary Three Of Us premiered in Berlinale 2008 and
received many international awards. Valu, Umesh’s first feature
film premiered in Rotterdam 2008 was extremely successful with
critics as well as common audience.
--------------------------------------Iran
On Foot (Pay-e-Piyadeh)
Iran, 2009, 85 minutes
Director: Fereydoun Hasanpour
Screenplay: Fereydoun Hasanpour
Camera: Nader Masoumi
Editor: Saeed Shahsavari
Sound: Jahangir Mirshekari
World sales
IRIB Media Trade
45, Hedayat St, Yakhchal Ave, Tehran, Iran
Tel: +98 21 22548032
Fax: +98 21 22551914
Email:Ch_sales@iribmediatrade.ir, Shahrokhi@iribmediatrade.ir
Synopsis
Love is a holy thing in Jafar’s family. They only marry when they fall
in love. Jafar, 35, has not yet fallen in love. A stranger comes to
the village. She’s the new teacher of the school. Jafar thinks she is
the one he can marry.
Fereydoun Hasanpour
Born in 1961, Fereydoun Hasanpour is a graduate of film directing
from Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Tehran University. He made his
debut feature Summer Holidays in 1995. His films Money and
Sunflower Farm were awarded in the video competition section in
different editions of Isfahan Children Film Festival.
--------------------------------------Israel
Valley of Strength
Israel, 2010, 107 minutes
Direction: Dan Wolman
Screenplay: Ran Aviad
Camera: Shoshana Wolman
Editor: Eli Yarkoni
Sound: Yoav Dahari
Production: Dan Wolman Film Production
15 Ido Ramat Gan, Israel 52233
Tel: +972 3 5742683
Fax: +972 3 5742683
Email: danwol@zahav.net.il
Cast: Tamar Elkan, Zion Ashkenazi, Yaacov Bodo, Levana
Finkelstein, Ezra Dagan, Rotem Zisman, Eric Yitzhakov
Synopsis
This is a historical epic which interweaves the story of the first
wave of Jewish European migration to Palestine, at the end of the
19th century, with an unusual love story between Fania, a young
Russian immigrant ,and Yechiel, a native Jew.Seventeen year old
Fania, her baby daughter, elderly uncle and her retarded brother
arrive by boat at the port of Jaffa, having survived a “pogrom”
(massacre), in which all other members of their family, were
killed.As they’ve come to Palestine with no financial means, she,
her baby daughter, and her uncle, face evacuation from the
inn.At the inn, Fania meets Yechiel, a young widower, whose wife
died of malaria, leaving him to care by himself for their two
children. He is attracted to Fania and offers to marry her. Having
no real choice, she accepts and sets up north with him.At the
heart of this saga of survival and struggle lies a dramatic love
story. Fania is burdened by a deep and harrowing secret she is
unable to share with anyone else. But, without sharing it with her
husband Yechiel, their marriage cannot be consummated.
Dan Wolman
Born in Jerusalem in 1941. Made many films over the last forty
years, among them The Dreamer, Floch and Hide and Seek which
were presented at festivals such as Cannes, Venice and Berlin.
----------------------------Japan
Sword of Desperation
Japan, 2010, 114 mins
Director: Hideyuki Hirayama
Writers: Shohei Fujisawa (novel), Hidehiro Ito, Itaru Era
Producer: Hidehiro Ito
Synopsis
The expert swordsman Kanemi Sanzaemon is a man of principle,
first and foremost. His decisive, violent handling of high-level
corruption in the court of the local feudal lord landed him in
solitary confinement for two years. He has now been released,
with one caveat he cannot comprehend: He must serve as
bodyguard to the lord he betrayed. This thrilling, masterfully
stylized tale of honour combines classic samurai action with a taut
story of intrigue and betrayal.
Hideyuki Hirayama
Hideyuki Hirayama was born in Fukuoka in 1950. After graduating
from the Department of Broadcasting, College of Art, Nihon
University, he made his debut as a director with Maria no Ibukuro
(1990). He has works of various genres under his belt, including the
Haunted School series, The Laughing Frog (2002), OUT (2002),
Samurai Resurrection (2003) and Three for the Road (2007).
-----------------------------------------Poland
Little Rose
Poland, 2010, 118 minutes
Director: Jan Kidawa-Blonski
Screenplay: Maciej Karpinski, Jan Kidawa-Blonski
Cinematography: Piotr Wojtowicz
Editor: Cezary Grzesiuk
Sound: Wieslaw Znyk, Joanna Napieralska
Art: Joanna Bialousz
Cast: Andrzej SEWERYN, Magdalena BOCZARSKA, Robert WIECKIEWICZ, Jan Frycz,
Krzysztof Globisz, Grazyna Szapolowska
Production: WFDiF Documentary & Feature Films Studios in Warsaw, Chelmska 21,00724 Warsaw, Poland; Producer: Wlodzimierz Niderhaus, contacts: +48225593409, fax:
+4822 8406741 festiwale@wfdif.com.pl; wfdif@wfdif.com.pl
Co-production companies: 1. Telekomunikacja Polska S.A., Warsaw, Dominik Lesage
2. Monolith Films, Mariusz Lukomski
Sales: Monolith Films, 00-724 Warsaw, Chelmska 21, Mariusz Lukomski, +4822 851107778, fax: +4822 8511079, info@monolith.pl
Synopsis
An agent of the Communist Security Service makes his mistress
expose the true self of a noted dissident writer. Against her better
judgement, the girl falls in love with the very man she is out to trap.
This is an emotional story of a love triangle.
Jan Kidawa-Blonski
Jan Kidawa-Blonski is a film director, screenwriter, film and TV
producer born in 1953. He studied archirecture at the Silesian
Polytechnic and direction at the state film school in
Lodz.(PWSFTViT). In 1981 he graduated from the direction faculty.
In 1982-1991 he worked with Silesia, OKO, and Zodiak Film Studios;
in 1991- co-founder and Chairman of the Gambit Production Ltd.
that produces features, documentaries, commercials and TV
programs in 1990-1994 chairman of the Association of the Polish
Filmmakers; in 1990-2001 member of the Polish Committee of
Cinematography; in 1997-2001 member of the Board of Directors
of the Association of Independent Film & TV Production. His
directorial credits include Three Feet Above the Ground (1984),
Men’s Business (1988), Dairy in a Marble (1992), Virus (1996), and
Destined for Blues (2005).
--------------------------------------
Russia
Bibinur Story
Russia, 2009, 98 minutes
Director: Yuri Feting
Screenplay: Mansur Gilyazov, Yury Feting
Camera: Miksim Drozdov
Production Design: Vladislav Orlov, Bulat Gilvanov
Music: Radik Salimov
Sound: Igor Sidenko
Producer: Svetlana Bukharaeva
Cast: Firdaus Akhtyamova, Ernest Timerkhanov, Ruslan Mustafin, Nasikh
Fizyarakhmanov, Rezeda Khadiullina, Renata Minvaleeva, Nailya Gareeva
Production: Sabantuy Studio with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the
Russian Federation and Tatarkino of the Ministry of Culture of Tatarstan
Synopsis
And old woman called Bibinur sees a dream telling her that she is going to
die next Friday. So Bibinur has to use the time she has to repay all of her debts
and to prepare for teh final bow. Suddenly criminal businessmen and
landowners appear in the village. They intend to sell the land where now the
old cemetery is. One of them, Jihangir, who is used to the glamorous life of
the big cities having lived the most part of his life abroad, has now for the first
time in his life arrived on Tartar land. The young man stays in Bibinur’s house
for the night and she tells him about her life. As a result, he realises that Bibinur
is righteous and that his own ancestors came from this village. For the old
Bibinur, Juhangir is ready to confront his companion and refuse to sell the
land.
Yuri Feting
Yuri Feting, born in 1956, graduated from Institute of Theatre of Boris Schukin
by State academic theatre of E. Vakhtangov (1978). Till 1989 he worked in the
Theatre of Lenin Komsomol and the Theatre Rock Opera. In 1990 he
graduated from the courses of script writers and directors (workshop of Yury
German). From 1995 till 1998 he worked as a director on the television
programme Vzglyad. In 2000 he debuted in cinema with the film
Rozhdestvenskaya Misteriya (2000). His second film, Myths of My Childhood
(2005), received prizes at such film festivals as Kinoshok and New Russian
Cinema. Feting also teaches in the St. Petersburg Film University.
--------------------------------------------
Spain
Paper Birds
Spain, 2010, 125 minutes
Director: Emilio Aragon
Screenplay: Fernando Castets
Camera: David Omedes
Editor: Jose Salcedo
Music: Emilio Aragon
Sound: Segio Burmann, Eduardo Garcia Castro, Pelayo Gutierrez,
Marc Orts
Art: Fernando Gonzalez
Producers: Emilio Aragon, Mercedes Gamero
Cast: Fernando Cayo, Roger Princep, Imanol Arias, Carmen
Machi, Javier Coll, Cristina Marcos, Ana Cuesta
Synopsis
Jorge and Enrique are two artists in the post-Spanish Civil War
times that adopt an orphan child called Miguel. With a varieté
company that travels around the country, Jorge and Enrique see
the horrors left by the war. Meanwhile the Republic Army watch
Jorge and the rest of the company suspecting that some of them
are collaborating with the rebels opposed to the Francoist
Regime.
Emilio Aragon
Emilo Aragon belongs to a family of artists, and the art of
entertaining and moving audiences has always been his gift. He is
a multi awarded television and theatre producer/director and
music composer. Paper Birds is his debut as a film director.
-------------------------------Switzerland/Germany
The Big Cat
Germany/Switzerland, 2010, 89 minutes
Director: Wolfgang Panzer
Screenplay: Claus P Hant, Dietmar Guntsche
Camera: Edwin Horak
Editor: Jean-Claude Piroue
Production Design: Josef Sanktjohanser
Producers: Dietmar Guntsche, Wolfgang Behr, Claudia Wick,
Benito Muller, Wolfgang Muller
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Ulrich Tukur, Marie Baumer, Christiane Paul,
Edgar Selge
Synopsis
The Big Cat, inspired by the true experiences of Swiss author
Thomas Hürlimann, tells a fascinating story of love and political
power. The film provides a personal and unusual insight to the life
of a statesman, portraying the Swiss Federal President’s last two
days in office. While preparing for a royal state reception in honor
of the Spanish King, an intrigue is planned behind his back,
intending to cause his downfall. Private interests and the struggle
for political power get tangled up and result in a dangerous
mixture of highly explosive forces.
Wolfgang Panzer
Wolfgang Panzer was born in 1947 in Munich and grew up in Turin
and Lausanne. He studied Romance Languages and Literature,
Sociology and Journalism in Lausanne and Fribourg. During his
studies, he started working as a reporter and editor for Swiss
Television. At the age of 23, he returned to Munich for his studies at
the University of Television and Film (HFF). Since 1978, he has been
working as a freelance author, producer and director.
--------------------------------Taiwan
Taipei Exchanges
Taiwan, 2010, 82 minutes
Director: Hsiao Ya-Chuan
Screenplay: Hsiao Yu-Chuan
Camera: Lin Tse-Chung
Editor: Tao Chu-Chun
Sound: Tu Du-Che
Art: Lee Tung-Kang
Cast: Gwei Lun-Mei, Chang Han, Zaizai Lin
Production: BIT Production
World Sales: Atomic Future/ Atom Cinema
T: 886 (0) 2 2370 1666
F: 886 (0) 2 2370 1665
8F.-5, No.6 Hengyang Rd. Taipei 100 Taiwan
Synopsis
Doris’s Café is a homely space where people could relax and enjoy the soothing
afternoon sun and daydream. The aroma of coffee and home-baked desserts fills
the air. The café is meant to be as elegant as its owner, Doris, but has been turned
upside down by her sister, Josie. Ignoring Doris’s protest, Josie starts exchanging
goods with costumers in the shop. Objects of various kinds begin to accumulate;
discarded by their previous owners, they prove to be treasures in the eyes of others.
The activity of swapping goods upstages Doris’s coffee-making and becomes the
biggest attraction of the shop.
One day a man walks in by chance. He loves brownie with espresso and that
happens to be Doris’s favourite combination as well. He brings 35 bars of soaps from
35 different cities in the hope of trading them for something special. Every time he
comes in, he orders a cup of coffee and tells a story of one of the soaps. These
exotic tales fill Doris’s mind with beautiful images and she materialises them in her
paintings.
In the end, Doris is willing to swap her heart for these enchanting tales - she longs to
see these cities with her own eyes…During the process of this exchange, what
exactly does the man get from the soaps on which his memories are engraved?
Hsiao Ya-Chuan
Born in 1967 in Taiwan, Hsiao Ya Chuan graduated from the Fine Art Department of
the National Institute of Arts. He began making short films in 1988 and was awarded
with Golden Video Award, Golden Harvest Award and China Time Award. He has
been working in commercial films since 1994 and was awarded with Golden China
Time CF Award, New York CF Award, and 4A CF Award. In 1997, Hsiao was the
Assistant Director of the feature film, Flowers of Shanghai. His first feature-length film,
Mirror Image, was selected in the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes in 2001 and won
numerous awards. In 2010, Hsiao finished his second feature, Taipei Exchanges.
--------------------------------
Thailand
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Thailand/UK/France, 2010, 113 minutes
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Screenplay: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Camera: Yukontorn Mingmongkon, Charin Pengpanich,
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom
Editor: Lee Chatametikool
Sound: Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr, Koichi Shimizu
Set Designer: Akekarat Homlaor
Cast: Natthakam Aphaiwonk, Sakda, Kaewbuadee, Geerasak
Kulhong, Jenjira Pongpas, Thanapat Saisaymar
Synopsis
Suffering from acute kidney failure, Uncle Boonmee has chosen to
spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the
countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears
to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human
form. Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks
through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop cave -- the
birthplace of his first life...
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Apichatpong Weerasethakul (b. 1970, Bangkok) grew up in Khon
Kaen, a city in the north east of Thailand. He has a degree in
Architecture from Khon Kaen University and a Master of Fine Arts in
Filmmaking from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has
been making films and videos since the early 90s.
He is one of the few filmmakers in Thailand who have worked
outside the strict Thai studio system. In his films, he experiments with
certain elements found in the dramatic plot structure of Thai
television and radio programs, comics and old films. He finds his
inspiration in small towns around the country. In his work, he often
uses non-professional actors and improvised dialogue in exploring
the shifting boundaries between documentary and fiction.
In 2000, he completed his first feature, Dokfa nai Meuman, a
documentary that has been screened at many international
festivals and received enthusiastic reviews and awards as well as
being listed among the best films of the year 2000 by Film
Comment and the Village Voice. He is active in promoting
experimental and independent films through Kick the Machine,
the company he founded in 1999. He is currently working on
several video projects and a new feature, Tropical Malady.
----------------------------------TURKEY
The Crossing
Turkey, 2010, 95 minutes
Director: Selim Demirdelen
Screenplay: Selim Demirdelen
Camera: Aydin Sarioglu
Producer: Turker Korkmaz
Cast: Güven Kirac, Sezin Akbasogullari
The hero of Turkish writer/director Selim Demirdelen's psychological
drama is a painfully shy middle-aged accountant named Güven
(Güven Kirac), who measures out his life in equal portions of work
and family: the highlight of each weekday seems to be an
afternoon phone call from his small daughter, assuring her father
that she's home safe from school. But Güven has a secret, we
soon learn: he has no daughter, no wife, no family at all. In the
wake of tragedy, this bulky, quiet man in a buttoned-up cardigan
has constructed an elaborate domestic fantasy to help him cope.
Demirdelen enriches this portrait of loneliness with those of two of
Güven's co-workers, a prickly young man named Haydar (Umut
Kurt) and a struggling young mother, Arzu (Sezin Akbasogullari),
recently separated from her alcoholic husband. Then there’s
Güven’s explosive upstairs neighbor, Vedat (Cengiz Bozkurt), who
torments his wife, daughter and ancient mother with screaming
rants.
Set alternately in the stifling accountancy office, the dark, rainy
streets of Istanbul and the bleak hospital where the various
traumas of its characters are revealed, The Crossing is a
compelling examination of an ordinary man's extraordinary
capacity for sacrifice and of the mysterious ties that bind us.
Güven Kirac's performance as the anonymous Everyman is
beautifully detailed down to the smallest gesture of bewilderment
or despair.
Selim Demirdelen
Selim Demirdelen is a Turkish writer-director. The Crossing is his
debut feature.
USA
Shit Year
USA, 2010, B&W, 95 minutes
Director: Cam Archer
Screenplay: Cam Archer
Camera: Aaron Platt
Editor: Madeleine Riley
Sound: Nate Archer, Cam Archer
Art Direction: Elizabeth Birkenbuel
Costumes: Stephanie Volkmar
Music: Mick Turner
Producers: Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen
Cast: Ellen Barkin, Bob Einstein, Luke Grimes, Melora Walters,
Theresa Randle
Synopsis
Renowned actress Colleen West (Ellen Barkin) abandons her
successful career for a secluded life in the hills. But the quiet and
peace of mind she longed for is disrupted by the noisy
construction of neighboring housing developments. Before long,
Colleen discovers that she really can't stand herself now that she
has given up the only thing that she has ever truly been
passionate about. As an alternative to isolation, she reluctantly
befriends her jubilant, whimsical neighbor (Melora Walters) and
reconnects with her estranged brother (Bob Einstein) who drops
by unannounced after hearing about her retirement. Haunted by
loneliness and past desires, Colleen begins to feel as if she has
lived her life through the characters she has played on stage and
screen. Ultimately, she is forced to confront loss, her failures and
mistakes, by reliving a recent affair with younger actor Harvey
West (Luke Grimes) whom she met during her final stage
performance. Reality becomes inseparable from Colleen's
unhinged obsessions in a hallucinatory struggle to accept her own
vulnerability and reclaim herself.
Cam Archer
Cam Archer lives and works in Santa Cruz, California. Shit Year is
his second feature film.
-------------------------------
Retrospective: Jan Jakub Kolski
One of the most distinguished Polish film directors, an author of
documentaries, feature films as well as theatre plays, a
cinematographer (a graduate of the Cinematography and
Television Production Department at PWSFTViT /State Film School/
in Łódź), a writer. Each of his new films is a remarkable event in the
Polish cinema, each of them wins awards at the Polish Film Festival
in Gdynia and is a success at international film events. Kolski is a
member of the European Film Academy.
Feature films:
1990 Pogrzeb kartofla (The Burial of a Potato) – Cannes IFF, Un Certain
Regard
1992 Pograbek (A Knacker)
1993 Magneto
Jańcio Wodnik (Johnnie, the Aquarius) – Cannes IFF, Un Certain
Regard
1994 Cudowne miejsce (A Miraculous Place) – Berlin IFF, Panorama
1995 Grający z talerza (One Who Made Music From Plates) – Berlin IFF,
Special Jury
Prize at the Tokyo IFF;
Szabla od komendanta (The Commander’s Saber)
1998 Historia kina w Popielawach (The History of Cinema in a Village of
Popielawy) –
Berlin IFF, Grand Prix of the Cinema Tout Ecran in Geneva;
2000 Daleko od okna (Keep Away From The Window)
2003 Pornografia (Pornography) – Venice IFF, Competition;
2005 Jasminum – Moscow IFF, Competition;
2009 Afonia i Pszczoły (Happy Aphonya);
2010 Wenecja (Venice)
-----------------------------------
The Burial of a Potato
1991, 96 minutes
Director: Jan Jakub Kolski
Screenplay: Jan Jakub Kolski
Camera: Wojciech Todorow
Editor: Ewa Pakulska
Sound: Norbert Zbigniew Medlewski
Art Direction: Jacek Turewicz
Production: Irzykowski Film Studio
Cast: Franciszek Pieczka, Adam Ferency, Mariusz Saniternik, Ewa
Zukowska, Grazyna Blecka-Kolska, Boguslaw Sochnacki, Grzegorz
Herominski
Synopsis
Spring 1946. Mateusz, an old harness- maker, returns to his
native village from a concentration camp form Germany . He
finds his house empty, all his property stolen, and the
neighbours are hostile to him in a strange way. Barely coping
with difficulties and humiliations, he regains part of his lost
property. But the aggressive behaviour of the people around him
is on the increase. They attempt to set his house on fire and shoot
him. They justify their acts by maintaining that Mateusz is a Jew.
In part, their animosity is caused by the fear that their share in the
land to be distributed free of charge among the peasants would
be smaller than expected. But this is not the most important
reason. The enmity of the villagers is the result of their sense of guilt
for the death of Mateusz's son. They allowed a young lieutenant to
die rather than be suspected of collaborating with the anticommunist underground movement, which would be tantamount
to losing their claim on the dreamt of piece of land.
In an act of retaliation, the old harness -maker digs out his son's
body and forces the three most responsible peasants to form a
funereal span. They are made to haul the carriage to the
cemetery to give their victim a proper burial.
-----------------------------
Happy Aphonya
2009, 110 minutes
Camera: Krzystof Ptak
Editor: Witold Chominski
Music: Dariusz Gorniok
Sound: Jacek Hamela
Art Direction: Michal Hrisulidis
Costume Design: Barbara Sikorska-Bouffal
Producer: Lambros Ziotas
Cast: Grazyna Blecka-Kolska (Afonia), Mariusz Saniternik (Rafal),
Andrey Bilinov (Russian)
Synopsis
Year 1953. At a small, closed station somewhere in the west of
Poland, where Afonia and paralysed Rafal are recovering from
the war trauma, a Russian man, a former sports champion, arrives.
He wants to discover the secrets of Rafal, a former wrestler, which
are hidden in his sketches. Afonia falls madly in love with the
stranger…
----------------------------------------
The History of Cinema in the Village of
Popielawy
1998, 100 minutes
Camera: Krzysztof Ptak
Sound: Andrzej Zabicki
Art Direction: Wojciech Saloni-Marczewski
Production: Figaro Film, TVP S.A. – Film Agency, Canal +, APF,
Silesia Film
Cast: Krzysztof Majchrzak, Bartosz Opania, Grażyna Blecka-Kolska,
Michał Jasinski, Tomasz Krysiak
Synopsis
A ironic story about a village family whose ancestral tinkerer built
the first cinematograph and whose succeeding generations have
devoted their lives to the cinema…
Fifty years before the Lumiere Brothers, Josef Andryszek, first of that
name, blacksmith, and a genius invents cinema in Popielawy, a
little village in the heart of Poland. It is now recounted by Staszek,
a ten-year old boy sent to live in the village with his grandparents.
Staszek befriends Szustek, the youngest Andryszek and starts to
share his passion for the strange machine invented by his
grandfather, of which only drawings remain.
A host of colourful characters, whose paths meet – or rather
collide – in a lively to and fro span three generations: that of the
grandfather and the invention of the machine, that of Szustek’s
father; and that of the two boys, the action of which is set in the
early 1960s.
--------------------------------------
Johnnie, the Aquarius
1993, 101 minutes
Camera: Piotr Lenar
Art Direction: Tadeusz Kosarewicz
Production: Vacek Film, TVP S.A. – Film Agency
Cast: Franciszek Pieczka, Grażyna Blecka-Kolska, Bogusław Linda,
Katarzyna Aleksandrowicz, Olgierd Łukaszewicz
Synopsis
A wandering tramp (Olgierd Łukaszewicz) finds a mare along a
path through a field. The animal, beaten and gravely ill, dies. The
tramp buries the mare and casts a spell on the village where the
mare was beaten to death.
Jancio [Johnnie] (Franciszek Pieczka), philosopher and a man who
loves life, and his young wife Weronka (Grażyna Blecka-Kolska),
live in the village. He is at peace with God and doesn’t expect to
be tested by Him. One day Johnnie discovers he has the power to
perform miracles. He decides to leave his pregnant wife and
venture out into the wide world, promising to return before the
birth of their child. He wanders through villages curing people. His
fame grows as does his conceit…
-----------------------------------------
Keep Away from the Window
2000, 104 minutes
Screenplay: Cezary Harasimowicz, based on the story by Hanna
Krall
Camera: Arkadiusz Tomiak
Art Direction: Michal Hrisulidis
Production: Close Up, TVP S.A. – FILM AGENCY; APF, Canal +
Cast: Bartosz Opania, Dorota Landowska, Dominika Ostalowska,
Karolina Gruszka, Krzysztof Pieczynski, Dariusz Toczek
Synopsis
In a small town, during the German occupation, lives a childless
couple – Barbara and Jan. They hide a young Jewish woman
Regina, who has to spend most of the time in an old wardrobe not
to be seen by anybody. With time Regina gets pregnant with Jan.
Barbara starts to pretend that it is she who is going to have a baby
and carefully prepares everything to the upcoming childbirth. The
child – a girl named Helusia – is born in secret. Helusia has two
mothers now – Barbara considers her to be her own child. Regina
helplessly watches how she loses her daughter. One day, she
disappears without a trace.
The war passes by, Helusia grows up, but the secret still lingers.
Years later, as Jan is dying, he must tell Helusia who her real
mother is...
A Miraculous Place
1995, 93 minutes
Camera: Piotr Lenar
Sound: Norbert Zbigniew Medlewski
Art Direction: Tadeusz Koserewicz
Production: Irzykowski Film Stduio, TVP S.A. – Film Agency; WFF
Cast: Grazyna Blecka-Kolska, Adam Kamien, Krzysztof Majchrzak,
Mariusz Saniternik, Elzbieta Debska
Synopsis
Love story of a priest and a waitress. A young, handsome priest,
Jakub, comes to small village to run his first-ever parish. In the
neighborhood people await a miracle. Their priest, Andrzej, is kind
of impetuous and weird. Yet, the miracle occurs… somewhere in
Jakub's new parish. The easy-going waitress gets struck by the
marks of Christ. The villagers are shocked. Priest Jakub and the
waitress fall for each other. The village does not accept them.
People attack the waitress’ house. In her defence stand “evil "
priest Andrzej.
---------------------------------------
Pornografia (Pornography)
2003, 117 minutes
Screenplay: Jan Jakub Kolski, based on a novel by Witold
Gombrowicz
Camera: Krzysztof Ptak
Sound: Bertrand Come, Katarzyna Dzida-Hamela, Jacek Hamela,
Herve Buirette
Art Direction: Andrzej Przedworski
Production: Heritage Films, MACT Production, TVP SA – Film
Agency, Canal +, WFDiF
Cast: Krzysztof Majchrzak, Adam Ferency, Krzysztof Globisz,
Grazyna Blecka-Kolska, Grzegorz Damiecki, Jan Frycz, Irena
Laskowska, Sandra Samos
Synopsis
Broadly adapted from the Polish author Witold Gombrowicz's
satiricaI 1960
novel, Pornografia, the film expands the conventional definition of
its provocative title to embrace a more generalized view of
people's selfish, antiheroic behaviour during wartime. Its particular
fascination and satirical target is the prurient obsession of the old
with the sex lives of the young.
The story, set in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943, is narrated by
Witold (Adam Ferency), a cynical middle-aged writer who travels
with his friend Fryderyk (KrzysztofMajchrzak), a theater and film
director, to the country estate of Hipolit (Krzysztof Globisz), a
landowner involved in the resistance. The film's opening scene, set
in the city before their departure, observes Witold and Fryderyk
and their fashionable bohemian friends strutting and posing at a
stuffy salon. Witold wryly observes that the war that threatens to
consume them is of little concem to these babbling, self-important
culturati.
------------------------------------
Wenecja (Venice)
2010, 110 minutes
Screenplay: Jan Jakub Kolski, based on a story, Venice, by
Włodzimierz Odojewski
Camera: Artur Reinhart
Music: Dariusz Górniok
Sound: Jacek Hamela
Art Direction: Joanna Macha
Producer: Michał Kwieciński
Cast: Magdalena Cielecka, Marcin Walewski, Agnieszka
Grochowska, Grazyna Blecka-Kolska, Julia Kijowska, Teresa
Budzisz-Krzyzanowska, Mariusz Bonaszewski
Synopsis
Eleven-year-old Marek has an obsessive desire to go to with his
family to Venice, the city on water. He has learned all of its streets
and squares by heart. Will his dream come true? Well, it is 1939,
Hitler is getting set to invade Poland and his father has joined the
army. Instead, Marek and his mother go to Aunt Veronica’s villa in
Zaleszczykach on the San. He builds a replica of Venice (if he
can’t go to Venice then have it come to him) when the basement
floods.
Venice tells a story of a journey never taken. A story in which the
power of dreams makes it possible to turn a flooded cellar into the
most romantic city on Earth. As the WW2 rages on outside the
window, the “Venetian” cellar awakens great expectations and
passions.
At first, these are the dreams of children, full of pure belief in
making the things possible by a force of will and mind, but later
the further generations of a big family join the specific play that
changes into a ritual of an attempt of overcoming the hostile
world by the human spirit.
The special, old, family nest-house seems to be a final asylum and
brings a promise of safety. This feeling flows gradually over to the
next and next circles of the family’s friends, neighbors and – finally
– total strangers that one day come inside. How will it stand the
confrontation with the cruelty of war?
Retrospective: Mira Nair
Mira Nair is the rare, prolific filmmaker who fluidly moves between
Hollywood and independent cinema. After several years of
making documentary films, Mira Nair made a stunning entry on to
the world stage with her first feature, SALAAM BOMBAY! (1988),
now hailed as a classic. The film received more than 25
international awards, including an Academy Award Nomination
for Best Foreign Film, BAFTA, and the Camera D’Or (for best first
feature) and Prix du Publique (for most popular entry) at the
Cannes Film Festival in 1988.
In the following decade, Nair directed four features: MISSISSIPPI
MASALA (1991), THE PEREZ FAMILY (1995), KAMA SUTRA: A TALE of
LOVE (1996), and MY OWN COUNTRY (1998). In 2001, Nair's
MONSOON WEDDING won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film
Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA,
becoming one of the highest grossing foreign films of all time. In
2002, Nair directed HYSTERICAL BLINDNESS for HBO which gave the
channel its highest original film ratings ever, winning the Golden
Globe for star Uma Thurman, and 3 Emmy Awards for Gena
Rowlands, Ben Gazzara and design. In 2004, Nair directed Reese
Witherspoon as Becky Sharp in Focus Features' stunning
adaptation of Thackeray's VANITY FAIR. A year later, Nair's
adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's bestselling novel THE NAMESAKE
became another critical and commercial success for the director.
A long time activist, Nair divides her energies between filmmaking
and her two successful non-profit organisations. In 1988, she used
the profits of SALAAM BOMBAY! to create the Salaam Baalak Trust
which has directly impacted government policy on streetchildren
in India. 20 years later, the trust’s 25 centers provide a safe and
nurturing environment for 5000 street children annually. In 2005,
Nair founded Maisha, a filmmakers' training program based in East
Africa. In its 5 years of operation, Maisha has trained hundreds of
students from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania in
screenwriting, directing, producing, acting, sound design, editing,
and cinematography.
Equally committed to the short film form, Nair has directed six films,
all of which are included on the Criterion Collection's 2009
compilation of her work. Following the tragic events of September
11, 2001, Mira joined a group of eleven renowned filmmakers; her
film is a retelling of a true story of a mother’s search for her son
who did not return home on that fateful day. In 2007 Nair's New
York based production company, Mirabai Films, produced AIDS
JAAGO, a series of 4 short films made by India's cutting-edge
directors and stars.The series, designed to help de-stigmatize AIDS
in india, has been seen by over 2 million viewers worldwide. Nair's
own short film for the series, called MIGRATION, deals with AIDS as
the class leveler in society by following its transmission through
interweaving stories linking rural and urban india. Nair also
directed a segment of the feature film '8' as one of eight directors
each creating a short film to address a different Millienium
Development Goal. Her film,"How Can It Be" deals with gender
equality. Her subsequent work includes: "Kosher Vegetarian," Mira's
segment of the feature film NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU, starring
Natalie Portman and Irrfan Khan, and AMELIA, the 2009 feature
film starring two time Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank,
which tells the thrilling account of legendary aviation pioneer
Amelia Earhart.
Currently in development is Nair's MONSOON WEDDING, a musical
on Broadway based on her beloved film, as well as her
forthcoming feature, THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, an
adaptation of Mohsin Hamid's bestselling novel.
--------------------------
Amelia
USA/Canada, 2009, 111 minutes
Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Ronald Bass, Anna Hamilton Phelan
Camera: Stuart Dryburgh
Editor: Allyson C. Johnson, Lee Percy
Sound: Dave Paterson, Drew Kunin
Production Design: Nigel Churcher
Production: Fox Star Studios
Cast: Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher
Eccleston, Joe Anderson
Synopsis
An extraordinary life of adventure, celebrity and continuing
mystery comes to light in AMELIA, a vast, thrilling account of
legendary aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart (two time Academy
Award® winner Hilary Swank).
----------------------------------
The Day the Mercedes Became a Hat
South Africa, 1993, 10 minutes
Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Helena Kriel, Mira Nair
Camera: Miles Goodall
Production & Sales: Mirabai Films
Synopsis
Chris Hani, South Africa's Communist Party Leader, was
assassinated in April 1993, causing a wave of fear to sweep
through the country's white community. This is the tale of one
family as they leave South Africa on the day of Hani's funeral.
-----------------------------
How Can It Be?
USA/Canada, 2008, 9 minutes
Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Rashida Khan, Suketu Mehta
Camera: Declan Quinn
Editor: Allyson Johnson
Production & Sales: LDM Productions, Ace and Company,
Mediascreen
Cast: Ranvir Shorey , Konkona Sen Sharma
Synopsis
One of eight shorts commissioned by the United Nations on
themes concerning global society, How Can It Be? explores
gender equality. It’s the story of Arif and Zainab who live with their
son, Munna, in Brooklyn. Zainab makes the complicated decision
to leave her protected life and follow her heart.
----------------------------------
Hysterical Blindness
USA, 2002, 99 minutes
Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Laura Cahill
Editor: Kristina Boden
Sound: Mary Ellen Porto, Tom Nelson
Production Design: Jeffrey Mossa, Judy Rhee
Production: HBO
Cast: Uma Thurman, Gena Rowlnds, Juliette Lewis, Ben Gazzara,
Justin Chambers
Synopsis
It's 1987 in Bayonne, New Jersey. The bars are full and smoky and
Debby (Thurman) and Beth (Lewis) are out looking for a good
time. Debby is searching for the kind of love they sing about in
songs, the kind that lasts forever. What she can't see is that most
guys are only looking for a love that lasts one night.
--------------------------------
India Cabaret
India/UK/Canada, 1985, 58 minutes
Director: Mira Nair
Camera: Mitch Epstein
Sound: Alex Griswold
Synopsis
This documentary examines the line separating "good" and "bad"
women in Indian society by focusing on the dancers at a Bombay
strip club, a frequent patron, and his stay-at-home wife.
--------------------------------------
Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
India/US/UK/Germany/Japan, 1996, 117 minutes
Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Helena Kriel (written by), Mira Nair (written by), and
Wajida Tabassuh (story by)
Editor: Kristina Boden
Sound: Stuart Levy
Art Direction: Nitin Chandrakant Desai
Cast: Rekha, Indira Varma, Sarita Choudhury, Naveen Andrews,
Avijit Dutt
Synopsis
In this visually striking saga of one woman's search for personal
and sexual freedom in 16th century India, Maya (Indira Varma) is
a servant girl who is a handmaid to Tara (Sarita Choudhury), a
princess.
----------------------------------
The Laughing Club of India
India, 1999, 28 minutes
Director: Mira Nair
Camera: Adam Bartos
Editor: Barry Alexander Brown
Sound: Nicholas Renbeck
Synopsis
A documentary that explores the power of laughter through the
strangely popular phenomenon of laughing clubs in
contemporary Bombay. Founded by a medical doctor, Madan
Kataria, these clubs bring hundreds of people together, beyond
caste or class, to laugh for 40 minutes each day.
-------------------------------------------
Migration
Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Zoya Akhtar (writer), Vishal Bhardwaj (dialogue)
Camera: Jay Jay Odedra
Sound: Dave Paterson, Dominick Tavella
Production Design: Dilip More
Producer: Mirabai Films
Cast: Raima Sen, Irrfan Khan, Shiney Ahuja, Tinnu Anand
Synopsis
Migration deals with the AIDS virus as the great class leveller in
society by following its transmission through interweaving stories
linking urban and rural India.
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Monsoon Wedding
India/USA/Italy/Germany/France, 2001, 114 minutes
Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Sabrina Dhawan
Editor: Allyson C. Johnson
Sound: Kevin Banks, Kevin Lee
Production Design: Sunil Chabra
Producer: Mirabai Films
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Lillete Dubey, Shefali Shetty, Vijay Raaz,
Tillotama Shome, Vasundhara Das, Parvin Dabas
Synopsis
Five interweaving stories are told in the four days and nights
leading up to an elaborate upper-class wedding. Each story
navigates different aspects of love, crossing boundaries of class,
continent and morality.
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The Namesake
India/USA, 2006, 122 minutes
Director: Mira Nair
Writers: Sooni Taraporevala (screenplay), Jhumpa Lahiri (novel)
Camera: Frederick Elmes
Sound: Dave Paterson, Ed Novick
Production Design: Suttirat Anne Larlarb
Production: UTV
Cast: Kal Penn, Tabu, Irrfan Khan, Jacinda Barrett, Zuleikha
Robinson, Brooke Smith
Synopsis
The Namesake is a family drama about the Gangulis, who came
to the US from India in order to experience a world of limitless
opportunities – only to be confronted with the perils and confusion
of trying to build a meaningful life in a baffling new society.
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Salaam Bombay!
UK/India/France, 1988, 113 minutes
Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Sooni Taraporevala
Camera: Sandi Sissel
Sound: Margaret Crimmins (supervising sound editor), Mary Ellen
Porto (sound editor)
Production Design: Nitin Chandrakant Desai, Nitish Roy
Cast: Shafiq Syed, Hansa Vithal, Chanda Sharma, Raghuvir Yadav,
Anita Kanwar, Nana Patekar
Synopsis
Shot on-location on the streets of Bombay, Mira Nair's Salaam
Bombay! is the gritty tale of Krishna (Shafiq Syed, a runaway
discovered by Nair), a boy kicked out of his home, and
abandoned by the travelling circus he had joined. In desperation,
he uses the little money he has to buy a one-way ticket to the
nearest city, which turns out to be Bombay.
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September 11
India, 2002, 11 minutes 9 seconds and one frame
Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Sabrina Dhawan
Production Dsign: Alain Brigand
Cast: Tanvi Azmi, Kapil Bawa, Taleb Adlah
Synopsis
Based on the true story of Talat Hamdani who lost her son, Salman,
on September 11, and believed he was being unjustly detained
by the Government for questioning .
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So Far From India
Director: Mira Nair
Camera: Mitch Epstein
Editor: Ann Schaetzel
Sound: Alex Griswold
Synopsis
Ashok Sheth is one of many Indian immigrants working in subway
newsstands in New York City. This documentary follows his journey
back home to Ahmedabad, where he is forced to confront the
conflicts between his ancestral culture and his new life in America.
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Vanity Fair
Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Matthew Faulk, Mark Skeet, Julian Fellowes
Sound: Tony Martinez , Drew Kunin
Production Design: Nick Palmer, Sam Stokes, Lucinda Thomson
Production: Focus Pictures
Synopsis
Set in post-colonial England and with Reese Witherspoon starring
as Rebecca (Becky) Sharp who uses her wit, guile and sexuality to
clamber up the social ladder of London society. Adapted from
the classic novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, this stunning
and provocative period tale explores an enormous panorama of
themes.
RETROSPECTIVE: MICHAEL CACOYANNIS
Michael Cacoyannis
Born on June 11, 1922 in Limassol, Cyprus, Michael Cacoyannis
was the elder son of Sir Panayiotis and Lady Cacoyannis. He
studied law in London and was called to the Bar (Barrister-at-law)
in 1943. While working for the BBC's Greek service, first as a news
announcer and then as a producer of cultural programs, he also
studied acting at the Central School of Dramatic Art in London
and directing at the Old Vic School.
Not long after his debut as an actor in 1947, he decided to
concentrate instead on directing. In 1952 he left London to settle
in Athens and one year later the success of his first film (“Windfall in
Athens”) marked the beginning of an international career in
directing. Among them “Stella”, “A Girl in Black”, “A Matter of
Dignity”, “Zorba the Greek” and the trilogy of “Electra”, “The
Trojan Women”, “Iphigenia”, his films were regularly screened at
the most prestigious international film festivals, receiving awards
and distinctions. Cacoyannis has worked with some of the best
and most distinguished actors of his time, in Greece, Europe and
Hollywood.
Cacoyannis has distinguished himself not only as an international
filmmaker, but also as a stage and opera director, with critically
acclaimed productions in Greece, the U.S. France and other
European countries. He has published several screenplays, he has
translated Shakespeare’s plays into Greek and Euripides into
English, and he has written the lyrics of some of the best-known
and best-loved Greek songs.
It was Cacaoyannis' initiative that led to the dramatic new
illumination of the Acropolis He enlisted the services of the famous
French Engineer Pierre Bideau for a study, and after generous
donations by the Friends of Athens, which he established, the
project finally received backing from the Ministry of Culture and
the City of Athens.
In 2003, Cacoyannis established a charitable foundation in his
name, whose aim is to support , preserve and promote the arts of
Theatre and Cinema. The foundation’s Cultural Centre, located in
Piraeus Street, in the district of Tavros, opened it's doors to the
public in October.
For his work and overall contributions to the Arts, Michael
Cacoyannis has been awarded the Order of the Golden Phoenix
(Greece), the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (France), the
Grand Cross / Order of Makarios 3rd (Cyprus) and the Special
Grand Prix of the Americas (Montreal). He has been honoured by
the Greek Academy with its highest award for national services
and with Lifetime Achievement Award by the Salonica, Jerusalem
and Cairo Film Festivals, as well as the American Hellenic Institute
in Washington. He has been declared an Honorary Citizen of
Limassol, Montpellier and Dallas, and has received Honory
Doctorates from Columbia College (Chicago), Athens University,
Cyprus University, and the Aristotelio University of Salonica.
The Cherry Orchard
English, 1999, 137 minutes
Director: Michael Cacoyannis
Screenplay: Michael Cacoyannis, based on the play by Anton Chekhov
Camera: Aris Stavrou
Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Alan Bates, Katrin Cartlidge, Owen Teale, Frances
de la Tour, Michael Gough
Synopsis
Madame Ranevskaya is a spoiled aging aristocratic lady, who returns from a
trip to Paris to face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after a
default on the mortgage. In denial, she continues living in the past, deluding
herself and her family, while the beautiful cherry trees are being axed down
by the re-possessor Lopakhin, her former serf, who has his own agenda.
The Day the Fish Came Out
Screenplay: Michael Cacoyannis
Camera: Walter Lassaly
Cast: Tom Courtenay, Colin Blakely, Candice Bergen, Ian Ogilvy, Paris
Alexander, Arthur Mitchell, Tom Klunis
Synopsis
A cautionary tale. A plane carrying a weapon more dangerous than a
nuclear weapon goes down near Greece. To prevent panic, the officials go
in dressed as tourists (who are dressed so casually that the pilots assume that
they are all gay). The pilots are not to make themselves known and can't
contact the rescue team. The secrecy causes a comedy of errors, including
the desolate Greek Isle deciding that since tourists have now arrived, they
have to become touristy.
Electra
Greek, 1962, 110 minutes
Screenplay: Michael Cacoyannis, based on Euripides’ play
Synopsis
Electra and her brother Orestes plot to kill their mother after the siblings come
to believe she murdered their father, King Agamemnon.
Iphigenia
Camera: Nikos Arvanitis
Cast: Irene Papas, Kostas Kazakos, Kostas Karras,Tatiana Papamoschou,
Christos Tsagas, Angelos Yannoulis, Panos Mihalopoulos
Synopsis
When the Athenians took off in ships to recover their fabled noble daughter
Helen from Paris of Troy, their sailing ships were stalled for lack of wind among
a group of islands. They didn't have enough food on board for a long stay at
sea, and some of the expedition leaders, including Agamemnon and
Meneleus, the cuckolded husband of Helen, decide to go ashore and kill
some deer. However, they know that those particular deer are sacred to the
gods, and that killing them would bring a curse for impiety onto the whole
group. The head of the expedition, on examining the subsequent oracles,
tells Agamemnon that the Athenian fleet will have no wind until he sacrifices
his own daughter Iphigenia to atone for the death of the sacred deer.
Clytemnestra, the girl's mother, tries everything in her power to prevent the
sacrifice but is unsuccessful.
Our Last Spring
(Epoika)
Screenplay: Michael Cacoyannis and Jane Cobb, adapted from the novel
by Cosmas Politis
Cast: Jenny Russell, Panos Goumas, Alexander Mamatis, Nikiforos Naneris,
Tasso Kavadia, Marie Ney
Synopsis
The lives of some high schoolers are turned upside down when one of their
own is accidentally killed and his peers start to rebel against the society they
live in.
Stella
Greek, 1955, B&W, 90 minutes
Screenplay: Michael Cacoyannis, based on a play by J. Cambanellis
Camera: Costas Theodorides
Cast: Melina Merkouri, George Foundas, Alekos Alexandrakis, Christina
Kalogerikou, Voula Zouboulaki, Dionyssis Papayannopoulos, Sofia Vempo,
Costas Kakavas
Synopsis
Stella is a singer. Although she is in love with Miltos, a soccer player, she
repeatedly rejects his marriage proposals. When Miltos finally forces her to
accept the idea of marriage, Stella does not appear in church, despite Miltos
repeatedly warning her that he will kill her if she doesn't marry him. Miltos kills
her with a dagger at end of the film.
Sweet Country
English, 1986, 1947
Screenplay: Michael Cacoyannis, based on a novel a Carolyn Richards
Camera: Andreas Bellis
Cast: Jane Alexander, John Cullum, Carole Laure, Franco Nero, Joanna
Pettet, Randy Quaid, Irene Papas
Synopsis
Anna and Ben are an American couple who have relocated to Chile (circa
1973), which is in turmoil due to the recent murder of Chilean President
Salvador Allende, whose revolutionary leftist ideas angered the military. Anna
and Ben become friends with Eva, the matriarch of a Chilean clan whose
daughter Anna worked for Allende. Anna's connection to the slain Marxist
leader causes anguish for both families, particularly when Eva and many
others are imprisoned and tortured, for their political beliefs.
The Trojan Women
Camera: Alfio Kontini
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Genevieve Bujold, Vanessa Redgrave, Irene
Papas
Synopsis
Hecuba, Queen of the Trojans and mother of Hector, one of Troys most
fearsome warriors, looks upon the remains of her kingdom; Andromache,
widow of the slain Hector and mother of his son Astyanax, must raise her son
in the war's aftermath; Cassandra, Hecuba's daughter who has been driven
insane by the ravages of war, waits to see if King Agamemnon will drive her
into concubinage; Helen of Troy, waits to see if she will live. But the most
awful truth is unknown to them until Talthybius, the messenger of the Greek
king, comes to the ruined city and tells them that King Agamemnon and his
brother Menelaus have decreed that Hector's son Astyanax must die — the
last of the male royalty of Troy must be executed to ensure the extinction of
the line.
Windfall in Athens
Greek, 1954, B&W, 91 minutes
Screenplay: Michael Cacoyannis
Camera: Alvize Orfanelli
Cast: Ellie Lambetti, Dimitri Horn, George Pappas, Taso Kavadia, Sapho
Notara, Chris Pateraki
Synopsis
Mina (Ellie Lambeti) is a charming salesgirl. She buys a lottery ticket, but she
finds out soon that it has been stolen from her. Pavlos (George Pappas), a
married lawyer, enamored with her, helps her to track down the ticket. After
a while they discover it at a penniless musician's hands (Dimitris Horn), who
had bought it from a street kid. When Alexis, the musician, wins the lottery,
Mina claims the money with the help of the lawyer. Soon, Mina and Alexis
fall in love.
Zorba the Greek
Greek & English, 1964, B&W, 142 minutes
Screenplay: Michael Cacoyannis, based on a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Lila Kedrova, Irene Papas, George
Foundas
Synopsis
Basil, a young English writer of Greek ancestry, meets an older, free-spirited
Greek peasant named Zorba on the island of Crete. While Zorba pursues a
relationship with Madame Hortense, an aging French courtesan, the
inhibited Basil summons up the courage to court a young widow. The
young, unhappy Englishman finds himself learning valuable life lessons from
Zorba, the earthy peasant who has a zeal for everything he does.
Retrospective: Jean Becker
Jean Becker is the son of filmmaker Jacques Becker and the
brother of cinematographer Etienne Becker. He began his career
as an intern in his father’s films. Besides assisting his father, he also
assisted director Julien Duvivier and Henri Verneuil. In 1961 he
made his first film Un nommé La Rocca (A Man Named Rocca)
followed by three films including Tender voyou (Tender Scoundrel)
(1966), that were critically and commercially successful.
After completing the episodes of the hit television series Les saintes
cherries (1965-1970), Becker took a break from filmmaking for
nearly twenty years. He returned in 1983 with L'été meurtrier (One
Deadly Summer). The film was a huge success and was
nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Festival de Cannes and also
got four Cesars (1984).
Becker tried his hand at advertising films and became one of the
leading directors in this field. In 1986 he won the César for Best Film
Advertising for Le Clemenceau. Success and critical acclaim
followed in his following films like Élisa (Elisa) (1995), Les Enfants du
Marais (Children of the Marshlands) (1999), Effroyables jardins
(Strange Gardens) (2003), Dialogue avec mon jardinier
(Conversations with My Gardener) (2007), Deux jours à tuer (Love
Me No More) (2008) and more recently la tête en friche (My
Afternoons with Marguerite) (2010).
He has worked with a diverse set of actors like Vanessa Paradis,
Gerard Depardieu, Jacques Villeret, Suzanne Flon, André
Dussollier, Josiane Balasko, Thierry Lhermitte, Benoit Magimel,
Daniel Auteuil, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Albert, Marie-Josee Croze,
Pierre Vaneck, Gisele Casadesus, Isabelle Adjani and many
others.
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One Deadly Summer
1983, 130 minutes
Director: Jean Becker
Screenplay: Sébastien Japrisot
Camera: Étienne Becker
Editor: Jacques Witta
Sound: Guillaume Sciama
Art Direction: Jean-Claude Gallouin
Producer: Christine Beyout
Cast: Isabelle Adjani, Alain Souchon, Suzanne Flon, Jenny Clève
Synopsis
In spring 1976, a 19-year-old beauty, her German-born mother,
and her crippled father move to the town of a firefighter
nicknamed Pin-Pon. She is beautiful, provocative, aggressive, and
totally unpredictable with animal like sensuality. Pin-Pon
immediately falls madly in love with her. At first, she pretends to
ignore him. However, after alternately rebuffing and luring him on,
she goes out with him. He is different, gentler and more thoughtful
than the other boys she claims to know. He makes her laugh and
champagne makes her cry over her memories of happier days.
Pin-Pon understands nothing but he is in love. One night he takes
her to the barn where her fathers’ piano is stored away. How is he
to know she has decided to use him in the unrelenting plot of
vengeance that obsesses her? Elusive, Evasive, sometimes
exuberantly gay, sometimes in despair, she is enigmatic. But
patiently and with savage obstinacy, she weaves her web, using
the fascination aroused by her beauty and mystery to attain her
goal, determined to go to any extremes, even death, even
madness.
Elisa
1995, 115 minutes
Screenplay: Jean Becker, Fabrice Carazo
Camera: Étienne Becker
Sound: William Flageollet
Art Direction: Thérèse Ripaud
Producer: Christian Fechner
Cast: Vanessa Paradis, Gerard Depardieu, Clotilde Courau,
Sekkou Sall
Synopsis
When her husband walks out on her, Elisa attempts to kill her
young daughter Marie and then commits suicide. Marie,
however, survives, and grows up in an orphanage. Twenty years
later, Marie’s troubled past is reflected in her lifestyle. She and her
friend Solange occupy themselves by shoplifting and generally
causing trouble. When she discovers where her missing father is
living, Marie sets out to find him, with the intention of killing him.
When she meets him, he turns out to be not the heartless brute she
had expected...
Conversations with My Gardener
2007, 109 minutes
Screenplay: Jean Cosmos, Jacques Monnet, Jean Becker, Jean
Cosmos (dialogues)
Camera: Jean-Marie Dreujou
Sound: Jacques Pibarot
Producer: Louis Becker
Cast: Daniel Auteuil, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Fanny Cottençon,
Alexia Barlier
Synopsis
A successful, fifty-something Parisian artist goes back to his roots
and returns to provincial France and his childhood home. He has
neither the energy nor the talent to keep up the sprawling land
around the house, and takes out a small ad to find some local
help. Completely by chance, the first applicant, who turns out to
be the right one, is an old school friend whom the painter has not
seen since his childhood. He becomes the gardener. As they
spend time in each other’s company, the painter sees a man with
an honest and simple view of the world. They enjoy a kind of
belated brotherly adolescence that encompasses their families,
their experiences, carrots, pumpkins, life, death, air travel, currant
bushes, tastes and colors. And by seeing everything through each
other’s eyes, they each see the world anew. With no artifice, they
invite us to enjoy their discovery of an everyday life that is for
sharing, another key concept for the gardener who grows things
to give to others, just as the painter paints to show others. Henri
Cueco, the author on whose memoirs the film is based, was
himself a painter and radio broadcaster with a keen eye for the
simple ways of life. Here he brings us this touching tale of friendship
that is as captivating and simple as a love story.
Love Me No More
2008, 85 minutes
Screenplay: Eric Assous, Francois d’Epenoux, Jean Becker
Camera: Arthur Cloquet
Sound: Jacques Pibarot, Vincent Montrobert, Francois Grouit
Producer: Louis Becker
Cast: Albert Dupontel, Marie-Josée Croze, Pierre Vaneck,
Alessandra Martines
Synopsis
Forty- two-year old advertising executive Antoine is married to
Cécile, has two children and lives in a nice house in the Paris
suburbs where he gets on well with his neighbours. Of course,
there is his discreet affair with Marion, which could upset this
happy balance. And then one ordinary day, his life is turned
upside-down. During a meeting with one of his agency’s big
clients, he gets carried away and upsets the project. His partner
suggests he takes a break and gets some rest, but Antoine is
determined to put an end to their partnership and offers to buy
him out. Back home for the weekend, he starts to systematically
destroy everything he has built up over the years. His wife accuses
him of having an affair and he doesn’t deny it. He’s unpleasant,
elusive, and he pushes her right to the limits. For his birthday, his
kids do some drawings for him but his usual indulgence
evaporates and he comes down hard on them. His friends are
throwing a surprise party, but he takes great pleasure in insulting
them all. In a last fit of rage, Antoine throws everyone out. After
one final, dreadful conversation with Cécile, he leaves the family
home. In the space of a single weekend, Antoine, a seemingly
trouble-free guy, destroys his entire life. Is it a mid-life crisis? Is he
losing his mind? It’s anybody’s guess...Love Me No More is based
on a novel by the writer Francois d’Epenoux.
Retrospective: Jim Jarmusch
With his trademark shock of white hair and ultra-cool rock
star persona, Jim Jarmusch is the archetypal auteur of
American independent film. Born on January 22, 1953, in
Akron, Ohio, Jarmusch was the son of a former film critic
for the Akron Beacon Journal. In University, he went to
Paris as an exchange student and spent most of his time
at the Parisian cinemas. Upon his return to New York,
Jarmusch transferred to Columbia University, where he
eventually received a degree in English literature. With no
film experience, he was accepted into New York
University’s Tisch School of the Arts and soon found himself
a teaching assistant to legendary maverick filmmaker
Nicholas Ray. Ray helped him get funding for his thesis
project, Permanent Vacation (1980). Though the film was
later released to critical acclaim, his professors were
underwhelmed by his final project and Jarmusch never
got a degree from N.Y.U.
Coffee and Cigarettes
USA/Italy/Japan, 2003, 95 minutes, B&W
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Screenplay: Jim Jarmusch
Cinematography: Tom DiCillo, Frederick Elmes, Ellen Kuras, Robby
Müller
Editor: Jim Jarmusch, Terry Katz, Melody London, Jay Rabinowitz
Art Direction: Laura Chariton, Tom Jarmusch
Cast: Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Alex
Descas, Cate Blanchett, Steve Coogan, Alfred Molina, RZA, Bill
Murray, Joie Lee, Cinqué Lee, Steve Buscemi, Joseph Rigano,
Vinny Vella, Vinny Vella Jr., Renée French, Isaach de Bankolé,
Jack White, Meg White, William Rice, Taylor Mead
Synopsis
Jim Jarmusch’s black-and-white feature Coffee and Cigarettes
contains three vignettes originally released as short films along
with separate yet somewhat related sketches. As the title
suggests, most of the vignettes involve famous people smoking
cigarettes and drinking coffee. The first, “Coffee and Cigarettes,”
is a six-minute short from 1986 starring Stephen Wright and Roberto
Benigni. The 1989 installment, “Memphis Version,” stars Steve
Buscemi, Joie Lee, and Cinqué Lee. The award-winning 1993
segment, “Somewhere in California,” stars musicians Iggy
Pop and Tom Waits. The remaining sketches include Cate
Blanchett performing a dual role, a conversation with Bill Murray
and members of the Wu-Tang Clan, and Alfred Molina and British
television actor Steve Coogan as themselves. In its full length
version form, Coffee and Cigarettes was shown at the 2003
Venice Film Festival.
Dead Man
USA/Germany/Japan, 1995, 121 minutes, B&W
Cinematography: Spherical - Robby Müller
Editor: Jay Rabinowitz
Sound: Jim Jarmusch, John Lurie
Art Direction: Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Lance
Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Robert Mitchum, Gabriel Byrne, Mili
Avital, Eugene Byrd, Iggy Pop, Billy, Bob Thornton, Alfred Molina,
Gibby Haynes
Synopsis
A dark, bitter commentary on modern American life cloaked in
the form of a surrealist western, Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man stars
Johnny Depp as William Blake, a newly-orphaned accountant
who leaves his home in Cleveland to accept a job in the frontier
town of Machine. Upon his arrival, Blake is told by the factory
owner Dickinson (Robert Mitchum) that the job has already been
filled. Dejectedly, he enters a nearby tavern, ultimately spending
the night with a former prostitute. A violent altercation with the
woman’s lover (Gabriel Byrne), also Dickinson’s son, leaves Blake a
murderer as well as mortally wounded, a bullet lodged
dangerously close to his heart. He flees into the wilderness, where
a Native American named Nobody (Gary Farmer) mistakes Blake
for the English poet William Blake and determines that he will be
Blake’s guide in his protracted passage into the spirit world.
Down By Law
USA, 1986, 107 minutes, B&W
Cinematography: Robby Müller
Editor: Melody London
Art Direction: Janet Densmore
Cast: Tom Waits, John Lurie, Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi,
Ellen Barkin, Billie Neal, Rockets Redglare, Vernel Bagneris,
Timothea, L.C. Drane
Synopsis
When fate lands three hapless men—an unemployed disc jockey
(Tom Waits), a small-time pimp (John Lurie), and a strong-willed
Italian tourist (Roberto Benigni)—in a Louisiana prison, their singular
adventure begins. Described by director Jim Jarmusch as a “neo–
Beat noir comedy,” Down by Law is part nightmare and part fairy
tale, featuring fine performances and crisp black-and-white
photography by esteemed cinematographer Robby Müller.
Mystery Train
USA/Japan, 1989, 110 minutes
Cinematography: Robby Müller
Editor: Melody London
Art Direction: Jeff Butcher
Cast: Masatoshi Nagase, Youki Kudoh, Nicoletta Braschi, Elizabeth
Bracco, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Joe Strummer, Rick Aviles, Steve
Buscemi, Cinqué Lee, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Rufus Thomas, Jodie
Markell, Sy Richardson
Synopsis
Written and directed by the ever-unpredictable Jim Jarmusch,
Mystery Train comprises three short anecdotes involving foreign
tourists in Tennessee. Each story is set in a fleabag Memphis hotel
which has been redressed as a “tribute” to Elvis Presley. Story #1
involves two Japanese tourists whose devotion to Elvis blinds them
of everything around them. Story #2 finds eternal victim Nicoletta
Braschi sharing a room with stone-broke Elizabeth Bracco and
having her problems solved by a spectral vision of The King. And
story #3 offers the further misadventures of Bracco, her no-good
boyfriend and her dysfunctional family.
Night on Earth
France/UK/Germany/USA/Japan, 1991, 129 minutes
Cinematography: Frederick Elmes
Editor: James Rabinowitz
Sound: Elisa Birnbaum
Art Direction: Diana Burton, Jeff Butcher
Cast: Gena Rowlands, Winona Ryder, Lisanne Falk, Alan Randolph
Scott I, Anthony Portillo, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Giancarlo Esposito,
Rosie Perez, Richard Boes, Isaach DeBankolé
Synopsis
A collection of five stories involving cab drivers in five different
cities. Los Angeles - A talent agent for the movies discovers her
cab driver would be perfect to cast, but the cabbie is reluctant to
give up her solid cab driver's career. New York - An immigrant cab
driver is continually lost in a city and culture he doesn't
understand. Paris - A blind girl takes a ride with a cab driver from
the Ivory Coast and they talk about life and blindness. Rome - A
gregarious cabbie picks up an ailing man and virtually talks him to
death. Helsinki - an industrial worker gets laid off and he and his
compatriots discuss the bleakness and unfairness of love and life
and death.
Permanent Vacation
Cinematography: Tom DiCillo James A. Lebovitz
Editor: Jim Jarmusch
Art Direction: Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Chris Parker, Leila Gastil, John Lurie, Frankie Faison, Lisa
Rosen, Richard Boes, Ruth Bolton, Sara Driver, María Duval
Synopsis
This is film school dropout Jim Jarmusch's first film. Widely ignored in
the US, but was noticed in Europe. It was a completely new
independent style of film making unlike other American films. A
youth in his 20's, Aloysius Parker (played by Christopher Parker),
unemployed, lazy searching for the "meaning of life". He is
interested in nothing in particular. A broken family background of
missing dad, institutionalized mother and a broken relationship
with his girlfriend. Turns to be philosophical, roams around dirty
and less crowded urban New York City searching for answers and
meets very eccentric people. He first visits his mother in the
institution, a shady, dusty, unsettling place; then as he drifts
around the city he meets a war veteran who sometimes thinks he's
still at war. Then at night he meets a saxophone player who plays
uninteresting musical notes, then an unwelcoming lunatic Latin
girl, then at a theatre he meets a popcorn girl who is ensnared
about Eskimos and at the same place he meets an ardent jazz
fan. Finally he accidentally encounters a young lady with a Ford
Mustang which he steals away and sells. At dawn he packs his
suitcase with passport and clothes, decides to go away and
boards a ship to depart from New York leaving his girl behind.
Stranger Than Paradise
USA, 1984, 89 minutes, B&W
Cinematography: Tom DiCillo
Editor: Jim Jarmusch, Melody London
Cast: John Lurie, Eszter Balint, Richard Edson, Cecillia Stark, Danny
Rosen, Rammellzee, Tom DiCillo, Richard Boes, Sara Driver
Synopsis
Rootless Hungarian émigré Willie (John Lurie), his pal Eddie
(Richard Edson), and visiting sixteen-year-old cousin Eva (Eszter
Balint) always manage to make the least of any situation, whether
aimlessly traversing the drab interiors and environs of New York
City, Cleveland, or an anonymous Florida suburb. With its delicate
humour and dramatic nonchalance, Jim Jarmusch’s one-of-akind minimalist masterpiece, Stranger Than Paradise, forever
transformed the landscape of American independent cinema.
MEXICAN NEO NOIR
Abel
Mexico/USA, 2009, 83 minutes
Director: Diego Luna
Screenplay: Augusto Mendoza, Diego Luna
Camera: Patrick Murguia
Editor: Miguel Schverdfinger
Set Designer: Brigitte Broch
Cast: Christopher Ruiz-Esparza, Gerardo Ruiz-Esparza, Jose Maria Yazpik, Karina
Gidi, Geraldine Alejandra
Synopsis
Abel, a nine-year-old boy, has stopped talking since his father left home. One
morning he starts to speak again, pretending to be the head of the family. No one
dares to challenge this miracle. One day a man shows up at the door: his father.
Diego Luna
Diego Luna was introduced to worldwide audiences with his starring role in the
award-winning Y tu mamá también, alongside life‐long friend Gael García Bernal, by
director Alfonso Cuarón. Beginning his professional acting career on stage at the age
of seven, and making his television debut at age twelve in El Abuelo Y Yo, Luna has
appeared in theatre productions such as De Pelicula, La Tarea (based on Jame
Hurnberto Hermosillo’s movie of the same name), Comedia Clandestina, and El
Cantaro Roto, for which he accepted the 1996‐1997 “Best Male Newcomer Award
Award” from the Association of Theatre Reviewers. Under the direction of Antonio
Serrano (Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas), he performed Sabina Berman’s Moliere. He also
produced The Complete Works of William Shakespeare in Mexico, for which he won
the 2001‐2002 “Best Comic Actor” award from the Association of Theatre Reviewers.
Luna’s feature films include Harmony Korine’s Mister Lonely, Before Night Falls by
director Julian Schnabel, Luis Estrada’s Ambar, Erwin Neumaier’s Un Hilito De
Sangre, Gabriel Retes’ Un Dulce Olor A Meute, Marisa Sistach’s El Cometa, Fernando
Sarinana’s Todo El Poder, Criminal by Stephen Soderbergh, The Terminal by director
Steven Spielberg, Solo Dios Sabe (What God Knows), Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights,
Open Range alongside director and star Kevin Costner, Frida opposite Salma Hayek
by director Julie Taymor, Carambola, Fidel (for Showtime), Ciudades Oscuras, and
Soldados de Salamina by director David Trueba. Luna most recently reunited with
friend Gael Garcia Bernal as an actor in Carlos Cuaron’s Rudo y Cursi. Last year, he
starred in award‐winning Milk opposite Sean Penn by director Gus Van Sant.
Abel is Luna’s debut feature as a director. He currently resides in Mexico City.
---------------------------------------
The Crime of Padre Amaro
2002, 118 minutes
Director: Carlos Carrera
Screenplay: Vicente Lenero, based on a novel by Jose Maria de Eca de Queiroz
Camera: Guillermo Granillo
Editor: Oscar Figueroa
Music: Rosino Serrano
Producers: Daniel Birman Ripstein, Alfredo Ripstein
Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Ana Claudia Talancon, Sancho Gracia
Synopsis
The movie is set in modern times. Gail Garcia Bernal stars as the newly ordained
Padre Amaro, who arrives in Los Reyes, a small town in the fictional state of Aldama,
to start his life serving the church. He is a protege of the ruthless political bishop,
while the local priest, Father Benito is having a years-long affair with a local
restaurant owner. Benito is building a large hospital and recuperation centre, which
is partly funded by a drug lord. Meanwhile, another priest in the area, Father Natalio
is under investigation for supporting left-wing insurgents in his secluded rural church
area. Amelia, a local sixteen-year-old girl, teaches catechism to the young children in
the town, and is the daughter of the restaurant owner who is having an affair with
Benito. At the start of the story, she is contemplating marriage to Reuben, a young
journalist beginning his career, but tension is depicted as Reuben is a non-believer
and Amelia strongly Catholic. Reuben's father is an avowed anti-clerical atheist who
is unpopular within the town for his strong opinions. Young Amaro soon becomes
infatuated with the beautiful Amelia, who is strongly attracted to him and asks
awkward questions about love and sin in the confessional.
Carlos Carrera
With only three feature films, Carlos Carrera is considered one of the best young
directors of the new Mexican cinema. He began as an animator at 12 years old and
wrote, produced and directed a number of animated-shorts before filming his first
live-action movie, a docummentary short titled Un Vestidito Blanco como la Leche
Nido (1989). He studied filmmaking at the Training Center of Cinematography
(Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica) in Mexico City. After that, Carrera made
his first feature, La Mujer de Benjamín (1991). This film won the Mexican Academy
Award for Best Original Screenplay and many prizes in film festivals. After his second
feature film, La Vida conyugal (1993), Carrera made El Héroe (1994), an animated
short winner of the Golden Palm at Cannes Festival.
-----------------------------------
Familia Tortuga
Turtle Family
2006, 139 minutes
Director: Rubén Imaz Castro
Screenplay: Rubén Ímaz Castro with Gabriela Vidal
Camera: Gerardo Barroso Alcalá
Editing: Leon Felipe González Sánchez y Rubén Imaz Castro
Sound: Leon Felipe González Sanchez
Art Direction: Yulene Olaizola León
Original Music: Galo Durán
Producer: Maribel Muro
Cast: José Ángel Bichir, Luisa Pardo, Manuel Plata López,
Dagoberto Gama
On the eve of a special day, the family bonds faced with a shared
sentiment of a regretted absence, appear fragile. Uncle Manuel, a
remarkable man, is determined to help his adolescent nephews and
support his brother-in-law, an unemployed unionist. Mother’s home is
now a place where the family, amid lost dreams, is in danger of
disintegration.
Rubén Ímaz Castro
Ruben Imaz Castro was born in Mexico City in 1979. He studied at the
Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (C.C.C.) in Mexico City, from
1999 to 2006. In 2004 he was selected to participate at the Berlinale
Talent Campus 2 with his one minute short film Cicatriz. Familia Tortuga
is his thesis project and first feature film.
------------------------------------
Japon
2002, 128 minutes
Director: Carlos Reygadas
Screenplay: Carlos Reydas
Camera: Diego Martinez Vignatti, Thierry Tronchet
Editing: Daniel Melguizo
Production Design: Alejandro Reygadas
Cast: Alejandro Ferretis, Magdalena Flores, Yolanda Villa, Martin
Serrano, Rolando Hernandez
Synopsis
A man with no name limps through the Mexican high country in what he
intends to be his last journey. It is clear that he hates himself and is
tired of life, but in order to prepare for death he seeks first the solitude
of the mountains and finds shelter with Ascen, an elderly widow living
on the outskirts of a mountain village.
Carlos Reygadas
Carlos Reygadas, born in Mexico City in 1971, burst on the global scene
with Japon. With two more remarkable films since then, Battle in
Heaven and Silent Light, both of which competed for the Palme d’Or in
Cannes, he has emerged as one of the most exciting filmmakers in the
business today. Reygadas discovered his passion for cinema after
watching the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, whose influence can be clearly
seen in his approach to cinema.
--------------------------------
Norteado
(Northless)
2009, 94 minutes
Director: Rigoberto Perezcano
Screenplay: Edgar San Juan & Rigoberto Perezcano
Camera: Alejandro Cantu
Editing: Miguel Schverdfinger
Sound: Ruy Garcia
Art Direction: Ivonne Fuentes
Production & Sales: Cinema Republic Av. Rosario Manzaneque
25,Torrelodones28250 Madrid, Spain
P. +34 91 859 39 94 email: info@cinemarepublic.es
Cast: Alicia Laguna, Harold Torres, Luis Cárdenas, Sonia Couoh
Synopsis
Andrés reaches the Mexican border to cross into the United States.
Between each attempt, he discovers that Tijuana, the city that adopts
him, is a troubled one. As he waits there, Andrés is not only confronted
with his feelings and what he left behind, but also with those he meets
in Tijuana: Cata, Ela, and Asensio.
Rigoberto Perezcano
Rigoberto Perezcano. Zaachila (Mexico). His training as a filmmaker is
the result of having directed documentaries. His documentary film XV en
Zaachila participated in different festivals, receiving several national and
international prizes. In 2001 he landed a Rockefeller-MacArthur Ford
scholarship for writing the screenplay of Carmín Tropical, his next
project. Norteado, is his first full-length feature.
------------------------------------
Noticias Lejanas
(News from Afar)
2004, 120 minutes
Director: Ricardo Benet
Producer: Ángeles Castro, Hugo Rodríguez
Screenplay: Ricardo Benet
Cinematography: Martín Boege
Editing: Lucrecia Gutiérrez
Sound: Isabel Muñoz
Music: Guillermo González Philips
Production Companies: CCC, IMCINE-FOPROCINE
Cast: David Acron, Mayahuel del Monte, Martín Palomares, Gina Moret,
Lucia Muñoz
Synopsis
A 17-year-old-youth, who has grown up in a village in the middle of a
salt flat, undertakes a journey of initiation to the city in an attempt to
break his family’s circle of marginalization. With the idea that “you
cannot change the future, but you can the past”, fate sends him back to
his starting point, where circumstances lead him to kill his father and set
fire to his house, to save his mother and brother and give fate another
chance.
Ricardo Benet
Ricardo Benet studied architecture at UNAM, graduate school in Art
History in Florence, Italy, photography at the Pompidou Center in Paris
and film at the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (CCC). Currently,
he is working as director and cinematographer and teaches Art History,
Esthetics and Film at various institutions. Among his directorial works
are the 35 mm short films Antes Meridiano (2000), Fin de Etapa (2002)
and En Cualquier Lugar (2005). Noticias Lejanas is his first feature film.
--------------------------
Parpados Azules
(Blue Eyelids)
2007, 98 minutes
Director: Ernesto Contreras
Screenplay: Ernesto Contreras
Camera: Tonatiuh Martínez
Editors: Ernesto Contreras and José Manuel Cravioto
Sound: Enrique Greiner, Erick Dounce
Art Direction: Érika Ávila
Music: Iñaki
Costume Design: Gabriela Fernández
Producers: Luis Albores, Érika Ávila, Ernesto Contreras, Sandra Paredes
Cast: Cecilia Suárez, Enrique Arreola, Ana Ofelia Murguía, Tiaré Scanda and Luisa
Huertas
Synopsis
When winning a trip for two to a paradisiacal place called Playa Salamandra, Marina
discovers she has no one to share her prize with, so she decides to invite Victor, a
complete stranger, to travel with her. Together, they will find that in order to fall in
love, the idyllic scenarios and perfect situations are not important. If the necessary
complicity to love doesn’t exist, there will be no way of looking into the other’s eyes
with love.
Ernesto Contreras
Graduate from the University Center for Cinematographic Studies of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico. His short films have been
screened in festivals around Latin America, United States and Europe and have
received several national and international awards. He has been grantee of the
National Fund for Culture and Arts, as well as the Rockefeller, Ford, Typa, and
Toscano foundations and the Sundance Institute. He participated in the Berlinale
Talent Campus 2 and Cine en Construcción 10 in San Sebastián. Párpados Azules
(Blue Eyelids) his first feature film, won the Best Iberoamerican Film, Best
Iberoamerican Screenplay, and the Mezcal (Young Jury) awards during the XXII
Guadalajara International Fim Festival in March of 2007, and was part of the official
selection of the 46th International Critics’ Week during the 60th Cannes Film Festival
that same year.
Country Focus: GEORGIA
Georgian cinema qualifies as one of the world’s best-kept secrets of
international cinema. Sharp in style, imagery, poetry yet savage,
innovative, visceral, energetic and at the same time rooted in literature,
the arts as well as cognition. It is apparent in the words of the
renowned Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini who said, ‘Georgian film is a
strange phenomenon, special, philosophically light, sophisticated and at
the same time childishly pure and innocent. There is everything that can
make me cry and I ought to say that it (my crying) is not an easy thing.’
Georgian cinema survives today with a long, complex and turbulent
history. Cinema came to Georgia at the same time as in Europe in 1896.
It travelled to various parts of Georgia and several cinema theatres
opened up, however 1908 is officially considered the year cinema was
born in Georgia. In 1908 enthusiast Vasili Amashukeli and Aleksndr
Digmelov shot the first experimental shots as well as began shooting
newsreels. In 1912 Vasili Amashukeli made his first full-length
documentary Akaki Tsereteli's trip to Racha-Lechkhumi. While the
documentary was based on a prominent poets’ tour of north central
Georgian region, the first feature film Christine, directed by Alexandre
Tsutsunava in 1916-1918, was based on a story by Georgian writer
Egnate Ninoshvili. In a lot of the early Georgian cinema literature,
theatre and cinema remained intertwined. A Film Department was
established under the Peoples Education Commissariat in 1921, which
from 1923 until 1933 was referred to as State Film Production. With the
arrival of the Soviets in 1921, cinema became a chief method of
propaganda. However Georgia continued to produce films based on
national literary classics and was able to produce 20 - 25 feature films
on the average every year.
In 1921 the Soviet Red Army defeated Georgia and in 1922 Georgia was
incorporated into the Soviet Union. In the first half of the 1920s Ivane
Perestiani (Arsena Jorjiashvili (1921), Surami For-tress (1922)),
Tsutsunava and Kote Marjanishvili amongst others paved the way for
the establishment of the next generation of cinematographers. These
included Mikheil Kalatozishvili, Mikheil Chiaureli, Kote Mikaberidze,
Nikoloz Shengelaia and others. These directors and their films
conditioned the rise of Georgian cinema from 1928. Famous films such
as Eliso (1928) by Nikoloz Shengelaia, My Grandmother (1929) by Kote
Mikaberidze, Jim Shvante (1930) by Mikheil Kalatozov and Khabarda
(1931) by Mikheil Chiaureli were made in a span of four years. These
young directors developed a new and distinct cinematic form that made
a mark in the history of Georgian cinema. Under the Soviets the
masterpiece of avant-garde cinema My Grandmother (1929) by Kote
Mikaberidze, was banned for forty years. In 1938, the Tbilisi
Cinematographic Studio was established in Tbilisi.
A propagandist stance emerged in the Georgian cinema of the forties
and it is generally considered a period of stagnation. The end of the
fifties saw a new wave of film directors and screenwriters. Magdanas
Donkey (1955) by Rezo Chkheidze and Tengiz Abuladze, won the Best
Fiction Film - Short at the 1956 Cannes film Festival. They along with
other film directors like Eldar Shengelaia, Giorgi Shengelaia, Otar
Ioseliani, Merab Kokochashvili, Sergei Parajanov, Aleksandre
Rekhviashvil, Mikheil Kobakhidze, Lana Gogoberidze and others,
revitalised the Georgian cinema once again, with a completely new
cinematic language during the 60s. They introduced a new kind of
protagonist who took on the establishment, laws and stereotypes. Their
work however differed not just from their predecessors but also from
each other.
Several films from the 60s and the 70s were considered dissident in
Soviet Georgia as they used metaphor, symbolism and national folklore
as an expression of protest the soviet system. Films produced during
this time include Giorgobistve by Otar Iosseliani, Alaverdoba by Giorgi
Shengelaia, Extraordinary Exhibition by Eldar Shengelaia, and Big Green
Valley by Merab Kokochashvili and are considered to be the best four
Georgian films of all time. In 1972, the Faculty of Cinema was
established at the Shota Rustaveli Institute of Theater that later
developed into the Tbilisi Institute of Theater and Film. Some of the
work produced in this period were censored and remained unreleased.
In the 1980s another new crop of filmmakers emerged like Temur
Babluani, Nana Jorjadze, Dito Tsintsadze, Tato Kotetishvili, Levan
Zakareishvili, Gogita Chkonia, Aleko Tsabadze and others. Unfortunately
they managed to make only a few films in Georgia as the Soviet Union
began to collapse and the existing political, social and economic
situation worsened. However Tengiz Abuladze made the last of his
trilogy Monanieba"(Repentance) in1984, the earlier two being Vedreba
(Entreaty) 1967, and Natvris Khe (The Tree of Desire) 1976, that won
him international fame and awards. The fall of the Soviet Union and the
chaotic first few years of independence resulted in a period of
stagnation in the 1990s. Georgia found itself in the midst of a civil war,
ethno-territorial conflicts and economic crisis. Georgian cinema sector
faced 10-12 years of stagnation. It was a period of transition from
planned economy to market economy and the key issues were shortage
of skills and an outdated infrastructure. Despite the conditions a number
of popular films were produced, including Laka, Gamis Tsekva, Zgvarze,
Isini, Ara, Megobaro, Otsnebata Sasaplao, Rcheuli, Ik Chemtan, Ak
Tendeba and others. Babluani directed Udzinarta Mze in 1992 and won
the Silver Bear prize at the Berlin Festival. Dito Tsintsadze debuted with
Dakhatuli tsre in 1988 and later produced Sakhli (1991), Stumrebi
(1991) and Zghvarze (1993).
In recent years Georgian cinema is once again making a comeback. With
new financial support from the state as well as private industry a new
generation of talented filmmakers, along with those who stopped
making films in the 90s, are making a mark. These include Dito
Tsintsadze, Levan Koguashvili, Giorgi Ovashvili, Zaza Urushadze, Levan
Tutberidze, Aleko Tsabadze amongst others. Many of them have
received several international film festivals awards.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
The Sun of the Sleepless
1992, 123 minutes
Director: Temur Babluani
Screenplay: Temur Babluani
Camera: Victor Andrievski, Nugzar Nozadze
Sound: Vladimir Nikonov
Cast: Elgudzha Burduli, David Kazishvili, Lia Babluani, Eka Saatashvili,
Givi Sikharulidze
Synopsis
The director dedicated this lyrical, epic film-confession to the memory of
his father who was a doctor. The film’s protagonist, an ambulance
doctor, conducts dangerous experiments in search of a vitally important
vaccine. His wife believes in his work, though his daughter would not
understand him. His son, who is absolutely unlike his father in character,
is trying to protect him. But self-denial in the name of science proves
too high a price. Just when he is on the verge of discovery, the doctor
loses everything he has gathered as a result of his twenty-year-long
work. This loss brings him even closer to his son. The shooting of the
film continued for seven years (1985-1992), making it a metaphorical
culmination of the Soviet cinematography and the Soviet way of life as a
whole.
Temur Babluani
Temur Babluani graduated from Tbilisi State Theater Institute in 1979,
being tutored by Tengiz Abuladze and Irakli Kvirikadze. He performed in
the Soviet-era movies Our Youth (1969), Earth, This Is Your Son (1980),
and Cucaracha (1982). He directed The Flight of Sparrows (1980), and
The Brother (1981). His The Sun of the Sleepless (1992), for which he
was also a composer, became a cult film in Georgia and won grand
prizes at the festivals in Tbilisi (Georgia) and Sochi (Russia) as well as a
Silver Bear for an outstanding artistic contribution at the Berlin
International Film Festival, 1993. He was also the producer for A Chef in
Love directed by Nana Jorjadze, which became the first, and so far the
only, Georgian film to be nominated for the Academy Award. His elder
son Géla Babluani is also a filmmaker and the younger, Giorgi, is an
actor.
The Legend of Suram Fortress
Georgia/Soviet Union, 1984, 88 minutes
Director: Sergei Parajanov, David Abashidze
Screenplay: Daniel Chonqadze, Vaja Gigashvili
Camera: Klimenko Yuri, Sergo Sikharulidze
Editor: Kora Tsereteli
Sound: Gary Kuntsev
Synopsis
This film is in memory of the Georgian warriors of all times who had
given their lives for their country. It is based on an old Georgian legend:
Preparing to defend their country from the onslaught of foreign
conquerors, people started building a fortress, but each time the wall
had reached the roof level, it collapsed. “The wall will hold if the most
handsome young man is immured in it,” predicted a fortune-teller;
hence forward stepped a young man who was ready to sacrifice his life
for his country. Thanks to that self-sacrifice, the fortress was erected,
and nothing and no one could ever destroy it.
Sergei Parajanov
One of the 20th century's greatest masters of cinema Sergei Parajanov
was born in Georgia to Armenian parents and it was always unlikely that
his work would conform to the strict socialist realism that Soviet
authorities preferred. After studying film and music, Parajanov became
an assistant director at the Dovzhenko studios in Kiev, making his
directorial debut in 1954, following that with numerous shorts and
features. However, in 1964 he was able to make Tini zabutykh predkiv
(1964), a rhapsodic celebration of Ukrainian folk culture, and the world
discovered a startling and idiosyncratic new talent. He followed this up
with the even more innovative Sayat Nova (1968) (which explored the
art and poetry of his native Armenia in a series of stunningly beautiful
tableaux), but by this stage the authorities had had enough, and
Paradjanov spent most of the 1970s in prison. However, with the
coming of perestroika, he was able to make two further films before
succumbing to cancer in 1990.
David Abashidze
David Abashidze was born in 1924 and died in 1990. He was a Soviet
Georgian film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1954 and 1988.
Amongst the films he had acted include Chrichina (The Dragonfly) 1954,
Magdanas lurja (Magdana's Donkey) 1955, Tetri karavani (The White
Caravan) 1963, Didi mtsvane veli (Big Green valley) 1967, Pirveli
mertskhali (First Swollow) 1975, and Pirosmani (Pirosmani) 1969
amongst many others. He co-directed another film along with Sergei
Parajanov, Ashug-Karibi (The Lovelorn Minstrel) 1988, in which he acted
as well.
Repentance
Georgia/Soviet Union, 1984, 153 minutes,
Director: Tenghiz Abuladze
Screenplay: Tengiz Abuladze, Nana Dzhanelidze, Rezo Kveselava
Camera: Mikhail Agranovich
Editor: Guliko Omadze
Sound: Dimitri Gedevanishvili
Cast: Avtandil Makharadze, Ya Ninidze, Zeinab Botsvadze, Ketevan
Abuladze, Edisher Giorgobian
Synopsis
The day after the funeral of Varlam Aravidze, the mayor of a small
Georgian town, his corpse turns up in his son's garden and is secretly
reburied. But the corpse keeps returning, and the police eventually
capture a local woman Zeinab Botsvadze accusing her of digging it up.
Zeinab who had suffered mightily under the mayor's regime, refuses to
allow the old man's corpse to be interred. Despite the son's Herculean
efforts, Botsvadze continues digging up the late mayor's body, a
symbolic gesture to prevent the dead man's villainy from being
forgotten. Repentance was the first Soviet film that openly denounced
the horrors of Stalinism. The Georgian director Tengiz Abuladze, known
for his poetic and surrealist films, chose to make it allegorical,
deliberately using anachronisms and making the leading character look
like a combination of Stalin's henchman Lavrenti Beriya, Hitler, and
Mussolini. The last name chosen for the leading character, Aravidze, is
totally fictional as there is no such name in Georgia. In fact, "aravi"
means "nobody" in Georgian. The film won many awards including the
Cannes Film Festival Special Jury Prize.
Tengiz Abuladze
Tengiz Abuladze studied theatrical direction at the Chota Rustaveli
Theatre Institute in Tbilisi, Georgia, and filmmaking at the VGIK (AllUnion Cinematography Institute) in Moscow. He graduated in 1953, and
joined Georgia Film Studios as a director. Repentance is the third
instalment in his well known trilogy that includes Vedreba (Entreaty)
1967, and Natvris Khe (The Tree of Desire) 1976.
Pirosmani
Georgia/Soviet Union, 1969, 86 minutes,
Director: Georgy Shengelaya
Screenplay: Erlom Akhvlediani , Georgy Shengelaya
Camera: Konstantin Apryatin, Dudar Margievi, Aleqsandre Rekhviashvili
Art Direction: Vaso Arabidze, Avtandil Varazi
Cast: Avtandil Varazi, David Abashidze, Zurab Kapianidze, Margo
Gvaramadze
Synopsis
This film is about the great Georgian painter–primitivist Niko
Pirosmanashvili (1862-1918). An unknown, self-taught painter roams the
streets of a city, painting his pictures. The local people only know that
his name is Nikola Pirosmani, that he is a kind and honest person, but
nobody takes his painting seriously. To make his living and be able to
buy paints, Nikola opens up a food shop. But very soon he goes
bankrupt, for he is giving away butter and cheese to anyone who got no
money. Already gravely ill, he paints his last picture, imbued with light,
joy and love for life.
Georgi Shengelaya
Born in Moscow in 1937, Georgi Shengelaya has worked in the film
industry as an actor, writer and director. Georgi Shengelaya’s father
Nikolai Shengelaya was one of the pioneers of the; his mother was an
early star; and his brother is also a director. His other films as include
Two (1963), Melodies From an Old Quarter (1973), A Young Composer's
Odyssey (1984) and Khareba and Gogi (1987).
A Trip to Karabakh
Georgia, 2005, 96 minutes
Director: Levan Tutberidze
Screenplay: Aka Morchiladze, Irakli Solomonashvili
Camera: Goran Pavichevich
Editors: Boris Machytka, Nico Tarielashvili
Sound: Michal Houdek
Cast: Levan Doborjginidze, Mikheil Meskhi, Dato Iashvili, Nutsa
Kukhianidze
Synopsis
Early 1990s in Tbilisi. Civil war, checkpoints in the city streets and
suburbs. Characters are similar to their surrounding atmosphere, lost in
time and space. Gio, Gogliko, Sandro and Duda are friends. They live
with the typical interests of 20-year-old lads - girls, cards and
unfortunately drags. Older junkies send Gil and Gogliko to Azerbaijan to
buy some cheap drugs, but the young men lose their way in the dark
and end up in Kharabakh, the Armenian-Azeri conflict zone. Despite his
short-term imprisonment, Gio experiences an incredible sense of
freedom. Winner of the Golden Vine, at the CIS and the Baltic States
Festival, A Trip to Karabakh is based on the popular contemporary novel
of the same name by Aka Morchiladze. A poignant and entertaining film
about the futility of war.
Levan Tutberidze
Born in 1959 Levan Tutberidze studied film direction at the Tbilisi State
University of Theatre and Film. He was the founder of the first
independent film studio Aisi and one of the founders of the cinema
house Amirani. He has appeared in several feature films as an actor.
Other films directed by him include Makhare (1986), Nazares
ukanaskneli lotsva (The Last Prayer of Nazare) 1988, Tsarsulis achrdilebi
(Phantoms of the Past) 1996, Paper Bullet (2006) and I Love You Baby
(in production).
COUNTRY FOCUS: TAIWAN
Eat Drink Man Woman
1994, 123 minutes
Director: Ang Lee
Screenplay: Ang Lee, Wong Huei Lin
Camera: Jong Lin
Editor: Tim Squyres
Sound: Alex Albanese
Production: Central Motion Picture Corporation, 6F, No. 260, Sec.
2, Bade Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Taipei City, Taiwan; Telephone:
+886-2-2778-1058 Fax: +886-2-2778-1048
Cast: Guey-Mey Yang、Winston Chao、Chian-Lian Wu、Shiung
Lung、Yu-Wen Wong
Synopsis
Trouble is brewing for old Mr. Chu, the greatest living chef of
Taipei, and the father of three grown and rebellious daughters. It’s
been years since. Mr. Chu’s wife died, leaving him to raise Jia-Jen,
a school teacher seemingly devoted to her father, Jia-Chien, a
driven executive who can barely stand her father’s company,
and Jia-Ning, the youngest and most hopelessly romantic of the
lot. Enter old Mrs. Liang, the nagging widow who’s just moved in
next door, and suddenly the whole caln is wondering if Mr. Chu
will soon be cooking for someone new…… But in the meantime,
someone gets pregnant, someone else gets dumped, someone
dies, and someone finds true love, and don’t be surprised to be
completely surprised by what happens to whom! In this deliciously
heart-warming comedy, director Ang Lee once again cooks up a
feast of surprises and emotional twists, as traditional family ties
come unravelled and marvelously knitted together again.
Ang Lee
Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of
today's greatest contemporary filmmakers. Lee graduated from
the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the
U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Masters Degree
in Film Production at New York University. At NYU, he served as
Assistant Director on Spike Lee's student film, Joe's Bed-Stuy
Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983).
After Lee wrote a couple of screenplays, he eventually appeared
on the film scene with Pushing Hands (1992), a film reflecting on
generational conflicts and cultural adaptation, centering on the
metaphor of the grandfather's Tai-Chi technique of "Pushing
Hands". The Wedding Banquet (1993) was Lee's next film. It won a
Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. The third movie in his trilogy
of Taiwanese-Culture/ Generation films, all of them featuring
Hsiung Lung, was Eat Drink Man Woman (1994).
Lee followed this up with Sense and Sensibility (1995), his first
Hollywood-mainstream movie. It won Best Adapted Screenplay.
Lee was also voted the year's Best Director by the National Board
of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. In 2000, Lee’s
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) that is considered one of
his greatest works. It swept the Oscar nominations, eventually
winning Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Best Director at the
Golden Globes, and became the highest grossing foreignlanguage film ever released in America. Lee then filmed the
comic-book adaptation, Hulk (2003) – an elegant and skillful film
with nice action scenes. The most recently won the 2005 Best
Director Academy Award for Brokeback Mountain (2005), a film
based on a short story by Annie Proulx.
-----------------------Growing Up
1983, 100 minutes
Director: Chen Kun-hou
Screenplay: Chu T'ien-wen, Ding Yah-ming, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Hsu
Shu-chen
Camera: Chen Kun-ho
Editor: Liao Ching-song
Sound: Tu Du-che
Cast: Chun-Fong Cheng、Fu-Hsen Tsue、Li-So Yu、Cheng-Tse
Neo、Chwan-Wen Cheng、Cheng-Kuo Yen
Synopsis
She, a young mother, who pays the price for her love to her son
named Trogar Pi, who lost his father. The boy is a mixture of justice
and evil, of love and hate. Everyone did something wrong and
foolish when he was young, but only Pis mother is humble enough
to sacrifice her whole life for them. Can we say she is a brave
woman in the other way? He, an old and tired father, who
married this woman and accepted her boy. He can’t give them
anything but love and a peaceful home. The father did nothing
wrong, but he had to pay the frice for his love also. There is always
something you must face in your life, and maybe this is the story
you will identify with.
Chen Kun-hou
Born in Taichung in 1939, Chen passed the examination for
employment at the state-run Central Motion Pictures Company in
1962. (The company was later privatized and renamed the
Central Pictures Corporation.) There, he worked as a
cinematography assistant under Lai Cheng-ying and was
promoted to the position of cinematographer in 1971.
In 1972, Chen served as the cameraman for director Sung Chengshou’s film Story of Mother. For that film, he employed a simple, yet
visually poetic style that powerfully complemented the tragic
storyline. Subsequently, Chen was the cinematographer for many
of director Lee Hsing’s movies, such as He Never Gives Up, The
Story of a Small Town and My Native Land. In 1978, he won the
Golden Horse Award for Best Cinematography for He Never Gives
Up.
In 1979, Chen began collaborating with director Hou Hsiao-hsien,
with whom he had a philosophical rapport after working together
under director Lee Hsing. With Hou taking charge of screenplays
and Chen cinematography, the two alternated as director. They
filmed a series of romantic comedies that became box office hits,
including Lover on the Wave, Spring in Autumn and The Girl from
the South, which differed from the sentimental genre of cinematic
love stories typical of the time, such as those adapted from novels
by the highly popular woman writer Chiung Yao.
After the 1982 Chen-Hou production The Green Green Grass of
Home won the acclaim of movie critics, Chen and Hou joined with
Hsu Su-chen and Chang Hua-kun to establish an independent
production company. Evergreen Motion Picture Co., which gave
them greater creative freedom. Initially, Evergreen cooperated
with Central Motion Pictures to produce the low-budget film
Growing Up, an adaptation from Chu Tien-wen’s novel by the
same name. Besides doing well at the box office in 1983, the film
received that year’s Golden Horse Awards for Best Feature Film,
Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, contributing
momentum to the New Wave Cinema or Taiwan New Cinema
that was then just getting underway.
With his wealth of experience, methodical work style and
eagerness to give a hand to upcoming directors, Chen, along
with Hou, was regarded as a spiritual leader of the new wave. In
1983, he served as the cinematographer for The Sandwich Man,
co-directed by Hou and two newcomers Wan Jen and Tseng
Chuang-hsiang, helping them resolve visual effect problems and
harmonize the film’s overall cinematographic mood.
In 1985, Chen and Hou set up separate teams, striving to develop
their own distinctive styles. In the years that followed, Chen has
produced a new film every year, including My Favorite Season
(1985), His Matrimony (1985), Drifters (1986), Osmanthus Alley
(1987) and Spring and Autumn Tea House (1988). Most of his films
were adapted from literary works, consistently exhibiting his gentle
humanistic concern and artful mastery of visual effects.
------------------------------
In Our Time
1982, 106 minutes
Directors: Tao Jim Edward Yang Yi-Chen Ke Yi Chang Seng Wen
Lan
Screenplay: Jim Tao, Edward Yang, Ke Yi-chen, Chang Yi
Sound: Tu Du-che
Cast: Sylvia Chang,、Li-Chun Lee、Kuo-hsiu Lee、Ying-Chen
Chang、An-Ni Shih、Seng Wen Lan
Synopsis
For humankind, the elapsing of time means striving with
vicissitudes of life to weather through – joys of growing up,
inextricable bitterness derived from perceiving advancement of
age, the dream cherished and the solitude borne in childhood,
ardent expectations of a lass and her despondency, vigour and
zealousness of youth, life of grown-ups thrown into a muddle and
indulged in reminiscence. Four stories respectively directed by four
potential and promising young film artists are perfectly combined
and integrated into a consistent plot.
Edward Yang
Refer to biography under Taipei Story.
Jim Tao
Jim Tao followed up on an undergraduate degree in theater
earned at Chinese Culture University in Taipei with a master of fine
arts degree in film at Syracuse University in the United States. The
experimental works he created during this time, including The End,
Out of Focus and Once Again, were all well received.
Tao found gainful employment at the Central Motion Pictures
Company (later privatized and renamed Central Pictures
Corporation) where, in 1982, he proposed the shooting of a lowcost anthology picture in four installments. Each segment was to
be overseen by a different director. With the assistance of Li Yuan,
Ming Chi and others, this idea came to fruition. The result was In
Our Time. This box-office smash marked the birth of New Wave
Cinema, a collection of vivid and realistic cinematic portrayals of
life in Taiwan. Jim Tao, Edward Yang, Ko Yi-cheng and Chang Yi
each directed one of the film’s installments. Tao’s contribution,
Little Dragon Head, depicted Taiwan during the 1960s. The movie
is well regarded for its use of lingering shots, props, color and
motion to shape the story through filming techniques. His other
works include The Bike and I (1984) and Righteous God of Good
Fortune and Virtue (1986).
Ko Yi-cheng
Born in 1949, film director Ko Yi-cheng holds a bachelor’s degree
in motion picture arts from Taiwan’s World College of Journalism
(now Shih Hsin University) and a master’s degree in film studies
from Columbia University. He has lectured at Shih Hsin University
and Chinese Culture University in Taipei.
In 1981, Ko teamed up with directors Song Chun-so and Edward
Yang for Sylvia Chang’s television drama series Eleven Women, in
which he directed the episodes Happy Single Women and Last
Summer. That same year, his experimental feature Labyrinthine
Forest earned him a Golden Harvest Award—an award also
conferred at the same ceremony on directors Wan Jen, Tsai Mingliang and Mak Tai-kit.
Ko made his motion picture debut in 1982 when he directed
Jumping Frog, the third in the four-segment movie In Our Time.
Skillfully delivering criticism of society, the film reveals a deep
social consciousness through a thoughtful, introspective style. The
movie’s success not only launched the New Wave Cinema
movement in Taiwan, but enabled Ko and his fellow newcomers
to continue in their directing careers. In addition to directing, Ko
appeared frequently in films made by other novice directors (such
in Wan Jen’s Ah fei where he played the role of the father).
His work Blue Moon (1997) was a highly experimental project. Shot
in five episodes named by color—red, orange, yellow, green and
blue—the episodes can played in any sequence to form 120
possible storylines, each expressing a different mood and rhythm.
Ko said that the aim of such a project was to explore the
vicissitudes of life.
-------------------------------------------
Juliets
2010, 106 minutes
Director: Chen Yu-Hsun, Shen Ko-Shang, Hou Chi-Jan
Screenplay: Hou Chi-Jan, Yang Yuan-Ling, Shen Ko-Shang, Lu HsinChih, Chen Yu-Hsun
Camera: Mahua Feng, Tao Chien, Chen Chien-Li
Editor: Ku Hsiao-Yun
Sound: Frank Cheng
Production: Khan Entertainment Co, Ltd.,
10F.,No.37,Sec.1,Kaifeng St., Taipei City 10044, Taiwan
Telephone: +886-2-2389-0106 Fax: +886-2-2389-0161
Cast: Vivian Hsu, Wang Po-Chieh, Lee Chien-Na, River Huang,
Kang Kang, Liang He-Chun
Synopsis
In the 1970s, computers were not yet invented and there was still
such a thing called censorship. Ju, a crippled girl,who never fell in
love, worked in an old-fashioned printing store and spent all her
time with ink. One day a good-looking boy came to the store with
banned articles in his hands, Ju’s life was not monotonous
anymore.
Mei has just been through a breakup and is told a true story—in
the ‘80s, a woman named Julie moved into a madhouse by
faking insanity so that she could wait for her lover without being
disturbed.
One day in 2010, 40-year-old “Juliet” is broken-hearted and goes
into the mountain, trying to commit suicide. The moment “Juliet”
puts the rope around the neck, a commercial-shooting crew
somehow shows up and gets in the way. Then “Juliet” meets
someone that is more obstinate about love. After all this, what will
be Juliet’s final decision—to live or to die?
Chen Yu-Hsun
Renowned Taiwanese commercial/ film director. Chen shot his first
feature Tropical Fish in 1995 after years of working in TV. The film,
commercially successful and critically acclaimed, was awarded
the Blue Leopard Prize at Switzerland's Locarno Film Festival and
was regarded as the most remarkable Taiwan comedy at the
time. His second film Love Go Go (1997) was also well received.
Chen’s works are always marked by strong humour, which is rarely
found in Taiwanese cinema. Chen has focused on commercials in
recent years. Juliets - One more Juliet is his comeback feature to
since his last movie in the late 90s.
Hou Chi-Jan
Born in 1973 in Taipei. Writer and film director. He worked on “the
Database of Taiwan Cinema” from his college days, Hou’s works
tend to be lyrical and stylish, and are often characterized by the
theme of time and memory. His experimental short Stardust
15749001 won the Grand Prix of Taipei International Film Festival in
2003. The second short My 747 won the Grand Prix of Hong Kong
ifva Independent Short Film & Video Award in 2006. His
documentary work Taiwan Black Movies, presenting the cult films
in the repressive age of Taiwan 1970s, was nominated for the
Golden Horse Awards and invited to many international film
festivals. His first feature film One Day was officially selected in the
2010 Berlin International Film Festival.
Shen Ko-Shang
Graduated from the department of Motion Picture of National
Taiwan University of Arts, Shen began to demonstrate his talent in
directing and cinematography early on. In 1999, his thesis film
Layover won the Best Short Film at Taiwan Golden Film Award and
was selected for the Cinefondation section at Cannes Film
Festival, proving the emergence of a new talent. He is well known
as a documentary film director and cinematographer. The Pigeon
Game and Baseball Boy are his most famous works. The former,
documenting the unique pigeon racing practice in Taiwan, was
broadcast in over 160 countries and won him the Best Director
prize at Taiwan Golden Bell Awards. The latter entered Visions du
Réel and won several awards in various festivals. His
cinematography also brings him numerous related nominations
and prizes.
------------------------------------
The Sandwich Man
1983, 102 minutes
Directors: Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tseng Chuang-hsiang, Wan Jen
Screenplay: Wu Nien-jen
Camera: Chen Kun-ho
Sound: Tu Du-che
Cast: Bo-Jeng Chen、Li-Ying Yang、Shen-Li Jo、Sha
Chiang、Ding King、Chi Chan
Synopsis
This episodic film is adapted from novelist Tzen-Ming Hwan’s three
short stories: A Taste of Apple, The Sandwich Man, and Vicki’s Hat.
In the miserable years, several downbeat characters fight and
struggle for their lives. The film depicts, sympathetically, their selfdepreciation and self-respect, laugh and tears, and hope and
despair Most importantly, the film shows the heart sore and
ignorance of the developing country people when facing the
foreign civilization intrusion.
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Refer to biography under A Time Live and a Time to Die
Wan Jen
Wan Jen was born in Taipei in 1950. In the 1980s he worked with
other new film directors, Hou Hsiao-Hsien,.Edward Yang…
generated much talk about the coming of a New Wave in
Taiwan. His subsequent features revealed his predilection for social
and political critique. Such as “The Taste of Apple of The Sandwich
Man” , “Ah Fei” , “Super Citizen” , “Super Citizen Ko”, “The war of
betrayal 1895 (TV Series)”… He is considered one of the important
directors of the Taiwan Cinema. He is now vice-president of the
Directors Guild of Taiwan.
Tseng Chuang-hsiang
Tseng Chuang-hsiang was born in Hong Kong in 1947. He
graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages and
Literatures at National Taiwan University before earning a master’s
degree in fine arts in 1982 from the Department of RadioTelevision-Film at The University of Texas at Austin. After his studies,
Tseng returned to Taiwan where he built his career, starting out as
a movie critic for newspapers such as the Hong Kong Times, then
moving on to screenwriting and directing at the Central Motion
Pictures Company (later privatized and renamed the Central
Pictures Corporation), and later to directing at the Tomson Films
Company.
In 1983, Tseng’s drama Lifeline, based on a novel by Wang Wenhsing, won the award for Best 16mm Film at the Sixth Golden
Harvest Awards for Outstanding Short Films. That same year, he
teamed up with Hou Hsiao-hsien and Wan Jen in the three-part
film The Sandwich Man. Tseng directed the second part, Vicki’s
Hat, which portrayed how domestic industries suffered as a result
of Japanese products being imported at below-market prices.
In 1985, Tseng directed A Woman of Wrath (based on a novel of
the same title by Li Ang), which explored the sufferings and
oppression of women in the past and depicted the enormous
sacrifices they have had to make under gender inequality. This
film became a symbol of defiance against social oppression and
earned Tseng recognition as one of Taiwan’s top new
screenwriters of the 1980s. Thereafter, Tseng turned his attention to
filming television dramas and documentaries.
Tseng has taught at the Department of Radio, Television and Film
at Shih Hsin University as well as the Department of
Communication Arts at Chaoyang University of Technology. From
2003 to 2006, he was head of the Department of Motion Pictures
at National Taiwan University of Arts, where he currently works as
associate professor. Tseng has also served on evaluation panels
for the Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards, the Golden Harvest
Awards for Outstanding Short Films, and the Taiwan International
Documentary Festival.
------------------------------------
Taipei Story
1985, 120 minutes
Director: Edward Yang
Screenplay: Edward Yang, Tien Wen Chu, Hou Hsiao-hsien
Camera: Wei Han Yang
Editor: Chi Yang Wang
Sound: Ta Ching Yang
Production: 3H Productions Ltd., Telephone: 886-2-2239-5822
Fax: 886-2-2230 3963
Cast: Hou Hsiao-hsien, I-Chen Ko, Ko Su-Yun, Shufang Chen, Lai
Denan, Suyun Ke, Lin Xiuling, Peng Sun, Tsai Chin, Wu Nien-Jen,
Yang Lai-Yin
Synopsis
Ah-lung, a former member of the national Little League team and
now owner of an old-style fabric business, faces a financial and
relationship crisis. One day, he runs into a former teammate who
is now a struggling cab driver. The two talk about the glory of their
old times and they are struck by a sense of loss. Ah-Lung is living
with his girlfriend, Ah-chin. They have known each other since
childhood. Ah-ching is a westernized professional woman who
grew up in a traditional family. Their relationship is unstable
because Ah-chin finds out Ah-lung visited his ex girl friend. After an
argument, Ah-chin tries to find comfort by hanging out with her
sister's friends, a group of westernized young generation. In the
end, the Ah-lung is dead in an accident and disappears from the
modern Taipei city.
Edward Yang
Edward Yang was born in Shanghai in 1947, and grew up in Taipei,
Taiwan. After studying Electrical Engineering in National Chiao
Tung University, he enrolled in the graduate program at the
University of Florida, where he received his Masters Degree in
Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1974. During this time and
briefly afterwards, Yang worked at the Center for Informatics
Research. Yang had a great interest in film ever since he was a
child, but put away his aspirations in order to pursue a career in
the high-tech industry. Thereafter, he went to Seattle to work in
microcomputers and defense software.
While working in Seattle, Yang came across the Werner Herzog
film Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972). This encounter rekindled
Yang's passion for film and introduced him to a wide range of
classics in world and European cinema. Yang was particularly
inspired by the films of Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni
(Antonioni's influence has shown up in some of Yang's later works).
-------------------------------------
A Time to Live and a Time to Die
1985, 138 minutes
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Screenplay: T'ien-wen Chu, Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Camera: Pih Bing Lee
Editor: Liao Ching-Song
Sound: Tu Du-Che
Music: Chu-chu Wu
Production: Central Motion Picture Corporation, 6F, No. 260, Sec.
2, Bade Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Taipei City, Taiwan:
Telephone: +886-2-2778-1058 Fax: +886-2-2778-1048
Cast: Ann-Suan Yiu、Shu-Fan Sin、Fon Tan、Fun Mai
Synopsis
Grandma called him Ah-ha-gu. She believed that he was
destined to become a big official, so she was always especially
good to him. Ah-ha had an elder brother who weighed 39 kilos
and didn’t have to do military service. He also had a younger
brother who held a raw egg in his palm while he practised
calligraphy, another younger brother, and a smart, pretty elder
sister. Yet he never seemed to understand matters of life and
death. To him, the consequences of the August 23 War with
Communist China were that he no longer had any apples to eat.
His days passed by helping the puny red ants defeat menacing
black ants, and then aiding them in moving bread crumbs into
their hole. During his high school years, his sister got married. He
got involved with gangs, and was always fighting. He had a crush
on a girl in the neighbourhood, and for the first time started
looking at himself in mirrors. One night, just as he was sharpening
his knife in preparation for a big fight, his mother died. In the full
bloom of summer, Ah-ha remembers his youth.
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Taiwan's premier director and winner of numerous film prizes all
over the world, Hou Hsiao Hsien established himself as a leading
figure of Taiwan New Wave in the last decade. He was born in
China and moved to Taiwan in 1948. He spent his childhood in
southern Taiwan. Upon completing his military service in 1969, Hou
went to study filmmaking at the National Taiwan Academy of Arts.
He graduated in 1972 and took various jobs before switching to
films. He was an assistant director to veteran directors Li Hsing and
Lai Cheng-Ying. He later formed partnership with
cinematographer Chen Kun-Hou and took turns directing.
He made his directorial debut with the film CUTE GIRLS in 1980. By
his third film, GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME (1981), he was
nominated for a Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan's equivalent to the
Oscars. Since, he has helped shape a whole new cinema
consciousness in Taiwan. Hou captured international attention
with THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI (1983) and A SUMMER AT
GRANDPA'S (1984), both a winner at Festival des 3 Continents,
Nantes, France. His autobiographical film A TIME TO LIVE, A TIME
TO DIE (1985), took home an international critics' award from Berlin
in 1985 and was named the best film outside of Europe and
America by the Rotterdam Film Festival. He then continued to
make critically acclaimed films, DUST IN THE WIND (1986) and
DAUGHTER OF THE NILE (1987), and was gradually known as one of
the most innovative filmmakers of the world. In 1989, his A CITY OF
SADNESS won the coveted Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival. In
1993, his masterpiece THE PUPPETMASTER won jury prize in Cannes.
His next films GOOD MEN, GOOG WOMEN (1995), the energetic
GOODGYE SOUTH, GOODBYE (1996), FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI
(1998), MILLENNIUM MAMBO (2001), CAFÉ LUMIERE (2004), and
THREE TIMES (2005) were hailed by critics at the competition at the
Venice Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival.
As a producer, Hou has helped bring about classics as Edward
Yang's TAIPEI STORY, Zhang Yimou's RAISE THE RED LANTERN, Hsu
Hsiao-Ming's DUST OF ANGELS, HEARTBREAK ISLAND, Wu Nien-Jen's
A BORROWED LIFE and Chen Kuo-Fu's TREASURE ISLAND. He also
took the lead acting role in TAIPEI STORY.
-----------------------------------
Viva l’Amour
1994, 118 minutes
Director: Tsai Ming-Liang
Screenplay: Tsai Ming-Liang, Yang Pi-Ying, Tsai Yi-Jiun
Camera: Liao Pen-jung, Lin Ming-kuo
Editor: Shia-cheng Sung
Cast: Chao-Jun Chen、Guey-Mey Yang、Kang-Sheng Lee
Synopsis
Hsiao-kang is a salesperson for columbarium. He sells niches for
cremated remains of the dead. May is a real estate agent. She
lives alone in a small apartment. Ah-jung sells female clothing at
the doorway of a department store in late evenings. In a winter
night of Taipei, the three slip into a vacant apartment downtown...
They are together... They are not.
Tsai Ming-Liang
Tsai Ming-Liang was born in Malaysia on October 27, 1957. He
graduated from the Chinese Cultural University of Taiwan and has
written and directed for stage and television. His films have won
many awards including the 1994 Golden Lion (Vive L’Amour,
1994), the Silver Bear for Wayward Cloud (2004) and five FRIPESCI
awards.
In 2002, he received the distinguished medal of the Knight of
Order of Arts and Letters from the French government. His recent
film Visage was produced by and shot at the Louvre Museum in
France.
From his first feature, Rebels of the Neon God (1992), to the recent
playfully scandalous Wayward Cloud (2004) that won major prizes
at the last Berlin International Film Festival, Tsai Ming-Liang has cast
a dispassionate eye upon contemporary life and human relations,
often happily mixing genres and moving from melancholy to
black comedy.
Tsai Ming-Liang is regarded as a master of contemporary cinema
and is one of the generation of Taiwanese new wave film-makers
who have made Taiwanese films so significant in world cinema.
His other films include The River (1997), The Hole (1998), and
Goodbye Dragon Inn (2003), a stylistic tour-de-force and moving
requiem to the passage of time and the passing of the cinema.
------------------------------
Country Focus: Sri Lanka
Aaganthukaya (The Outcast)
2005, 90 minutes
Director: Vasantha Obeysekera
Screenplay: Vasantha Obeysekera
Camera: Ruwan Costa
Editor: Ravindra Guruge
Art Direction: Rohan Samaradivakara
Cast: Saumya Liyanage, , Chandani Seneviratne, Anjalee
Ehalepola, Sanath Gunatilaka, Nimal Anthony, Giriraj Kaushalya,
Chandrasoma Binduhewa, Damayanthi Fonseka, Somasiri
Alakolange
Synopsis
The film depicts the personal conflict of a person who upholds
justice, fair play and honesty as the prime values in life, being
compelled to survive in a society that is politically dominated and
rarely pays attention to moral codes, ethics and honesty.
Sampath is a principal of a school, who is devoted to his vocation.
He lives a very simple, exemplary life, struggling to give his wife, a
music teacher and his primary school daughter the best he could
afford with his and his wife’ s salary. Hid ideal in his life is his father,
a principled man, who fell victim to the insurgency that erupted in
Southern Sri Lanka, in late 1980s. Uncompromising on his principles,
Sampath was victimized and often sent on transfer from one
school to another. His strength was his honesty and devotion to
the school he served, which he proved once again, when he was
transferred to a school as its Principal , that was poorly
administrated with provincial politics intervening.
Vasantha Obeysekere
Vasantha Obeysekere’s obsession with films made him study film
making and in 1966, gave him the opportunity to venture into his
most cherished career as a Film Director, when he was associated
as the Co-Screen Play Writer and Assistant Director to the film
“Sath Samudura” (Seven Seas) “Sath Samudura” was Sri Lanka’s
Official entry for the Moscow International Film Festival in
1967.Obeysekere wrote and directed the movies “Vesgaththo”
(Masked Men) in 1970. In 1971, Obeysekera obtained a certificate
in “Cinematography” from the Conservatoire Independent Du
Cinema Franciais in Paris. Ever since, Obesekera has achieved a
highly respected status in the Sri Lankan Film Industry and society,
contributing to the discourse in Art and Film as an award winning
Film Director. Cinematic creations of Obeysekera are
“Valmathwuvo”(Lost ones,1970) “Diyamanthi (Diamonds,1978),”
Palangatiyo” (Grass Hoppers, 1979), “Dadayama” (The Hunt,
1984) ,” Kedapathaka Chaaya” (Reflection in a Mirror, 1989),
“Marurthaya” (The Storm,1995), “Dorakada Marawa” (Death at
the Doorstep, 1998), “Theertha Yartha” (Pilgrimage, 1999),”Salelu
Warama” (Web of Love, 2002) “Asani Warsha” (Wrath and Rain,
2004), “Seuwandhi “ (Rose, 2006).
Agnidahaya
2001, 119 minutes
Director: Jayantha Chandrasiri
Screenplay: Jayantha Chandrasiri
Camera: Ruwan Costa
Art Direction: Jagath Imbulpe
Cast: Yasoda Wimaladharma, Jackson Anthony, Kamal
Addaraarachchci, Buddhadasa Withanarahchchi, Sanath
Gunatilake, Gamini Jayalath
Synopsis
The story is set in the year 1664. Rajasinghe the Second, the King
of the Kandyan Kingdom, is hemmed in by the Dutch, who control
the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka, and threatened within his own
kingdom by a rebel lord, Ambanwala Rala, who enjoys some
support from influential Kandyan chiefs as well those who wielded
considerable civil power in the villages. The film revolves around
the lives of an exorcist (Punchirala, loyal to Ambanwala Rala), his
assistant (Sobana), a woman called KIrimenike (whom Sobana is
obsessed with) and her man, Herath. The story unfolds against the
backdrop of this political turmoil, the rebellion and counter
rebellion weaving in and out of the interplay among these
characters and the cultural ethos that surrounds them. In the
denouement, the protagonists discover themselves and each
other, partly as result of the tumult they live through and partly in
spite of it.
Jayantha Chandrasiri
Jayantha Chandrasiri is one among the new breed of film
directors who has attempted to present something new on the
screen. His efforts have been exceptional in quality and content.
Having produced some very successful plays such as “Ath”,
“Mora”, and “Oththukaraya” for the stage he turned to television.
His first teledrama was “Weda Hamine”(Woman Doctor) , followed
by “Dandubasnamanaya”(Range of an arrow), “Akala
Sandya”(Untimely Dusk) , “Wesmuhuna” (Mask) and
“Rejina”(Queen). He has received awards for his outstanding
work. Agnidahaya is Chandrasiri’s first film.
Ira Madiyama (August Sun)
2002, 108 minutes
Director: Prasanna Vithanage
Screenplay: Priyath Liyanage
Camera: M.D.Mahindapala
Editor: A Sreekar Prasad
Sound: Lakshminarayanan
Art Director: Kanchana Talpawila
Cast: Nimmi Harasgama, Peter D Almeida, Gayani Gisanthika,
Nadee Kammalweera, Namal Jayasinghe, A.M.Mansoor,
Mohamed Rahfiulla, Maheshwari Ratnam H.V.Thaheera, Rajeena
Begum
Synopsis
The film revolves around three narratives which unfold
simultaneously. During two scorching days in August, three
different groups of people face different experiences due to
circumstances beyond their control. These are ordinary people
thrown into the heat of war. The experiences they encounter may
not be directly related to the conflict. These events, like the
weather, govern their lives. Yet they have to continue beyond
these encounters to exist in a society that is traumatized and
disturbed by nearly twenty years of civil war between the
majority,Sinhala government forces and the rebel movement from
the minority Tamil community who are fighting for autonomy and
self-determination.
An eleven year old Muslim boy, Arfath, is struggling to keep his
companion and friend , a dog, while the family are forced out of
their home by rebels. Chamari, a young woman is looking for
husband who is a solder missing in action. A young Soldier
Duminda walks into a brothel to find his sister among the working
girls.
The main action of the film takes place in Sri Lanka’s northern
territories, parts of which are controlled by the Tamil rebels who
have created a de-facto separate state. These stories are about
people who are struggling to hold on to their hopes and dreams
while being swept up by the torrents of war. The film is about their
quest for life.
Prasanna Vithanage
Born in 1962, Prasanna Vithanage became involved in theatre on
leaving school. He translated and directed Bernard Shaw’s “Arms
and the Man” and Dario Fo’s ‘Raspberries and Trumpets in 1991.
In 1992, he directed his first film “Sisila Gini Gani” (Ice on Fire) It
won nine OCIC Sri Lanka Awards, including Best Director, Best
Actor and Best Director.
In 1996 his second feature ‘Anantha Rathriya(Dark Night of the
Soul), which he wrote and directed, participated in several
International film festivals and won a Jury’s Special Mention at the
First Pusan International Film festival. The film also won all the main
awards at the 1996 Sri Lanka Film Critics Forum Awards (affiliated
to FIPRESCI) including awards for the Most outstanding Film, Best
Director and the Best Scriptwriter.
“Pawuru Walalu” (Walls Within), his third feature in 1997 won three
awards at the Amiens International Film Festival. It also won ten
out of eleven awards including Best Picture and Best Director, at
the Sri Lanka Film Critics Forum Awards.
His fourth feature ‘Purahanda Kaluwara’(Death on a Full Moon
Day) of the same year , 1997, which he wrote and directed, won
the Grand Prix at the Amiens Film Festival. Initially banned by the
government of Sri Lanka, it was subsequently released after a long
drawn out court case between Vithanage and the State.
Me Mage Sandal (This is My Moon)
2000, 104 minutes
Director: Ashoka Handagama
Screenplay: Ashoka Handagama
Camera: Channa Deshapriya
Music: Rohana Weerasinghe
Cast: Jagath Chamila, Jayasiri Chandrajith, Naditha Dinesh
Synopsis
"Me Mage Sandai" (This Is My Moon), the internationally
acclaimed film by Ashoka Handagama, unfolds a story of an army
deserter and a Tamil girl in a border village of war-torn Northern Sri
Lanka.
Ashoka Handagama
Born in 1962, Ashoka Handagama is one of Sri Lanka’s leading film
directors. He graduated with a degree in Mathematics from the
Universiry Jayawardhanpura, Sri Lanka. “Me Mage Sandal’ was his
third feature film.
Sudu Kaluwara (The Intruders)
2001, 128 minutes
Director: Sudath Rohana
Screenplay: Sudath Rohana
Camera: Lal Wickramarachchci
Editor: Elmo Haliday
Sound: Lionel Gunaratna
Art Direction: Lal Harindranath
Cast: Sanath Gunathilaka, Jayalath Manorathne, Indrajith
Navinna, W.Jayasiri, Buddhadasa Withanarachchi, Palitha
Silva, Jayani Senanayaka
Synopsis
Arachchila (Village Headman) is a petit official with immense
posers over the life and property of the people in the village under
his charge. He is a loyal and obedient servant of British imperialism
promoting an d stabilizing their political interests in occupation of
Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) Wilson Herald a planter who arrives along
with the British, transforms a natural forest into a coconut estate.
Seemon Fernando a married man and outsider, arriving in the
village starts a small scale business. In the mean time he carries on
an affair with a woman in the village.
Dingiri Banda who becomes friendly with Wilson construct the first
tiled –house in the village earning the wrath and displeasure of
Arachila who was later found guilty of felling illicit timber, and was
sacked from office. Dingiri Banda succeeds him as the
Arachchila. Meanwhile Wilson, who commenced a love affair with
a beautiful village damsel Heen Menike, decides to marry her.
Her father Appuhamy objects to the marriage on the grounds of
cultural incompatibility and being contrary to the customs of the
country. Podi Nilame, a grandson of Korale (Regional Chief), who
is proud of his ancestry as well as his country, become indebted to
Seemon and turns himself a tenant cultivator in his own land.
Heen Menike become pregnant by Wilson and her mother Kiri
Ethena commits sucide in pain of mind. Podi Nilame who loses
everything goes to live a solitary life in a hut by the tank. Dingiri
Banda marries Heen Menike. The tank that sustained the whole
village together with the tank civilization that lasted for thousands
of years is dried up due to political, economic and cultural
exploitation by the intruders, local and foreign, who wrecked the
peaceful simple life of the people of Sri Lanka.
Sudath Rohana
Sudath entered the film industry as assistant director and assistant
editor of the highly acclaimed film ‘Viragaya’ (1985), directed by
Tissa Abeysekera, the eminent Sri Lankan filmmaker and
screenwriter. Then onwards, he worked in the same capacity for
several film and tele-drama directors. He launched into his career
as a tele drama director with Amarawathi and Somadasa.(1990)
Sudath is a leading Sri Lankan tele-drama director who has made
his mark in the audio-visual art of weaving family, social and
political themes into well-written plots which millions of TV viewers
enjoyed and admired. Sudu Kaluwara is his first feature film.
Udugan Yamaya (Against the Tide)
2001, 90 minutes
Director: Sudath Devapriya
Screenplay: Sudath Devapriya
Camera: M.D. Mahindapala
Sound: Kalinga Gihan Perera
Art Direction: Rohan Samaradivakara
Cast: Mauli Ferdinando, Tisuri Uwanika, Chandani Seneviratne,
Suminda Sirisena, Richard Weerakkodi, Saumya Liyanage, Giriraj
Kaushalya, Duleeka Marapana
Synopsis
This story is set in a remote village of Sri Lanka during the period of
1989 civil war between young left wing insurgents and the state.
Sirimal, a nine-year-old boy, lives with his parents in this village.
Srimal’s father is the village ferryman. The suspicious activities of
some rebel youth in the area and the occasional sound of
gunshots do not go unnoticed. The Army visits the village looking
for these youths and accuse the villagers about harbouring
terrorists. The Idyllic life of the village is slowly torn apart by the
threat of sudden abductions and disappearances as the violence
worsens. One day Srimal’s father goes missing with his ferryboat.
Srimal is shocked and ends up in a withdrawn mental state. His
mother looks for her husband in every Army prison camp...
When the revolt is finally and brutally crushed by the State forces,
the curfew is lifted, schools re-open and life slowly returns to
normal. With the election of a new government a new era is born
in the country. State officials visit the village, making inquires about
the disappeared and offering cash compensation to their families.
Bodies are being found in unmarked graves around the country.
When Sirimal’s father’s body is finally discovered, Sirimal does not
accept the fact that his father is dead. For him, his father is still
alive and larger than life...
Sudath Devapriya
Sudath Devapriya entered the world of arts through the Si Lanka
stage. Having acted in a number of stage plays, he followed a
course in theatre arts for children and young adults conduct by
the well known theatre personality Somalatha Subasinghe in 1981.
He joined the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (Sri Lanka’s
national television Channel) in 1983 as an Assistant Director and
was responsible for the production of a large number of children’s
dramas. In 1998 he directed a teledrama for children based on
the popular novel ‘Ambayahaluwo” (The Best Friends) by well
known novelist T.B.Illangarathe. His pioneer film creation “Elivena
Davasa” won the award for the Best Screen Script at the Youth
Festival organized by the National Youth Services Centre in Sri
Lanka. His second Film “The Crossing” won two awards at the Sri
Lanka Film critics Forum Award 1991 and was screened at the Faja
International Film Festival in Iran and at Sao Paulo in Brazil.
“Against the Tide” produced in 2003, is his third Film.
Walapatala (Penumbra)
2005,
Director: Vijitha Gunarathne
Screenplay: Vijitha Gunarathna
Camera: K.D.Dayananda
Sound: Kalinga Gihan Perera
Art Direction: Lal Harindranath
Cast: Gamini Hathtotuwegama, Jayalath Manorathna, Saumya
Liyanage, Palitha Silva, Jayani Senanayaka, Deepani Silva,
Duleeka Marapana
Synopsis
As a radical political movement of youth spreads through the
village, the politician Jayasundara senses threats against his
political carrier. With the help from the school teacher
Batuawaththa, a group of youth organizes a health information
meeting in their village. The chief medical Doctor Manoharen, a
leading member of the village community, participates as the
resource person. Suddenly the meeting is interrupted by a violent
attack made by a gang, and a boy gets injured. It becomes
clear that Jayasundara and businessman Chatin are behind the
attack. The Police Chief also is part of the power-circle of the
village and closely collaborates with Jayasundara. He tries to
persuade Manoharen not to write a medical report on the injured
boy while arranging an arrest of the school teacher Batuwaththa
and a few members of the youth circle’ Meanwhile a mother
comes with her seven-month-old daughter to the hospital where
Manoharen works. Jayasundara tries to discredit Manoharan by
leaving allegations about misconduct; he bribes staff workers to
spread rum ours about him. Finally they fabricate a story to the
effect that he was drunk when he was starting the surgical
operation on the baby. The operation is stopped. The baby is
driven to another hospital. She dies during the second operation
there.
Vijitha Gunarathne
Vijitha Gunarathna is a very special representative of the radical
youth, who took up arms is an anti-state rebellion in Sri Lanka in
1971. He survived the violent reprisals and while spending his days
(1971-1973) in a ‘rehabilitation camp’ he directed his first full
length play with the inmates, “Ladder and a Donkey’. Later he got
the opportunity to study in Sweden receiving a chance follow a
full-time course in Drama and theatre in the Swedish state drama
institution during the period 1976-1979. He came back to Sri Lanka
in 1980 and thus began his brilliant carrier as playwright and a
stage director in the Sri Lankan theatre. ‘Penumbra’ his first full
length film.
CANNES KALEIDOSCOPE 2010
Adrienn Pal
Hungary, 2010, 136 minutes
Director: Agnes Kocsis
Screenplay: Ágnes Kocsis, Andrea Roberti
Camera: Ádám Fillenz
Editor: Tamás Kollányi
Set Designer: Adrien Asztalos, Alexandra Maringer
Sound: Herman Pieete
Costume Design: Júlia Patkós, Mónika Kiss-Matyi
Cast: Éva Gábor, István Znamenák, Ákos Horváth, Lia Pokornyi,
Izabella Hegyi
Synopsis
Everyday life on the palliative care ward is an odious chore for the
phlegmatic nurse Piroska – until she overhears the name of a new
patient: Adrienn Pál. That’s what her best friend at school was
called. However, it turns out that this patient is a moribund old
woman. The memories now awoken motivate Piroska to search for
her friend, with whom she has long lost contact. Her recollections
spark a trip back to her childhood, her own memories mix with
those of other people whose path she has crossed. Step by step,
the overweight Piroska overcomes her mental lethargy. With each
of her visits, she discovers more and more about herself and her
school friend, and gradually finds her way back into real life.
---------------------------------------------------
Certified Copy
Iran/France/Italy, 2010, 106 minutes
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Screenplay: Abbas Kiarostami
Camera: Luca Bigazzi
Editor: Bahman Kiarostami
Sound: Olivier Hespel, Dominique Vieillard
Set Design: Giancarlo Basili, Ludovica Ferrario
Producers: Marin Karmitz, Nathanaël Karmitz, Charles Gillibert
and Angelo Barbagallo
Cast: Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, James Miller, Jean-Claude
Carriere, Gianna Giachetti, Adrian Moore
Synopsis
This is the story of a meeting between one man and one woman,
in a small Italian village in Southern Tuscany. The man is a British
author who has just finished giving a lecture at a conference.
The woman, from France, owns an art gallery. This is a common
story that could happen to anyone, anywhere.
Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami was born on 22 June 1940 in Teheran, Iran. He showed a
keen interest in drawing early on and, at age 18, entered a graphic-art contest
and won. He studied at the fine arts school in Teheran whilst making ends
meet as a graphic designer, poster illustrator and commercial ad director.
In 1969, he founded the cinema department of the Institute for the
Intellectual Development of Children & Young Adults, which is also where he
directed his first short films. In his first film, THE BREAD AND THE ALLEY,
(1970), Abbas Kiarostami explores the weight of images and the relationship of
realism and fiction. His preferred theme, the universe of childhood, is expressed
over a long series of short, medium length and feature films, during which he
has managed to establish a subtle balance between narrative and documentary
style. HOMEWORK (1989), his last childhood film, is a good example of warm
and poetic cinema that discreetly denounces the heavy aspects of Iranian
society. With CLOSE-UP (1990), he turned a page. In less than one week, the
director embraced a news story and, with the participation of the real life
protagonists, made it a pretext to introduce reality into the realm of fiction.
LIFE AND NOTHING MORE (1992) and THROUGH THE OLIVE TREES
(1994) complete a trilogy that began with WHERE IS MY FRIEND’S HOUSE?
(1990). In the latter, the devastating effects of an earthquake in northern Iran
serve to uncover the lie that is cinema.
-----------------------------
The City Below
Germany, 2010, 110 minutes
Director: Christoph Hochhausler
Screenplay: Christoph Hochhausler, Ulrich Peltzer
Camera: Bernhard Keller
Editor: Stefan Stabenow
Sound: Michael Busch, Rainer Heesch
Set Designer: Tim Pannen
Cast: Wolfgang Bock, Robert Hunger-Buhler, Corinna Kirchhoff,
Nicolette Krebitz, Vam-Lam Vissay, Mark Waschke
Synopsis
A man and a woman at an art exhibition share a fleeting moment
of attraction, which neither can act upon. Days later, a chance
second meeting leads to an innocent coffee and the two
strangers – both married - toy with their unexplainable fascination
for each other. Svenja is curious and finds herself in a hotel room
with Roland, but she does not consummate an affair. A powerful
executive at the large bank where Svenja's husband works,
Roland is used to getting what he wants. He manipulates the
transfer of her husband to Indonesia to replace a recently
murdered bank manager. Unaware of Roland’s actions, Svenja
now ceases to resist...
Christoph Hochhausler
Christoph Hochhausler, born 1972, is a German film director
screenwriter. In 2005, he made his first film, Low Profile, which
made it to the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film
Festival. The City Below is his second feature and it played in the
same section in Cannes earlier this year.
----------------------------------------
Film Socialisme
Switzerland, 2010, 101 minutes
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Cast: Robert Maloubier, Patti Smith, Jean Marc Stehlee, Catherine
Tanvier
Synopsis
A symphony in three movements. Things such as:
A Mediterranean cruise. Numerous conversations, in numerous
languages, between the passengers, almost all of whom are on
holiday...
Our Europe
At night, a sister and her younger brother have summoned their
parents to appear before the court of their childhood. The
children demand serious explanations of the themes of Liberty,
Equality and Fraternity.
Our humanities
Visits to six sites of true or false myths: Egypt, Palestine, Odessa,
Hellas, Naples and Barcelona.
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French and Swiss filmmaker and one of the
founding members of the Nouvelle Vague, or "French New Wave".
Godard was born to Franco-Swiss parents in Paris. He attended
school in Nyon, Switzerland, and at the Lycée Rohmer, and the
Sorbonne in Paris. During his time at the Sorbonne, he became
involved with the young group of filmmakers and film theorists that
gave birth to the New Wave.
Many of Godard's films challenged the conventions of Hollywood
cinema, and he was often considered the most extreme New
Wave filmmaker. His films often expressed his political ideologies as
well as his knowledge of film history. In addition, Godards' films
often cited existential and Marxist philosophy.
---------------------------------------------
Outrage
Japan, 2010, 109 minutes
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Screenplay: Takeshi Kitano
Camera: Katsumi Yanigijima
Editor: Yoshinori Ota, Takeshi Kitano
Sound: Senji Horiuchi
Production Design: Norihiro Isoda
Music: Keiichi Suzuki
Cast: Ryo Kase, Jun Kinimura, Tomokazu Miura, Kippei Shina, Beat
Takeshi
Synopsis
In a ruthless battle for power, several yakuza clans vie for the favor
of their head family in the Japanese underworld. The rival bosses
seek to rise through the ranks by scheming and making
allegiances sworn over saké. Long-time yakuza Otomo has seen
his kind go from elaborate body tattoos and severed fingertips to
becoming important players on the stock market. Theirs is a neverending struggle to end up on top, or at least survive, in a corrupt
world where there are no heroes but constant betrayal and
vengeance...
Takeshi Kitano
Takeshi Kitano (born January 18, 1947) is a Japanese filmmaker,
comedian, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet,
painter, and one-time video game designer who has received
critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his
highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. With the exception of his
works as a film director, he is known almost exclusively by the
name Beat Takeshi. Since April 2005, he has been a professor at
the Graduate School of Visual Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts.
Kitano owns his own talent agency and production company.
----------------------------------
Route Irish
UK/France/Belgium/Italy/Spain, 2010, 109 minutes
Director: Ken Loach
Screenplay: Paul Laverty
Camera: Chris Menges
Editor: Jonathan Morris
Set Designer: Fergus Clegg
Music: George Fenton
Cast: Andrea Lowe, Mark Womack, John Bishop, Trevor Williams
Synopsis
Liverpool, August 1976. 5-year-old Fergus met Frankie on his first
day at school. They’ve been in each others’ shadow ever since.
As teenagers they skipped school and drank cider on the ferry
over the River Mersey, dreaming about travelling the world. Little
did Fergus realise his dream would come true as a highly trained
member of the UK’s elite special forces, the SAS.
After resigning in September 2004, Fergus persuaded Frankie (by
now an ex-Para)to join his security team in Baghdad. £10,000 a
month, tax free. Their last chance to "load up" in this increasingly
privatised war. Together they risked their lives in a city steeped in
violence, terror and greed, and awash with billions of US dollars. In
September 2007, Frankie died on Route Irish, the most dangerous
road in the world.
Back in Liverpool, a grief-stricken Fergus rejects the official
explanation, and begins his own investigation into his soul mate’s
death. Only Rachel, Frankie’s partner, grasps the depth of Fergus’s
sorrow, and the lethal possibilities of his fury. As Fergus tries to find
out what happened to Frankie on Route Irish, he and Rachel grow
closer. As he approaches the truth behind Frankie’s death,
Fergus struggles to find his old self and the happiness he shared
with Frankie twenty years earlier on the Mersey.
Ken Loach
Ken Loach was born in 1936 in Nuneaton. He attended King
Edward VI Grammar School and went on to study law at St. Peter's
Hall, Oxford. After a brief spell in the theatre, Loach was recruited
by the BBC in 1963 as a television director. This launched a long
career directing films for television and the cinema, from Cathy
Come Home and Kes in the ‘60s to Land and Freedom, Sweet
Sixteen, The Wind That Shakes the Barley and Looking for Eric in
recent years.
----------------------------------
A Screaming Man
Chad/France/Belgium, 2010, 92 minutes
Director: Mahmat-Saleh Haroun
Screenplay: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Camera: Laurent Brunet
Editor: Marie-Helen Dozo
Sound: Dana Farzanehpour
Music: Wasis Diop
Cast: Emil Abossolo M’byo, Youssouf Djaoro, Diouc Komal,
Djeneba Kone, Heling Li, Hadje Fatime Ngoua, Marius Yelolod
Synopsis
Present-day Chad. Adam, sixty something, a former swimming
champion, is pool attendant at a smart N’Djamena hotel. When
the hotel gets taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to
give up his job to his son Abdel. Terribly resentful, he feels socially
humiliated. The country is in the throes of a civil war. Rebel forces
are attacking the government. The authorities demand that the
population contribute to the "war effort", giving money or
volunteers old enough to fight off the assailants. The District Chief
constantly harasses Adam for his contribution. But Adam is
penniless; he only has his son....
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Born in Chad in 1961, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun left the country
during the civil war of the 1980s and relocated to France, by way
of Cameroon. There he worked as a journalist before studying at
the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma in Paris. He is now more than a
dozen years into his career as a filmmaker, shooting primarily in
Chad. This career has so far produced three feature films and a
number of shorts that have made Haroun one of the leading lights
in African cinema. He excels at spinning narratives that begin with
easily recognizable situations – usually the loss of a parent – and
expand to encompass allegorical and political reflection on the
state of Chadian society. Often calm on the surface, Haroun’s
filmmaking belies this calm with simmering strains of anger and
melancholy.
---------------------------------
The Tree
Australia-France, 2010, 100 minutes
Director: Julie Bertuccelli
Screenplay: Julie Bertuccelli, adapted from Judy Pascoe's Our
Father Who Art in the Tree
Camera: Nigel Bluck
Editor: Francois Gédigier
Sound: Olivier Mauvezin
Set Design: Steven Jones-Evans
Costume Design: Joanna Mae Park
Music: Grégoire Hetzel
Producers: Les Films du Poisson (Yaël Fogiel & Laetitia Gonzalez),
Taylor Media (Sue Taylor)
Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marton Csokas, Morgana Davies,
Aden Young, Gillian Jones, Penne Hackforth-Jones, Christian
Bayers, Tom Russell, Gabriel Gotting, Zoe Boe
Synopsis
After the sudden death of her husband, Dawn must face her own
mourning yet still care for her four children. Her only daughter, 8year-old Simone, seems to take the loss the hardest of all. Simone
shares a special secret with her mother: her father whispers to her
through the leaves of the magnificient tree next to their home.
Convinced he’s come back to protect the family, Simone spends
more and more time up in the tree, speaking with her father. Soon,
Dawn herself becomes mesmerized by the tree's commanding
presence. When Dawn becomes more intimate with George, her
new employer, the bond between mother and daughter is
threatened. With branches infiltrating the house and roots
destroying the foundations, the tree seems to be siding with
Simone. Fearful the tree is in danger of being cut down, she
protests by setting up house high up in the branches. But Dawn
refuses to let the tree take control of her family...
Julie Bertuccelli
Julie Bertuccelli started her film career as an assistant director,
working with acclaimed directors such as Krzysztof Kieślowski,
Bertrand Tavernier, Otar Iosseliani and Emmanuel Finkiel. She has
also directed several highly regarded documentaries. Her feature
debut was Since Otar Left, which she both wrote and directed,
went on to win several major awards including the Grand Prize,
International Critics Week, at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004 and
a Cesar Award for Best First Feature.
--------------------------------
We Are What We Are
Mexico, 2010, 90 minutes
Director: Jorge Michel Grau
Screenplay: Jorge Michel Grau
Camera: Santiago Sánchez
Editor: Rodrigo Ríos Legaspi
Sound: Federico Schmucler
Music: Enrico Chapela
Art Direction: Alejandro García
Producer: Nicolás Celis
Production: Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica
Calzada de Tlalpan 1670, Col. Country Club, CP 04220,
Mexico City, México
Cast: Francisco Barreiro, Alan Chávez, Paulina Gaytán, Carmen
Beato, Jorge Zarate, Esteban Soberánes, Daniel Giménez Cacho,
Juan Carlos Colombo
Synopsis
A family is forsaken when the father dies; from that moment on his
children and his widow confront a tempestuous moment. The four
of them will have to face their worst nightmare, get food by
themselves. Now, as it is decried, the oldest of the siblings, a
confused teenager, will have to guide them all.
Jorge Michel Grau
Jorge Michel Grau was born in Mexico City in 1973. He graduated
with honors in directing from the Centro de capacitación
Cinematografica (CCC), and studied communications at UNA M
(Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and directing at the
Escola Superior de Cinema I Audivisuals de Catalunya (ES CAC) in
Barcelona. Grau received a scholarship from FONCA (Fondo
Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes/National Fund for Culture and
Arts) in the support program for overseas studies and another from
the Young Creators support program. He has studied stage
direction at the National University Theatre School (CUT) and arts
and direction with Professor Alejandro Luna at the CCC.
He was selected for the “Morelia Lab” at the third Morelia
International Film Festival and for the “Visionary Talent Campus” at
the Guadalajara International Film Festival, organized by Berlinale
Talent in March 2008.
Somos Lo Que Hay (We Are What We Are) is Jorge Michel Grau’s
first feature film.
-----------------------------------
Young Girls in Black
France, 2010, 85 minutes
Director: Jean Paul Civeyrac
Screenplay: Jean Paul Civeyrac
Camera: Hichame Alaouie
Editor: Louise Narboni
Sound: François Méreu, Sébastien Savine, Stéphane Thiébaut
Cast: Elise Lhomeau, Léa Tissier, Elise Caron
Synopsis
Noémie and Priscilla, two teenage girls from working class
backgrounds, cultivate the same violence, the same contempt of
the world. They are a source of serious concern for family and
friends, who sense them capable of going to extremes.
Jean Paul Civeyrac
Jean Paul Civeyrac, born in Firminy in 1964, is a French director.
After studying Philosophy at the University of Lyon, where he wrote
a thesis on film opera. He joined La Femis. He has run the school’s
department of directing since 1999. He has run the school's department of
directing since 1999.
CONTEMPORARY IRANIAN CINEMA – A GLIMPSE
The Day Goes and the Night Comes (Shabaneh-Rooz)
2010, 94 minutes
Director: Omid Bonakdar and Keivan Alimohammadi
Screenplay: Omid Bonakdar and Keivan Alimohammadi
Camera: Morteza Poursamadi
Editor: Omid Bonakdar, Keivan Alimohammadi, Siavash Pourkhalili
Sound: Mehsi Saleh-Kermani
Art Direction: Aidin Zarif
Producer: Seyed Jamal Sadatian
Synopsis
Fashion designer Fouzhan Rahaie is going to marry her cousin, but when
a young man named Babak Barman steps into her life, she must face
new problems… Despite the hardships due to the sickness of hers and
her mother’s as well as marriage breakdown, Marjan is trying to make a
new start… Suffering from rheumatism and back pain, watercolor
painter Siavash is leading a joyful life with his wife, Bahar, but bad days
are sure to come… Because of indifference of his fiancé and schematic
companions in the court, Taj-O-Soltaneh- Nasseredin Shah’s daughter- is
sad and upset, but she tries to comfort herself while reviewing the past
with her painting tutor Soleiman…
Omid Bonakdar and Keivan Alimohammadi
Born in 1972 in Tehran, Keivan Alimohammadi holds an BA in English
Translation and he's a graduate of Training Center for Filmmaking too
and he's been a film critic and translator in Iranian art magazines for
four years.
Born in 1969 in Tehran, Omid Bonakdar is a graduate of Training Center
for Filmmaking who started his film career as a critic and translator for
Iranian art periodicals. He's also an artist who has participated in some
watercolor painting group exhibitions as well.
Keivan and Omid made their friendship at the Training Center for
Filmmaking and then they started their film career as critic and
filmmaker together as a team. Keivan and Omid have co-dircted 9 short
and documentary films, edited 4 documentaries and collected 9 awards
from Iranian film festivals.
-----------------------------
Evening of the 10th Day (Asr-e Rouz-e Dahom)
2010, 108 minutes
Director: Mojtaba Raie
Camera: Shapour Pour-Amin
Editor: Hassan Hassandoust
Costume & Production Designer: Hassan Rouhparvari
Music: Mohammad Reza Aligholi
Sound Recordist: Mehran Malakouti
Sound Mix: Amir Hossein Ghasemi
Producers: Manouchehr Mohammadi, Farabi Cinema Foundation
World Sales: Farabi Cinema Foundation
International Affairs
13, 1st Floor, Delbar Alley, Toos St., Vali-Asr Ave., Tehran 19617, Iran.
Tel: +98 21 22734939, 22741253, 22741254
Fax: +98 21 22734953
fcf1@dpi.net.ir / intl@fcf.ir
http://www.fcf.ir
Cast: Hanieh Tavassoli, Ahmad Mehranfar, Soghra Abisi, Salimeh
Rangzan, Hossein Kahrizi, Mohammad Reza Ghaderi.
Synopsis
In the beginning of the Iraq’s invasion to Iran, an Iraqi sergeant found a
baby girl after the occupation of Khorramshahr. Supposing her family
was dead, he took the girl away. The girl’s sister was the only witness to
what happened then. Years later, after the downfall of Saddam Hussain,
at last sister of the lost girl, Dr. Maryam Shirazi, takes a chance to go to
Iraq to find out about her…
Mojtaba Raie
Born in Isfahan in 1957, Mojtaba Raie is a graduate of filmmaking from
the College of Cinema and Theatre of University of Arts. On his
graduation, Raie made his debut feature, MAN AND ARMS, in 1988. He
is best-known for Gazelle and The Birth of a Butterfly, which were
represented and awarded in a number of international film festivals.
Feature Films: 1988 – MAN AND ARMS; 1990- SUMMER OF “79; 1992THE TUNNEL; 1993- SAFE ZONE; 1995- GAZELLE; 1997- THE BIRTH OF
A BUTTERFLY; 1998- TRIUMPHANT WARRIOR; 2003- SPRUCE; 2006JOURNEY TO HIDALU; 2010- EVENING OF THE 10th DAY.
--------------------------------------
The Fateful Night (Shab-evaghe’e)
2010, 106 minutes
Director: Shahram Asadi
Screenplay: Homayoun Shahnavaz
Camera: Amir Karimi
Editor: Hosein Ghazanfari
Production Design: Abbas Bolvandi
Music: Karen Homayounfar
Sound Recordist: Yadollah Najafi
Sound Mix: Amir Hosein Ghasemi
Producer: Seyyed Ahmad Miralaee
World Sales: Farabi Cinema Foundation
International Affairs
13, 1st Floor, Delbar Alley, Toos St., Vali-Asr Ave., Tehran 19617, Iran.
Tel: +98 21 22734939, 22741253, 22741254
Fax: +98 21 22734953
fcf1@dpi.net.ir / intl@fcf.ir
http://www.fcf.ir
Cast: Hamid Farrokhnezhad, Ladan Mostofi, Habib Dehghan-nasab,
Alireza Kamali-nezhad, Babak Ansari
Synopsis
Forty days after the outbreak of the war, Daryagholi moves his family
from Abadan and then returns to his retail shop on the outskirts of
Bahmanshir…
Director’s View: The Fateful Night is the story of a journey from nothing
to existence, from outside to inside! The whole world and our whole life
in this world is nothing but a journey, necessarily, a journey combined
with love, wisdom and heart! And the story of Daryagholi is the story of
all of us, narrating a destiny, changeable and easy to penetrate! It tells
about a path with a thousand branches and brings about that eternal
question, “Which direction shall we take…?”
Sharam Asadi
Born in 1954 in Salmas, Shahram Asadi started teaching at Los Angeles
Valley College after graduating from the College of Film & Television in
Iran, and doing postgraduate studies in U.C.L.A before his return home
in 1988. Asadi made number of short documentaries and episodes of
series for TV. He then was responsible for directing and producing
several plays including “27 Wagons Full of Cotton” and “Death of a
Salesman”. He directed his first feature Avinar in 1994, which won the
first prize in Annonay International Film Festival 1994. Asadi is best
known for his second feature, The Fateful Night, awarded as the best
religious Iranian film in two decades in the opening ceremony of the
22nd Fajr International Film Festival 2004. He followed his directorial
career by films such as Look at Me (2004).
------------------------------------
The First Stone (Sang-e Aval)
2009, 90 minutes
Director: Ebrahim Forouzesh
Screenplay: Ebrahim Forouzesh
Cinematography: Fereydoun Shirdel
Editor: Bahram Dehghani
Music: Mohammad MohammadAli
Sound: Mehdi Saleh Kermani
Producer: Seyed Alireza Sebt Ahmadi
Production: Cima Film Center
World Sales: IRIB Media Trade
45, Hedayat St, Yakhchal Ave, Tehran, Iran
Tel: +98 21 22548032
Fax: +98 21 22551914
Email: Ch_sales@iribmediatrade.ir
Cast: Mohsen Tanabandeh, Andishe Fouladvand
Synopsis
Hassan Ali is the first person in the village who buys himself a
gravestone. All villagers are surprised by Hassan Ali, making fun of him.
Hassan Ali’s wife is mad at him and she also wants a gravestone. He
promises to buy her one. This makes the other women in the village ask
the same from their husbands. A challenge starts in the whole village,
everyone taking a bigger and more expensive gravestone. Many years
later! The graveyard of the village is full of stones. But, at the age of
108, Hassan Ali is still alive and healthy.
Ebrahim Forouzesh
Ebrahim Forouzesh was born in Tehran in 1939. He graduated in
Cinema. His films include: The Jar, The Key, Children of Petroleum,
Hamoon and Darya and Time for Love.
------------------------------------------
The Other (Digari)
2010, 84 minutes
Director: Mehdi Rahmani
Screenplay: Mehran Kashani
Camera: Reza Teimouri
Editor: Nazanin Mofakham
Sound: Mohammad Sheivandi
Art Direction: Mehdi Rahmani
Production & Sales: PFDC Company, No 35 4TH Floor, Eastern Entrance,
Khaghani Bldg, Somaye St, Shariaty, Tehran, Iran
Synopsis
A young boy is forced to go on a trip to the capital city, Tehran, with his
soon to be step-father. Their relationship dramatically changes during
their inevitable trip.
Mehdi Rahmani
Mehdi Rahmani, photographer and filmmaker, was born in Esfahan in
1979. He graduated infilm making from I.R.I.B. University in 2005. He is
a member of the Iranian Young Cinema Society. He has made the short
documentaries, The Boys of Autumn, The Bridge’s Ballad and The
Moonlight Prayer, the long documentary Smell of Tresses and the shoprt
fiction film, Border Zone. He is a member of the Iranian Photographers’
Society and several photographic anthologies to his credit. The Other is
Rahmani’s debut feature.
--------------------------------
Please Do Not Disturb (Lotfan Mozahem Nashavid)
2010, 80 minutes
Director: Mohsen Abdolvahab
Screenplay: Mohsen Abdolvahab
Camera: Mohammad Ahmadi
Editor: Sepideh Abdolvahab
Sound: Yadollah Najadi
Art Direction: Amir Esbati
Producers: Mohammad Ahmadi and Documentary & Experimental Film
Center
Sales: Iranian Independents, PO Box 15875-4769, Tehran, Iran,
Tel: (+98-912) 3198693
EMAIL: info@iranianindependents.com
Cast: Baran Kosari, Afshin Hashemi, Hedayat Hashemi, Hamed Behdad,
Shirin Yazdanian
Synopsis
In this film we see three stories that take place in Tehran, the capital
city of Iran. In the first story, we see a young woman who has been
beaten by her husband. The woman is about to complain legally, but the
husband is concerned about his job and the embarrassment. The next
story is about a clergyman whose wallet and documents have been
stolen. The clergyman tries to get the documents back from the thief.
The last story is the story of an elderly couple whose TV has broken.
The couple is alone in the building and is afraid of opening the door to
the young repairman.
Mohsen Abdolvahab
Born in 1957 in Tehran, Mohsen Abdolvahab is a graduate of Film
Editing from IRIB College of Tehran. He started his film career by editing
documentary and short films since 1980 and then he turned into making
documentaries and mostly docu-fiction films. He’s already made 23 short
and documentary films and he has received several national and
international awards, including IDFA’s Silver Wolf Prize for Haj Abbas’
Wives in 2001. He co-directed two feature films, Gilaneh (2004) and
Mainline (2006) with Rakshan Bani-Etemad as well. Please Do Not
Disturb is his first independent feature film.
-----------------------------
Tehroun
Iran-France, 2009, 95 minutes
Director: Nader Takmil Homayoun
Screenplay: Nader T. Homayoun, Jean-Philippe Gaud, Mehdi Boustani
Camera: Rémi Mazet
Editor: Jean-Philippe Gaud
Music: Christophe Julien
Cast: Ali Ebdali, Sara Bahrami, Farzin Mohades, Missagh Zareh, Shahrzad
Kamal Zadeh, Rovina Sekhavat, Attila Pessiani, Pejman Bazeghi
Synopsis
Ibrahim has left his village and family to try his luck in Teheran.
However in this urban jungle, where everything can be bought or sold,
the dream can rapidly turn into a nightmare. Implicated in the trafficking
of new born babies, Ibrahim, with the help of his two friends, is forced
to go deep into the slums of the city, in Tehroun, where cohabit
prostitutes, beggars and gangsters...
Nader Takmil Homayoun
Nader Takmil Homayoun was born in Paris in 1968 and discovered Iran
for the first time during the Islamic revolution. At the beginning of his
career he worked there as a journalist and a film critic. In 1993 he
passed the admission test at the directing department of LA FEMIS in
Paris. He obtained his diploma four years later and then started to make
films. His short film, C’est pour bientôt (2000) was selected for the
Venice Film Festival. In 2005 he directed a documentary, Iran: A
Cinematographic Revolution, which explored the history of Iran through
its cinema. The film was broadcast on ARTE and awarded at several
international film festivals. Tehroun, his first long feature, was awarded
at the Critics Week at la Mostra de Venice 2009 and won the Grand Jury
Prize at the Festival Premiers Plans in Angers 2010.
-----------------------
There is Nothing Behind the Door (Posht Dar Khabari
Nist)
2010, 90 minutes
Director: Shabnam Orfinejad
Screenplay: Mehdi Ayoubifar & Kianoosh Ayyari
Camera: Arash Khalaghdoost
Editor: Shabnam Orfinejad
Sound: Amin Mirshekari
Art Direction: Mohsen Panahi & Mahsa Azimi
Producer: Kianoosh Ayyari
Sales: Iranian Independents, PO Box 15875-4769, Tehran, Iran,
Tel: (+98-912) 3198693
EMAIL: info@iranianindependents.com
Synopsis
Leila, a young woman, after receiving the order for custody of her
daughter, goes to her ex-husband’s flat, accompanied by a young
policeman. However, the husband does not open the door. Meanwhile, a
young jewel robber targets her sister who looks after an old woman at
the same building.
Shabnam Orfinejad
Born in 1978 in Tehran, Shabnam Orfinejad is a graduate of Journalism.
She started her film career as a script-girl and editor assistant in several
TV series and feature films. There is Nothing Behind the Door is her first
feature film.
-------------------------------Third Floor (Tabaghe-ye Sevvom)
2010, 85 minutes
Director: Bijan Mirbagheri
Screenplay: Bijan Mirbagheri
Camera: S. Shahsvary
Sound: Hossein Mafi, Kamran Saharkhiz
Cast: Mahnaz Afshar, Pegah Ahangarani, Mehrdad Ziaie, Pasha Rostami,
Masoud Sakhaie
Synopsis
The police raid a night party and everyone tries to escape at
any cost. A drunken young girl jumps down to the third floor of
the building and has to stay the night in the apartment of a
lonely woman…
Director's statement: "How do I dare to make films about
youth? About people who do not need these films? Apparently
we have merely entertained ourselves, but young people are
great. They are able to recognize, to decide, to stand firm for
their ideals, to prove themselves to others...
Bijan Mirbagheri
Actor, director and director Bijan Mirbagheri was born in 1968 in Tehran.
He has an arts degree in sculpture and a photography bachelor's degree
from the Art University. He has been a painting instructor at the Centre
of Artistic Creativity since 1985. He also works as an animator. He has
made over 100 commercial teasers and a number of documentaries. He
won a Silver Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival for his debut feature
film, We Are All Fine (2005).
-----------------------------
DIGITAL FILMS
Billy Was a Deaf Kid
Directors: Rhett and Burke Lewis
Writers: Rhett and Burke Lewis
Camera: Burke Lewis and Taylor Lewis
Editor: Rhett and Burke Lewis
Music: Paleo
Cast: Rhett Lewis, Candyce Foster, Zachary Christian, Tappan
Wybrow, Nikkol Christiansen
Synopsis
Billy is Archie’s brother. Archie loves Billy. Billy is deaf. Archie finds a
toy radio to cure Billy’s deafness. Sophie thinks it’s stupid. Sophie is
Archie’s girlfriend. Archie loves Sophie. Sophie isn’t quite sure
about Archie. They spend their time waxing each other’s noses,
deciding if getting slapped is worse than getting spit on, and
arguing about anything that’s not worth arguing about. Then one
day, Archie decides to steal Billy fare and square from their
repressive sister. The adventure that follows will force them to
seriously consider: Can relationships solely rely on riding couches
through carwashes? Is a toy radio the cure to deafness? Is it legal
to throw dead animals in dumpsters? These turn out to be very
important questions in the lives of Archie, Sophie and Billy. And
finding the answers come at a high price.
Rhett and Burke Lewis
Rhett and Burke Lewis are a scoop of Mango Crème Fudge in a
plain old Vanilla filmmaking world. They grew up making ninjaaction movies in their backyard, where they became incredibly
gifted with being able to light Rhett on fire and catch it on
camera. They also consider themselves true filmmaking mavericks,
because they both loved wearing cowboy boots when they were
younger. Billy Was a Deaf Kid is their first feature.
-----------------------------------
Holidays
Director: Victor Moreno
Screenplay: Victor Moreno
Camera: Carlos Vasquez
Editors: Víctor Moreno, Martin Eller
Sound: Antonio de Benito
Production & Sales: Víctor Moreno Rodríguez victor.moreno@dnoise.net
+34 600505576
Synopsis
Each year thousands of tourists goes to Lanzarote for sun and
beach while they recorded their routines. At the same time, some
people still keep alive the awareness of their traditions and
heritage of a figure like César Manrique. Confronted two worlds
that show the complex co-existence between tradition and
progress.
Victor Moreno
Victor Moreno is a Spanish writer-director who has been making
films since 2007. His credits include:
Fajas y corsés 2007 (short film)
Fauna humana 2008 (short film)
Felices fiestas 2008 (short film)
El extraño 2009 (Winner of NOTODOFILMFEST 2009) (short film)
El Género 2009 (short film)
Gran enana 2009 (short film)
Holidays 2010 (feature film)
Feriantes 2010 (short film)
----------------------------------------
The Red Machine
Director: Stephanie Argy & Alec Boehm
Screenplay: Stephanie Argy & Alec Boehm
Camera: Alec Boehm
Editor: Pansy Heritage
Production Design: Mel Horan
Music and Sound Design: Mabel Echo
Costumes: Kathy Pillsbury, Annemarie von Firley
Producers: Stephanie Argy, Alec Boehm & Ken Cortland
Cast: Lee Perkins, Donal Thoms-Cappello, Meg Brogan, Mauree
Snyder, Eddie Lee, Madoka Kasahara
Synopsis
Washington DC, 1935: A hot-headed ace safecracker (Donal
Thoms-Cappello) is forced to collaborate with a cool-as-ice U.S.
Navy spy (Lee Perkins) to pull off the heist of a lifetime: Japan's
Foreign Office has completely transformed its secret military codes
and a prominent Japanese diplomat holds the key to his country's
secrets in the form of a mysterious machine. As the thief and spy
work together to unravel the workings of the device, they find
more to the job than they bargained for as things get personal.
Stephanie Argy and Alec Boehm
Stephanie Argy and Alec Boehm began their writing and directing
career with a series of short films, including the mock 1933
newsreel, Gandhi at the Bat, which earned an honorable mention
BAFTA at its world premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and
Scene, the lead actor of which received a 2006 Scottish BAFTA for
his performance.
---------------------------------
Three Quarters
Italy, 2009, 75 minutes
Director: Roberto Longo
Screenplay: Roberto Longo
Camera: Roberto Longo
Editor: Roberto Longo
Sound: Francesco Franchina (audio), Alex Baranowski (music)
Production Design: Roberto Longo
Production & Sales: Roberto Longo, via Galvani 13, 20010
Vanzago (Milan), Italy
Synopsis
In an unrecognizable Milan, cold and inhuman, the marital
relationship of Eva and Daniel floats through a sea made of halftruths and rigid daily routine. When the ability to hide his nature,
that Daniele has always made a shield, crumbles unexpectedly,
he will face his fearsome instincts. A man who comes from afar
affects the fragile balance between the couple.
Roberto Longo
Born in Milan, May 1980. After graduating in 1999, he dedicated
himself to music, photography and art until 2005 when it was his
passion for cinema that took over. In 2006 he began a
collaboration with Domus Film, a small production house in Milan.
In 2007, along with other independent filmmakers, he founded
“Filmaking.it”, a website and forum dedicated to Italian
filmmaking, where he is still an administrator. The year 2007 was
also when Roberto began work on TreQuarti (Three Quarters), the
feature film which would take two years to complete. He is at
present working on the screenplay of his next feature film with
writer Massimo Vavassori.
---------------------------------
New Brooklyn
Director: Christopher Cannucciari
Screenplay: Christopher Cannucciari
Camera: Mark Karinja
Editor: Brian Savelson
Sound: Thomas Byrd
Production Design: Marina Parker
Music: Kyle Bobby Dunn
Cast: Blanca Lewin, Pablo Cerda, Matt Cavenaugh, Frank Harts
Synopsis
A young woman’s idealist vision of New York is suddenly dissolved
after a shocking event happens in a place she thought was safe.
Back home in Chile, Marta’s boyfriend, Alvaro, had kept her well
protected and sheltered. Now that she is in Brooklyn without him,
she is uncertain how to stop her abuser, Eddie. She pines for her
roommate Angela’s help, but Angela blindly loves her brother
Eddie and would never believe him capable of such a crime.
Marta continues on with her life as she muses about the
connection of Brooklyn’s gentrification to her abuse. Her one
hope of salvation is the approaching arrival of her Chilean
boyfriend. Alvaro eventually comes to New York, but instead of
helping Marta he has plans of his own...
Christopher Cannucciari
Christopher Cannucciari is a writer and director based in
Brooklyn, New York. He has produced reality television for MTV,
most Made. Cannucciari draws much of his inspiration from his
time working asan International photojournalist and street
photographer for Washington Post and LA Times, while he was
living more in Italy. He is best known for the creation of the online
sensation, “Great Depression Cooking With Clara” with 2.5 million
hits and counting. The success of the web episodes has led to
Cannucciari’s first published book, Clara’s Kitchen. He has also
been a part of the Peabody Award-winning Onion News
Network. He has shot over 300 webisodes and is the head Director
of Photographers for Onion’s” IFC and Comedy Central television
shows. Cannuciari has a special talent in engaging everyday
people and getting them to open up to the camera with
surprising confidence. He is currently writing his next feature, which
he will be directing in 2011.
------------------------------------
God is D_ad
USA/Korea, 2010, 96 minutes
Director: Abraham Lim
Camera: Abraham Lim
Editor: Abraham Lim
Sound: Joon Hyun Cho
Art Direction: Min Ah Lee
Production: Abraham Lim
Sales: Wonderphil Productions LLC, Phil Gorn, phil@wonderphil.biz
Cast: Cy Shim, Derek Hicks, Elvis Garcia, Brett Emanuel, Lauren
Mayer
Synopsis
God is D_ad is a playful road trip caper that follows a group of
awkward misfits as they try to navigate the road to adulthood. Set
in Kansas in 1987, the film begins with Tim, an aspiring role-playing
game “master” who hopes to win a tournament being held in
Chicago. He enlists four acquaintances to accompany him and
his R.V. on the trip; unbeknownst to Tim, each person has his or her
own reasons for coming along—and all of their reasons conflict.
Alluding heavily to ‘80s-era role-playing games such as Dungeons
& Dragons, GOD IS D_AD ponders what it really means to “choose
your character:” the person you are, the person others think you
are, or the person you aspire to be. Shot in both the U.S. and South
Korea, God is D_ad features an elaborately produced Korean
fantasy world (rendered both in live-action and animation), which
contrasts and comments on the more “earthly” R.V.- bound lives
of the film’s protagonists.
Abraham Lim
Abraham Lim describes himself as “a DIY tech savvy filmmaker
who was lucky to edit a Robert Altman film right out of school and
have him executive produce my first film”. He made the short film,
Toy, for Fox Searchlight Searchlab that went to Sundance in 2003.
God is De_d was made possible by a grant that Lim received from
the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) at the Pusan Film Festival in 2006.
----------------------------------------
brilliantlove
UK, 2010, 97 minutes
Director: Ashley Horner
Writer: Sean Conway
Camera: Simon Tindall
Editor: Ben Wilson
Sound: Nigel Crooks
Music: Sol Seppy
Set Designer: Julie Ann Horan and Emma Crossley
Cast: Liam Browne, Nancy Trotter Landry, Michael Hodgson
Synopsis
Over a long, hot summer, Manchester, a novice photographer,
documents his love affair with his taxidermist girlfriend, Noon. Franny,
a wealthy pornographer, discovers the wonderfully charged images
and launches Manchester on an unsuspecting art world. Sudden
success threatens to poison their once idyllic life together…
Ashley Horner
Ashley Horner (May 1, 1969) misspent the early 90’s as a
minor pop star with indie art rockers PALE SAINTS. Coming
late to a love of cinema meant film school beckoned in
Newcastle upon Tyne and Toronto, where he made his first
shorts and spent years cutting celluloid. ROB OF THE
ROVERS, his first grown up film, screened at Rotterdam,
Bermuda, Bilbao and Bradford in 2002.
In 2007 Ashley completed his first feature The Other
Possibility, a rock and roll cancer film, shot in Newcastle and
Berlin, starring Nora von Waldstätten and the spirit of Lester
Bangs. It received its premiere in July 2007 at the Galway
Film Festival.
Ashley Horner has just completed his second feature
‘brilliantlove’, an erotic drama, that caused a stir at the
recent Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Described by
festival programmer Roya Rastegar as “a gorgeous and
dangerous marinade of passion, art, and ambition that
languorously intoxicates the senses”.
Ashley is also an ACE producer (Ateliers du Cinema
European).
Kill the Habit
Belgium/Greece/Italy/USA, 2010, 80 minutes
Director: Laura Neri
Screenplay: Laura Neri
Camera: Gavin Kelly
Editor: Corey Ziemniak
Sound: Ramsey Mellette, Francois Dompierre
Art Director: Ray Luckey
Production & Sales: Circus Road Films, Glen Reynolds
glen@circusroadfilms.com, Sebastian Twardosz
seb@circusroadfilms.com
Cast: Lili Miroinick, Katerina Moutsatsos, Mari-Elena Laas, Joe
Lia, Carce Clayton
Synopsis
21-year-old Galia (Lili Mirojnick from loverfield) finds herself in a
bind after killing her unscrupulous drug dealer Lyle (Joe Lia from
FAQs and Shamelove). She calls on her long-suffering best friend
Soti (Katerina Moutsatsos, seen in Todd Philips’s The Hangover) to
help her out. The two find themselves stuck in Lyle’s apartment
with his fiery Latina wife, Cardamosa (Maria Elena Laas from The
Hot Chick), who as it turns out hated his guts and is more than
happy to help them get rid of the body – as long as they share his
cash. However, getting rid of the corpse is of very little interest to
Galia, whose first priority is to get her brother Frank (Cayce
Clayton) out of police custody following a botched burglary
attempt, and to get them both home in time for their baby
brother’s bris. Soti’s priority, on the other hand, is to get Galia to
quit using drugs RIGHT NOW. The three girls must find a way to
cooperate long enough to avoid arrest and dump the body
somewhere safe…
Laura Neri
Laura Neri was born in Belgium of a Greek mother and an Italian
father, which meant she had to learn three languages by the time
she was four. She got her BA with Honors in Film Analysis and
Screenwriting at the UniversitÈ Libre de Bruxelles, where 2-times
Palme d’Or winner Luc Dardenne was her teacher and thesis
mentor. She then got an MFA in Film Production at the University of
Southern California, where she was the recipient of a grant by the
Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. She was also
selected by USC to receive a full scholarship for two years.
She has written and directed several short films which have
screened at festivals worldwide, including A Kiss on the Nose
which was screened at more than 50 festivals and won over 15
awards.
Laura Neri premiered at Cinequest with her first feature film, Kill
the Habit, a dark comedy.
----------------------
Relatos (Stories)
Director: Mario Iglesias
Screenplay: Mario Iglesias
Camera: Mario Iglesias
Art Director: Isabel rey
Sound: Xabier Souto
Costumes: Maria Hernanz
Producers: Daniel Froiz, Mario Iglesias
Cast: Concepcion Gonzalez, Luis Callejo, Yago Presa, Mariana
Carballal, Isabel Rey
Synopsis
Rosario Francesc is a writing housewife, living a completely
conventional life, who visits the psychotherapist because of her
panic episodes at night. In a few sessions, the psychotherapist
confronts her with her own acceptance as a writer. She should risk
the opinion of others, show her work to the people of her
environment and have a go at publishing companies. Rosario
does so, but on the way there come up questions like fears,
feelings of guilt, and the discovery of sexual expressions in her
relationship with persons outside the marriage. Her stories reflect, in
some way, all this; they explore the world around her beyond her
little problems and come along with Rosario's own history.
Mario Iglesias
Mario Iglesias was born in Pontevedra, Spain, in 1962. He
graduated in Art at the University of Vigo and did his first steps in
the audio-visual world at the beginning of the 90’s. Since 2002 he
concentrates completely on his career as an auteur, writing and
directing his own short and feature films.
FILMS
2008: Relatos (Stories)
2007: El desayuno del poeta. (The poet’s breakfast). HD
documentary film.
2007: Cartas Italianas (Italian letters), Digital feature film
2006: Catalina. HD feature film.
2006: De Bares (Bars). Digital feature film
2006: Madres (Mothers). Digital short film.
2003: Intensidad (Intensity). Digital short film.
2003: El Sueño Matriusko (The Matriuska Dream). Digital short film.
2003: La Chica Maravillosa (The Wonderful Girl). Digital short film.
2002: La Calidez” (The Warmth). Digital short film.
2002: Mensaje (Message). Digital short film for Internet.
2002: Corten! (Cut!). Digital short film.
2001: Salmo 23 (Psalm 23). Digital video.
2000: El monstruo de la playa (The monster of the beach).
Student Cinema & the New Risk Takers
A selection of creatively compelling recent films
from India’s Film Schools
INAUGURAL ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE by INDIAN OCEAN
----------------------------------------------------------------------MEET THE FILMMAKERS & THEIR MENTORS
AT OPEN FORUM, November 25th
SESSION THEME: “CINEMATIC COURAGE & CONVICTION”
----------------------------------------------------------------
Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata
Launched in the late 20th century, this dynamic film school has quickly emerged as a
21st century institution fully equipped for the future of the medium.
SRFTI is an autonomous academic institute under the Government of India’s Ministry
of Information and Broadcasting. Named after one of India’s, indeed the world’s,
supreme filmmakers, the institute is situated on the eastern fringe of Kolkata in a
sprawling green campus dotted with two gorgeous lakes.
At present, SRFTI runs three-year fulltime Post Graduate Diploma in Cinema
programs offering specialization in Direction & Screenplay Writing, Cinematography,
Editing and Sound Design. In the offing are courses on Animation and Production
Management.
Germ
Hindi, 2009, 24 minutes, B&W, 35 mm
Director: Snehal Nair
Cast: Aniruddha, Siddhartha, Aryan
Screenplay: Snehal Nair
Cinematography: Sayak Bhattacharya
Editor: Tinni Mitra
Sound: Ayan Bhattacharya
Festival Participation: 29th Munich International Festival of
Film Schools November 15 – 21, 2009
13th International Student Film Festival, Tel Aviv June 5 – 12,
2010
41st Indian International Film Festival, Indian Panorama.
Awards: Best Cinematography at Munich International Festival
of Film Schools.
Best Experimental Film at The 13th International Student Film
Festival, Tel Aviv.
Synopsis
A filmmaker, inspired by black and white passport photographs,
sets off on a journey shooting footage of a rising metropolis
where the people of the pictures once lived.
Snehal Nair
Snehal Nair is from Ahmedabad, Gujrat. He completed his Post
Graduate Diploma in Cinema, specializing in Direction &
Screenplay Writing from SRFTI, Kolkata. Germ is his final year
diploma film.
Charithram
Malayalam, 2010, 10:42 minutes, Colour, 35 mm
Director: M S Praveen
Cast: M R Gopakumar, Gopalakrishnan, Saritha Sunil
Screenplay: M S Praveen
Cinematography: Nikhil Arolkar
Editor: Sounak Chakraborty
Sound: Amit Kumar Dutta
Art Direction: Sunil
Synopsis
Sixty-year-old widower Parameswaran lives with his 30-year-old
son Kanan in a traditional Brahmin house. One night Kanan
brings home a Muslim girl, Shahina. To give her shelter he
conceals
her
Muslim
identity
and
introduces
her
as
Krishnapriya to his orthodox father.
M S Praveen
Born in 1978 in Trissur, Kerala. He completed his BA in
Malayalam Literature in 2000 and PG course at FTII on
Screenplay Writing. Currently he is in his final year at SRFTI
specializing in Direction & Screenplay Writing. Charithram is
his second year short film project.
My Armenian Neighbourhood
English, 2010, 27 minutes, Colour, DigiBeta
Director: Samimitra Das
Screenplay: Samimitra Das
Cinematography: K Appalaswamy
Editor: Reshmima Dutta
Sound: Avik Chatterjee
Festival Participation: 3rd International Documentary and Short
Film Festival, Kerala.
Awards: Best Cinematography at 3rd International Documentary
and Short Film Festival, Kerala.
Synopsis
The documentary takes a look at the Armenian community of
Kolkata, who originally had arrived much before the city had
its name. They are credited with having built the oldest
building of the city.
Samimitra Das
Samimitra is currently in his final year at SRFTI specializing
in Direction & Screenplay Writing. My Armenian Neighbourhood
is his second year documentary project.
Chhayapath
Bengali, 2010, 8:30 minutes, Colour, 35 mm
Director: Ashim Paul
Cast:Deepak Haldar, Krishna Dutta, Raja Baidya, Baby
Shadhukha, Robin Mukherjee, Subhodro Chowdhury, Lalit Das
Screenplay: Ashim Paul
Cinematography: Sakyadeb Chowdhury
Editor: Yagyapriya Gautam
Sound: Sulogno Banerjee
Art Direction: Gautam Das Buro
Synopsis
Some people always live in the self created world of
isolation. Somu, a citizen of this world, neither takes
initiative nor lives a normal life. The film recollects the
memoirs of those individual who have lost everything, along
with their identity. They turn out to be a speechless entity
in the real sphere.
Ashim Paul
After graduating in Mass Communication and Journalism, Ashim
completed his post graduation in Film Studies from Jadavpur
University, Kolkata. He is currently a student of SRFTI
specializing in Direction and Screenplay Writing. He is deeply
passionate about photography and cinema.”Chayapath” is his 2nd
year short film project.
Pocha Apel (The Rotten Apple)
Bengali, 2009, 27 minutes, Colour, 35 mm
Director: Srinath Ravulapalli
Cast: Rohan, Malini Sengupta
Screenplay: Srinath Ravulapalli
Cinematography: Arindam Bhattacharya
Editor: Apratim Chakrabouty
Sound: Nairit Dey
Festival Participation: Bonjour India Festival
Award: Best Film, Bonjour India Festival
Synopsis
A mentally challenged city street dweller woman meets a man of
similar status. Despite the initial refusal from the woman,
their relationship grows and ends fatefully in the deserted
outskirts of the city.
Srinath Ravulapalli
Srinath is from Visakhapatnam. After completing a master’s
degree in Theatre Arts, he joined SRFTI to receive Post
Graduate Diploma in Cinema with specialization in Direction &
Screenplay Writing in 2009. Pocha Apel is his final year
Diploma project.
Doctor, Nurse & the Patient
Hindi, 2010, 10:42 minutes, Colour, 35 mm
Director: Angshuman Barkakoty
Screenplay: Angshuman Barkakoty
Cinematography: Siddhart Diwan
Editor: Amyth Lamzel Sarki
Sound: Binil C.
Festival Participation: Official selection at 13’th Tel Aviv
International Student Film Festival, 2010.
Official Selection in the Wide Angle
International Film Festival (PIFF), 2010.
section
of
Pusan
Synopsis
A terminally ill patient finds himself abandoned in a hospital
bed. As cancer spreads through his system, he is gripped by a
sense of claustrophobia. The doctor and the nurse attending on
him live, lust and laugh. The patient’s frustration peaks when
he sees the doctor and the nurse play a game of seduction with
each other as he lies powerless. He is overcome by a desire
for vengeance.
Angshuman Barkakoty
Angshuman is a final year student of SRFTI, specializing in
Direction & Screenplay Writing. Doctor, Nurse and The Patient
is his second year short film project.
Doyam
2009, 23 minutes, Colour, 35 mm
Director: Shakeel Mohammed
Cast: Ritwan Acharya, Gaurav Bose, Abantika Chakraborty
Screenplay: Shakeel Mohammed
Cinematograph: Rukma Reddy Petlolla
Editor: Atanu Mukherjee
Sound: Sudipto Mukhopadhyay
Art Direction:
Shayantan Mondal, Shantanu Bose
Festival Participation: 39th Kyiv International Film Festival
2009 (UKRAINE) [in competition]
Potenza International Film Festival (Italy) [in competition]
Synopsis
A boxer, like his failed father, is on the verge of losing it
all. He is in debt, he is losing his bouts and he has stopped
communicating with his wife. But as he is not yet defeated, he
struggles. He struggles with the guilt and the agony of having
lost his father who was a poster painter and an alcoholic. The
film is about his coming to terms with his grief and accepting
the perpetual battle with life. Doyam means second. But is it
second failure or second chance?
Shakeel Mohammed
Shakeel is from Chhattisgarh. After completing his BA in
English Literature, he did a three-year PG Diploma in Cinema,
specializing in Film Direction and Screenplay Writing at SRFTI
in 2009. He currently works in Bangalore. Doyam is his final
year diploma film.
Production & Sales contact for all the SRFTI films:
Director, SRFTI, E.M. Bypass Road,P.O. Panchasayar Kolkata
700094. FAX +91 33 2432 0723. Tel. +91 33 24329300 E-Mail:
srfti@cal.vsnl.net.in
Website: www.srfti.gov.in
Film & Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune
Ever since its inception 50 years ago, Film & Television Institute of India has
followed the path of excellence and artistic vision with which it was started. It
aims to teach the art and craft of filmmaking to students from all over the
country (occasionally students from abroad, as well) and impart to them the
relevance of cinema as artistic expression as well as the means of making
social, political, cultural and philosophical statement through this medium.
FTII is an academic institute and offers a curriculum that is holistic in terms of
intellectual as well as technical skill. The syllabus is regularly upgraded in
tandem with constant technical innovations in the industry as well as the
evolving nature of film form, style and content all over the world. All
equipments and teaching tools are regularly upgraded in order to keep to the
current international standard. At the same time, the original vision is
maintained and the aim is not to make films that only serve market forces.
High standard of professional training is imparted in every department of
filmmaking: Direction, Cinematography, Editing and Sound. During the three
years of training, students get to do several project exercises, which take them
step by step through the basics of filmmaking to complex execution of idea and
technique. At the end they produce a Diploma film of 20 minutes duration and
a feature film script.
Additionally, trainings in other disciplines like Art Direction, Script Writing,
Animation, Acting and Television production are provided through shorter
courses, with high degree of academic and technical input.
It is well known that FTII students of all generations and from each discipline
leave the institute with a love for cinema, a deep understanding of the full
potential of the medium and a high command of expertise in their respective
areas of training. FTII students have made their mark in every sphere of
filmmaking in all the industries (in Mumbai, Chennai etc) as well as in the
regional centres they belong to. They have also made their presence felt in the
world of film festivals and art film circuit. Graduates from FTII have worked in
government departments (Doordarshan, Films Division, etc) and private
organizations. They also make films in individual capacities and provide work
opportunities to younger generation of film and television artists.
------------------------Dhin Tak Dha
Hindi, 2008, 22 minutes
Direction & Screenplay: Shraddha Pasi
Camera: Hitesh Korat
Editing: Saikat Ray
Sound: Saurabh Kumar
Art Direction: Sumon Roy Mahapatra
Cast: Amit Jairath, Bachan Pachera, Uday Chandra, Paru Gambhir, Vijay Verma,
Prabhat Raghunandan
Synopsis
Gopal, a garage mechanic, accidentally meets a group of artists who perform in
different villages. He is fascinated by this new life, but he soon realizes that life isn’t
easy for these artists. In his own way he tries to help them through their crisis. But
this turns out to be a mistake. Chief, the head of the group, doesn’t forgive him for
this. Feeling guilty, he leaves the group and returns to his garage only to meet them
again ‘accidentally’.
Shraddha Pasi
Born in Ahmednagar, a small town near Pune, Shraddha PasiI completed her
graduation in Mass Communication from Delhi University. She joined FTII in 2004.
The Chase, a short film made by her as part of an exchange program, Polar Meets
Solar, won the Best Student Film award in the Kenya International Film Festival in
2007.
-------------------------------------
Eka Gaawaat (In a Village)
Marathi, 2009, 12 minutes
Direction & Screenplay: Nisha Ramakrishnan
Camera: Rangoli Agarwal
Editing: Amrita Mahadik
Sound: Dilip Kumar Ahirwar
Synopsis
The effort here is to capture, from a different perspective, the essence of elections in
distant and cut off villages. Keeping children as the central element, the film seeks to
cover the various issues at stake, and all the activities and excitement surrounding
the elections. The problems faced by the villagers are doubtless serious and the
candidates mean business, but they assume a different hue when seen through the
eyes of a child.
Nisha Ramakrishnan
Nisha is a film direction student pursuing a three-year postgraduate diploma course
at FTII.
-----------------------------------------------
Ghadyalancha Dawakhana (The Watch Clinic)
Marathi, 2009, 10.30 minutes
Direction & Screenplay: Vikrant Pawar
Camera: Deepak Menon
Editing: Monisha Baldawa
Sound: Manoj Kathe
Art Direction: Ashutosh Kavishwar, Laxmi Keluskar
Synopsis
The Watch Clinic is a depiction of a slice of life of a young boy on the brink of
manhood; it’s a look on value systems of two different generations, his Father’s and
his own, and how the evolution of the boy begins when he spends some time in his
Father’s work space.The Watch Clinic begins with the boy trying to cheat his Father
out of some money for a frivolous activity and ends with the boy not taking the
money at all but instead leaving him in deep contemplation.
Vikrant Pawar
Vikrant Pawar graduated with a Government Diploma in Fine Arts, from Kalavishwa
Mahavidyalaya, Sangli, majoring in Drawing and Painting. He directed this film as a
2nd year student of the Post Graduate Diploma course in Film Direction at FTII.
--------------------------------------
The Light and her Shadows
Direction: Andrea Lannetta
Camera: Avinash Arun
Editing: Charu Shree Ray
Art Direction: Ameya Gandhe
Music: Lipika Singh
Sound: Bigyna Dahal
Cast: Carly May Borgstrom, Tanushree Biswas, Gayatri Chatterjee
Awards
Best Cinematography - Short Fiction - Gold - Avinash Arun, Indian Documentary
Producers' Association (IDPA) 2009, Mumbai
Synopsis
Julia, an American painter, and Avantika, a young Indian girl, develop an intimate
friendship based on shared difficulties of being a woman. Both are attracted to each
other, which brings them to a state of incomprehension. The film is about the
complexity of human relations shown through the imaginary states of mind of the two
characters.
Andrea Lannetta
Born in Rome in 1982, Andrea Lannetta did a course in Philosophy at University La
Sapienza. In 2004-05, she lived in Madrid (Spain) and attended the University of
Philosophy at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid through a scholarship of the
European Erasmus Project. In December 2005, back in Rome, she completed the
BA in Philosophy with full marks. Her exposition was on “Hegel: Early theology and
the spirit of Christianity”. She is currently a student of the three-year Film Direction
course in FTII.
------------------------------------------------
Malini Hari Sable
Hindi/Marathi/English, 2009, 18 minutes
Director: Priya Jhavar
Screenplay: Priya Jhavar
Camera: Deopriy Agarwal
Editor: Priya Jhavar
Sound: Akhil Sindhu
Music: OST–Yann Tiersen
Synopsis
What were to happen if no photograph of yours was ever taken, if no
document noting your birth or death exists, if you have no address to
quote, no family to return to? Would it mean that you cease o exist?
Would it prove that you are a ghost? This film is an attempt at
unravelling the mysteries of human identity in an urban set-up. It is an
attempt at searching for a woman lost in a crowd of more than a million.
And most of all, it is film about a woman called Malini Hari Sable, who
exists, despite all odds, and who stands to represent the lives of several
such people across the country, and probably, across the globe.
Priya Jhavar
A graduate in English Literature from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai,
Priya Jhavar joined the three-year Post Graduate Diploma Course in
Film Direction in 2005. She has been an assistant director on Hindi
feature film, ‘Home Delivery’, directed by Sujoy Ghosh. She was a
French language teacher for four years before starting her course at
F.T.I.I.
Monsoon Moods
Direction: Andrea Lannetta
Camera: Avinash Arun
Editing: Charu Shree Roy
Sound: Gautam Singh
Sound Re-recordist: Prince George
Synopsis
The film explores landscapes and tiny details of the Maharashtra countryside during
the season of Monsoon and alternates views of the Macro and Micro world. Big and
small loose their actual dimension in front of the camera, which capture the infinite
beauty of nature in the way it manifests in front of our eyes. The film begins with the
world of animals and nature, and moves to those of human being, maintaining an
observant eye to the essence of things.
Andrea Lannetta
Born in Rome in 1982, Andrea Lannetta did a course in Philosophy at University La
Sapienza. In 2004-05, she lived in Madrid (Spain) and attended the University of
Philosophy at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid through a scholarship of the
European Erasmus Project. In December 2005, back in Rome, she completed the
BA in Philosophy with full marks. Her exposition was on “Hegel: Early theology and
the spirit of Christianity”. She is currently a student of the three-year Film Direction
course in FTII.
--------------------------Narmeen
Hindi/Punjabi, 2008, 18 minutes
Direction & Screenplay: Dipti Gogna
Camera: G Ranganath Babu
Editing: Antara Lahiri
Sound: Manik Batra
Art Direction: Siddharth Tatooskar
Cast: Rasika Dugal, Jaideep Ahlavat
Awards
HBO Short Film Competition Jury Award and cash prize of $2,500, 5th South Asian
International Film Festival 2008, New York.
Best Director Award of a cash prize - $1,000, Whistling Woods International
Students Film Competition Live Action (Short Film) During 7th Pune International Film
Festival, Pune.
Jury Award for Best Short Film at the 7th annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
Gold Award for 'Excellence in Short Fiction' (Professional category)
Synopsis
The Partition of the country is drawing close. Noor is a young woman grieving the
death of her daughter. She exists in a dreamlike state, unable to come to terms with
reality. Their servant boy, also a Muslim, has not even considering the option of
leaving. He actually voices a lot of opinions that Noor subscribes to. A Sikh man with
his young son shifts to the neighbourhood. The man, who has migrated from wouldbe Pakistan, has lost his wife in a massacre. Noor takes a liking for the young boy
but her attempts at befriending him are blatantly thwarted by the father.
Dipti Gogna
A Graduate in Mass Media and Mass Communication from Delhi University, Dipti
Gogna joined FTII’s film direction course in 2004 after interning with a renowned
Indian publication and a television channel. In her second year at FTII, she was
awarded a scholarship by the One World Broadcasting Trust (OWBT), UK and shot a
documentary, A Call Too Far, in London, Pune and Gurgaon under its Bursary
Scheme 2006. Narmeen, her diploma film, is a story set in the times of the partition
of India and deals with the loss of identity and humanity in such trying times. She
graduated from FTII in April 2008 and currently works as a freelancer.
------------------------------------
O’s on a Treadmill
English/Hindi, 2009, 9.39 minutes
Direction & Screenplay: Deepti Khurana
Camera: Armin Turel
Editing: Monisha
Sound: Ashish Verma
Synopsis
Different people driven by seemingly different motives get together at a fitness club
to increase their levels of fitness both physically and mentally. Each one has a
different story to narrate. The documentary showcases six O’s on a treadmill
churning out human emotions.
Deepti Khurana
Deepti Khurana was born in Rohtak in 1983. She completed her graduation in BA
(H) Journalism & Mass Communication in 2003 from Delhi University. She then did
Masters in Mass communication from GJU Hisar. Before joining FTII’s Film Direction
course, she worked for All India Radio as a Hindi newsreader and programme
presenter. She has also freelanced for various TV channels and production houses.
For one year she lectured in the institute of GGSIP University, Delhi. During the
course in FTII, she has done various fiction and non-fiction film projects.
-------------------------------------
Ramoshi
Direction & Screenplay: Tathagata Singha
Camera: Soumik Mukherjee
Editing: Sreya Chatterjee
Sound: Avantika Nimbalkar
Art Direction: Malavika Sohoni
Award
Shared the award for the Best Debut Non-feature Film of a director - Rajat Kamal
and Cash Prize of Rs. 37,500/- each to the Producer and Director. - 57th National
Awards 2009
Synopsis
The film is a journey of the filmmakers in search of a community in Maharashtra
called the Ramoshi. They are a community who had been dubbed a criminal tribe by
the British Government in the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. Even though they were
denotified in 1952 (post-Independence), the branding remained, forcing the
community to choose a path of crime. However, the situation has now changed. The
film is an exploration of the Ramoshi in the present where the community faces an
almost self-imposed amnesia.
Tathagata Singha
Tathagata Singha Is a third year student of FTII’s Direction course. He is a graduate
in Physics from Kolkata. Back in Kolkata he had been a part of a number of theatre
productions some of which he directed. He has made two films as part of his
curriculum in FTII. One of them, Ekti Kaktaliyo Golpo, made it to the Indian
Panorama’s non-feature section at IFFI 2009 and was also screened in the Indian
Panorama Film Festival, Kohima 2010. Ramoshi was screened in the
3rd International Documentary and Short Film Festival, Kerala.
------------------------------------------
Surang (The Tunnel)
Hindi, 2009, 10.40 minutes, Colour, 35 mm
Direction & Screenplay: Anurag Goswami
Camera: Mahesh Madhavan
Editing: Yasha Ramchandani
Sound: Prince George
Art Direction: Debashish Debnath
Cast: Shubham, Alok Chaturvedi, Megh Varn Pant, Shashi Bhushan, Ashok
Chaudhary, Yogesh Mathur, Nitin Goel
Synopsis
Two convicts have escaped from jail through a tunnel. As their foolproof plan hits an
unexpected roadblock, the jailor and his men deal with the mishap in true
bureaucratic fashion.
Anurag Goswami
Anurag Goswami graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree
in Software Engineering (in 2004). He worked as a Research Analyst in a
management consultancy firm for two years. At present he is a 2nd year Film
Direction student at the Film & Television Institute of India. Surang is his final project
of the 2nd year curriculum.
---------------------------------------------
Thread
Direction: Lillium Leonard
Camera: Rrivu Laha
Editing: Puloma Pal
Sound: Anthony B.J. Ruban
Cast: Arunima Shankar, Mary Ann De Souza, Gaurav Bose, Rupshi Mondal
Award
Best Short Film with Rs. 25,000/-, 8th Third Eye Asian Film Festival, Mumbai
Synopsis
Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please, the Surya Circus is in town to stage
your hidden fantasies! Bizarre suspension, dolls in unison, mile long hair, from death
no fear, the snake and the charmer, Adam the body builder, the sharp shooter
Sikander, edge of a knife, piercing eye, you or the wife, give us your salary and your
pension, we have lots for your attention! But this time, the circus routine will be
broken by the coming of a foreigner who will disturb the fusion-like relationship of
Nisha and Sandhya, the two contortionists and seamstresses of the show.
Lillium Leonard
Lilium Léonard is an ‘overseas citizen’ of India and a French national. After studying
contemporary dance, she graduated in Film Studies from La Sorbonne University in
Paris before joining the FTII’s Film Direction course in 2004.
---------------------------------------------
Turbulence
Direction & Screenplay: Gulam Shaffi Khan
Camera: Rangoli Agarwal
Editing: Kashish Arora
Sound: Dilip Kumar Ahirwar
Art Direction: Saugata Mandal
Award
Best Film / TV Feature – Ibda Awards, Dubai, 2009
Synopsis
The film in about a Uttar Pradesh village who will be flying to America for the first
time to meet his brother. His village friends, Salim and Hussein, try to help him
overcome his fear of flying by giving him special training, but it is Tariq, the village
milk boy, who gives him courage at the end to overcome his fear.
Gulam Shaffi Khan
Gulam Shaffi Khan was born in Malaysia. He has a Bachelor in Arts degree from the
University Of Alabama, in Birmingham, USA, 1988. He is currently in the final year of
the three-year Film Direction course at FTII. He was selected on an ICCR
Scholarship.
-------------------------------------Production & Sales contact for all the above FTII films: Chandrashekhar A. Joshi
(Film Research Officer), Film and Television Institute of India. Law College Road,
Pune 410004
Tel: +91 020 25431817
Fax: +91 020 25430416
Mobile: 09890389715
Email: ftiifro@gmail.com
Chennai Film Industrial School (CFIS)
Chennai Film Industrial School began its journey fairly recently – in
2003, to be precise. But it has already begun to make a salutary impact
on the nature and scope of the cinema of Tamil Nadu and India.
The school believes that cinema is too powerful a medium to be wasted
on entertainment alone. It believes that is a potent language that, when
handled with skill, passion and sensitivity, can yield huge artistic
dividends in a land that possesses a long and eventful history, a rich and
diverse cultural heritage and a vibrant civilization that goes back several
millennia.
The school works on the simple principle that by learning cinema as a
technique one becomes a craftsman, but by mastering the medium as a
language one emerges as a creator. CFIS focuses on converting aspiring
filmmakers from mere dream merchants to creative powerhouses. The
effort is yielding encouraging results: our students have bagged a clutch
of awards at short film festivals.
------------------------------------
Cage
Tamil, 14.38 minutes
Director: K.S.Suryakant
Cinematographer: B.Sangeeth Kumar
Editor: B.Gandhi Mathi
Music: Ruben
Synopsis
The story revolves around a deaf‐mute girl who is sold to man for a small
amount of money by her father. She is tortured by her owner, sexually and
physically. Every day she goes to a shop to buy vegetables. On the way she
watches a cage with a pigeon in it. A boy working in a motorbike showroom as
a cleaner just opposite the pet shop develops sympathy for the hapless girl. He
falls in love. He thinks of presenting the pigeon to her, but he doesn’t have any
money. So he asks his manager for help. His plea is turned down. So, at the
behest of a friend, he decides to steal money from the showroom office. But
he fails to pull it off. So his friend comes to his aid with a small loan. The boy
buys the pigeon and presents it to the girl. But she rejects the gift and sets the
pigeon free. The boy promptly recaptures the bird puts it back in the cage.
That night the girl decides she has had enough…
Piraiyanmai
No language, 9.46 minutes
Director: C. Meenakshi Sundaram
Cinematographer: A.Velmurugan
Editor: Maruthi
Sound: Silambarasan
Synopsis
Abnormal people do live, but abnormally. A normal witness to their actions
tends to get carried away. No normal reactions fit here: lunacy has a colour of
its own….
The Object
Tamil, 4.32 minutes
Director: Vinodh Chella Priya
Cinematographer: Ashwin Ambatkar
Editor: Karthick
Sound: Saravana Kumar
Synopsis
This short film deals about the life of a teenage girl, who is always forced by
her parents to say “Yes” irrespective of the fact whether she means “Yes”.
Vinodh Chella Priya
Vinodh joined CFIS after completing leaving high school. He made this short
film as his project work for the Visual Media course.
The “I”
Director: N.S. Vaigundaraja
Cinematographer: R. Arun
Editor: R.S. Ganesh
Sound: Balaji
Synopsis
Life has a Beginning, Continuity and an End, defined as Birth, Existence and
Death but in a true sense “Death” doesn’t mean “End”.
Frozen Fire
Director: R. Prabhu Soundaryan
Cinematographer: K.S. Ravikumar
Editor: S.P. Vinoth Kumar
Sound: Saravana Kumar
Synopsis
This short film tries to reveal the plight of a woman caught between her
physical needs and religious restrictions. She indulges in an act considered a sin
by her society and religion. But she pleads only to those who have not sinned
to pardon her. She believes “God” will not regard her act as a sin at all.
Saptha Jwalai (Flame of Sound)
Director: S. Manikandan
Cinematographer: R. Sathish Kumar
Editor: R. Satish
Sound: Winston.B. Thambi
Synopsis
To him, sound ceased to exist as long as his grandmother was around to take
care of him. When the grandmother ceased to exist, he starts hearing. Yet it is
not the whole sound, but just its flame...
Idhu Veru Kagidam (Wasted Paper)
Director: T. Thayaparan
Cinematographer: M. Thirunavukkarasu
Editor: N. Anandaraj
Sound: Ruben
Synopsis
The film travels along with an orphan boy who picks up wasted paper on the
street for a living. What he couldn’t realize till the end is that he himself is a
piece of wasted paper.
Innoru Kadhavu
Director: D. Kumaran
Cinematographer: E. Veeramani
Editor: Ravikumar
Sound: Raja
Synopsis
A young man is desperately in love with his co‐worker. But she refuses him on
the ground that the door of love, as far as she is concerned, is shut. In the end
he convinces her that there is “yet another door”.
He Couldn’t Do It, But…
No language, 12 minutes
Director: M.Prabunath
Cinematographer: S.J. Rahman
Editor: R.S. Ganesh
Sound: Balaji
Synopsis
A young, frustrated man decides to put an end to his life. The “end” comes,
but, not quite in the way he had planned…
Palazm Udir Solai (Fruits Are Falling)
Director: K. Venkat Ram kumar
Cinematographer: K.S. Ravikumar
Editor: S.P. Vinoth Kumar
SOUND: M. Saravana Kumar
Synopsis
The film is about an Old Man enjoying himself in a park in the company of
friends from his younger days. He accepts the changes caused by the process
of ageing in a completely positive light.
Colour Bar
Tamil, 7 minutes
Director: D.Jebaraj
Cinematographer: R.P.Dhas
Editor: B.GandhiMathi
Music: Ruben
Synopsis
A balloon vendor, unable to find any customer, stands forlorn on a beach.
Exhausted and dizzy, he collapses. A man pricks his unsold balloons. As he is
about to burst the last balloon, a kite vendor spots him and shouts at him. The
miscreant runs away. The kite vendor wakes the balloon vendor and scolds him
for being so careless.
The balloon vendor shares his woes with the kite man. The latter is
sympathetic but says he does not have any money to buy him even a cup of
tea. The balloon vendor, out of frustration, throws away, the remaining
balloon.
The balloon lands at the feet of a third person, sitting alone on the beach. He
calls the balloon vendor and tells him that he will buy that balloon and also pay
for the destroyed balloons. When the balloon vendor hesitates the kite seller
requests the kind man to help the balloon vendor by giving him fifty rupees.
The third person says that he has a hundred rupees note and asks whether the
balloon vendor has money to pay the balance.
The balloon vendor curses his own fate. The kite vendor is in a dilemma. He
has told the balloon vendor that he has no money. But at the same time he
wants the balloon vendor to get the fifty rupees. So, not to get caught in
embarrassment, he tells the third person that he will go and get change for
hundred rupees.
Then the kite vendor collects the hundred rupees from the third person and
goes away. He takes change for hundred rupees from his own pocket and
returns. He gives fifty rupees to the balloon vendor and the balance to the
third person. Thanking the third person, the balloon vendor leaves with relief.
As the kite vendor also leaves, praising the third person for his kindness, the
third person stops him and asks: “What is the colour of this balloon?”
Certificate (Chandridazh)
Tamil, 26 minutes
Director: Jeya Murthi
Cinematographer: Raja sekar
Editor: Ilavarasan
Synopsis
A poor auto driver is trying to deal with life with an unaffordable principle:
“never indulge in bribing”. He has to conduct his sister’s marriage, and he has
to set up a small business for his brother. He needs money. He decides to sell
his house, which is in his recently deceased father’s name.
Now he has to get an heir certificate from the municipal office where he is
expected to pay a bribe. He resolves not to…
Her Majesty (Menmai Thangiya)
Tamil, 10 minutes
Director: Jeya Murthi
Cinematographer: Raja sekar
Editor: Ilavarasan
Synopsis
This film portrays the morning activities of a scavenger woman and those of a
schoolgirl. When the path of these two characters cross, it is established that
even a lowly worker can be called "Her Majesty" if she has a clear vision of the
future of the next generation........
Production & Sales Contact for all CFIS films: Chennai Film Industrial School,
4/16, First Cross Street, 9th Main Road, Swaminathan Nagar, Kottivakkam,
Chennai 600 041
Phone: 044 65181182, 98414 37101
Website: www.chennaifilmschool.org
E‐mail: mail@chennaifilmschool.org
AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS REPRESENTATIONS IN
FICTION FILMS
INTRODUCTION
The year 2009 was a watershed for the history of Australian indigenous
filmmaking. It saw the screening of two very important films by
indigenous filmmakers. Warwick Thornton’s debut feature as a director,
Samson and Delilah won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in May 2009.
Perhaps more importantly, it was also a box office success in Australia,
released in a large number of international territories and one of the
most widely discussed films of the year, both in Australian film circles
and with the general public. Hot on its heels was Rachel Perkins’ third
feature, Bran Nue Dae, which closed the 2009 Melbourne International
Film Festival, released in 2010 to phenomenal success, and with Samson
and Delilah is still travelling widely on the festival circuit.
But it has been a long journey since the first indigenous representation
in Australian film – the ‘blackface’ tracker in the 1907 Robbery under
Arms. This selection of films traces the journey from Jedda, the first film
to star indigenous actors, to Bran Nue Dae, noting the various
perspectives and voices along the way. The selection is diverse in
theme. All of the films are award winners which have screened at
various international festivals and are recognised as important works in
the history of Australian cinema.
--------------------------------------------ACKNOWLDGEMENTS
Walkabout, beDevil, Ten Canoes and Rabbit-Proof Fence: Prints courtesy of the
National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and Jedda: Prints courtesy of the National Film and
Sound Archive of Australia’s Kodak/Atlab Collection
Thanks to: David Atfield, Rick Carlson, Rolf de Heer, Phillip Noyce, Rachel
Perkins, Andrew Pike, Fred Schepisi, Warwick Thornton, Hollywood Classics
-----------------------------------------------
beDevil
1992, 86 minutes
Director: Tracey Moffatt
Screenplay: Tracey Moffatt
Camera: Geoff Burton
Editor: Wayne Le Clos
Music: Carl Vine
Sound: Peter Fenton
Art Direction: Glen W. Johnson
Producer: Anthony Buckley
Cast: Lex Marinos, Tracey Moffatt, Riccardo Natoli, Dina Panozzo
Synopsis
The first feature made by an Australian indigenous woman, beDevil is
comprised of three self-contained ghost stories, apparently based on
stories told to director Tracey Moffat as a child. Unrelated but forming a
cohesive whole, they concern an American GI, a cinema built over a
swamp which was forbidden territory for indigenous people, a ghost
train and the soul of a young blind girl killed by the train, and an old
woman who still lights a candle for the memory of her son and his lover
killed many years ago.
Moffat is well known internationally as a visual artist and photographer.
In this semi-experimental film, (regrettably) her only feature film to
date, she has used famous Australian artists to create a visual and aural
feast, with stunning production design, choreography and music. One of
Moffat’s major themes as an artist is de-constructing Aboriginality (and
indeed ‘the other’ in general), which she does with aplomb in this
satirical piece.
Tracey Moffatt
Born on November 12, 1960, in Brisbane, Australia, Tracey Moffatt studied visual
communications at the Queensland College of Art, from which she graduated in
1982. She then moved to Sydney, where she continues to live and work. Moffatt first
gained critical acclaim for her short film Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy, which was
selected for official competition at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Her first feature
film, Bedevil, was shown in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993.
She has also made documentary film and music videos. Since her first exhibition in
1989, Moffatt has shown her photographically based art in numerous exhibitions in
Australia and abroad. This is her first large-scale exhibition to date.
----------------------------------------
Bran Nue Dae
2010, 85 minutes
Director: Rachael Perkins
Screenplay: Reg Cribb, Rachel Perkins, Jimmy Chi
Camera: Andrew Lesnie
Editing: Rochelle Oshlack
Sound: Steve Burgess
Production Design: Felicity Abbott
Cast: Rocky McKenzie, Jessica Mauboy, Ernie Dingo, Missy Higgins, Geoffrey Rush
Synopsis
It’s the summer of 1967 and young Willie is filled with the life of the idyllic old
pearling port Broome, in the North of Western Australia - fishing, hanging out with
his mates, and when he can, his girl Rosie. However his mother Theresa has great
hopes for him and she returns him to the religious mission in Perth for further
schooling. After being punished by Father Benedictus for an act of youthful rebellion,
Willie runs away from the mission. But to where….he’s too ashamed to go home, it
will break his mother’s heart. Down on his luck he meets Uncle Tadpole, and
together they con a couple of hippies, Annie and Slippery into taking them on the
3,000 km journey through spectacular landscape back to Broome. Willie learns the
hard and funny lessons he needs to get home, all the while pursued by Father
Benedictus. Arriving back in Broome, Willie wins the girl, convinces his mother that
Broome is the place he should be, and discovers that the father he never knew he
had is his journeyman companion all along - Uncle Tadpole.
Rachael Perkins
Rachael Perkins is from the Arrernte and Kalkadoon nations of Australia. She trained
at the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) in Alice Springs and
is also a graduate of the Australian Film Television and Radio School. Perkins was
employed for a combined six years as an executive producer of the Indigenous
Television Units at SBS and the ABC. She has independently produced and directed
a number of documentary series including Blood Brothers and From Spirit to Spirit the first international Indigenous co-production of Aboriginal, Maori, Sami and Native
Canadian filmmakers. She financed the first Indigenous drama initiative for the
Australian Film Commission and produced three short films under these successful
initiatives.
Perkins has directed two multi-award winning feature films, Radiance and One Night
The Moon (which she also co-wrote). These films have screened at the Berlin,
London, Toronto, Moscow and Sundance film festivals. Radiance (winner of an AFI
and Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and Australian Screen Sound Guild
Award) is unique in being voted most popular film at the Sydney, Melbourne and
Canberra film festivals. One Night The Moon is the winner of two AFI Open Craft
Awards - Sound and Cinematography, two Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Score
and The Special Achievement Award recognising Perkins’s unique combination of
sound, image and music, an Australian Cinematographers Society Award and two
AWGIE (Australian Writers’ Guild) Awards including the Golden AWGIE. One Night
The Moon has screened at 70 film festivals worldwide and received the New York
International Independent Film and Video Festival Award for Best Feature Film –
Musical.
-----------------------------------
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
1978, 124 minutes
Director: Fred Schepisi
Screenplay: Fred Schepisi, adapted from a novel by Thomas Keneally
Camera: Ian Baker
Editor: Brian Kavanagh
Set Designer: Wendy Dickson
Sound: Bob Allen
Music: Bruce Smeaton
Cast: Tom E. Lewis, Freddy Reynolds, Ray Barrett, Jack Thompson, Angela PunchMcGregor
Synopsis
Set in 1890s rural Australia, this is the story of a young Aboriginal man
initiated by his tribe but educated by a Methodist missionary and
married to a white woman. Caught in a racist struggle between two
cultures and accepted by neither, he cracks and goes on a murderous
revenge spree.
Based on the novel by Thomas Keneally and the real-life story of Jimmy
Governor, who was hanged for multiple murders in 1901, The Chant of
Jimmie Blacksmith was one of the most significant films of Australia’s
1970s New Wave. In terms of voice, the film is told from the perspective
of Jimmie, which is what makes the film so powerful and confronting. In
2001, some 30 years after writing the novel, Keneally (who is not
Aboriginal) noted that while he would no longer feel comfortable writing
from that perspective, in 1972 it felt appropriate for him to tell an
Aboriginal story.
Fred Schepisi
Fred Schepisi (1939-) part of the Australian New Wave has made two
iconic Australian films, The Devil's Playground, (1976) and
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, 1978. He also made Evil Angels (1988)
about the notorious dingo baby case. Hollywood credits include The
Russia House (1990), a thriller starring Sean Connery and Michelle
Pfeiffer, and Six Degrees of Separation, (1993) starring Stockard
channing and Donald Sutherland.
------------------------------------
Jedda
1954, 85 minutes
Director: Charles Chauvel
Screenplay: Charles Chauvel, Elsa Chauvel
Camera: Carl Kayser
Editor: Alex Ezard
Music: Isadore Goodman
Set Design: Ronal McDonald
Sound: Arthur Browne
Cast: Ngarla Kunoth, Robert Tudawali, Betty Suttor, Paul Reynall, George SimpsonLyttle
Synopsis
Jedda is the story of an Aboriginal baby raised on a cattle station by a
white woman mourning the loss of her own child. The young girl is
brought up in a white society, knowing nothing of her own culture but
yearning to be a part of it. Her life changes dramatically when a young
tribal Aboriginal abducts her.
This was iconic Australian director Charles Chauvel’s second feature
about indigenous Australians, some twenty years after the exoticised
Uncivilised. It was a major step forward in indigenous representation,
not only for Chauvel, but for Australian film. As the first film to star
indigenous actors, it is still remembered fondly by many older Aboriginal
people although the next generation has shown less affection for it.
Tracey Moffatt’s (beDevil) short film Night Cries, is viewed as a critical
response and sequel to the film.
Also Australia’s first colour fiction feature, Jedda was filmed on location
in the Northern Territory with the landscape being an important part of
the film.
-------------------------
Charles Chauvel
Charles Chauvel (189 –1959) was one of Australia’s most important
pioneer filmmakers. Born in country Queensland, he made his first film
in 1926. He headed for Hollywood with his second (silent) feature, but
came up against the introduction of sound. Although his output over the
next three decades was not large (a total of nine features), they were
extremely important inconstructing the Australian identity in film. The
pioneering spirit (Heritage, Sons of Matthew) and war as a
nationbuilding exercise (Forty Thousand Horsemen and The Rats of
Tobruk) were major themes. Along with Jedda, Chauvel made two other
works with Aboriginal themes, the earlier ‘jungle story’, Uncivilised
(1936) and his final work, Australian Walkabout, a television series for
the BBC.
------------------------------------
Rabbit Proof Fence
2001, 89 minutes
Director: Phil Noyce
Screenplay: Christine Olsen
Camera: Christopher Doyle
Editor: Veronika Jenet, John Scott
Music: Peter Gabriel
Cast: David Gulpilil, Everlyn Sampi, Kenneth Branagh, Deborah Mailman
Synopsis
The true story of three young indigenous girls snatched from their
mothers' arms and placed in a settlement 1,500 miles away, to be
trained as domestic servants. They escape and use the infamous rabbitproof fence to guide their way home, as they are chased by white
authorities and a black tracker. Writer, Christine Olsen, was the driving
force behind this important and very moving film, based on a true
account about the 'stolen generation', persuading Phil Noyce (Sliver,
Patriot Games, The Quiet American) to return from the US to make it.
Phil Noyce
Phillip Noyce (1950 - ),also part of the Australian New Wave, made his
first feature, the road movie Backroads in 1977, starring Australian
Aboriginal activist, Gary Foley. In 1978, he directed and co-wrote
Newsfront, a big critical and commercial success in Australia. IIn 1982,
Heatwave co-written and directed by Noyce screened at the Director's
Fortnight in Cannes. Noyce's other film credits include Dead Calm
(1989) starring Nicole Kidman, the political thriller, Patriot Games (1992)
and The Bone Collector (1999). Returning to Australia after 12 years in
Hollywood, he made both The Quiet American, set in 50s Saigon, and
Rabbit Proof Fence (2002) Both garnered Noyce numerous awards.
Noyce has multiple television credits.
-----------------------------
Samson & Delilah
Australia, 2010, 101 minutes
Director: Warwick Thornton
Screenplay: Warwick Thornton
Camera: Warwick Thornton
Editor: Roland Gallois
Music: Various tracks & some composing by Warwick Thornton
Sound: Liam Egan
Production Design: Daran Fulham
Production: Scarlett Pictures & CAAMA Productions
Cast: Rowan McNamara, Marissa Gibson, Mitjili Gibson, Scott Thornton
Synopsis
Samson and Delilah live in an isolated world – a remote Aboriginal community in the
Australian desert. In amongst a tiny collection of houses, everything here happens in
a cycle. Day in and day out – nothing changes, everything stays the same and no
one seems to care. Except for Samson, a cheeky 15-year-old who yearns for the
horizon. Even though boredom set in long ago, Samson attempts to occupy himself
with his offbeat humour. Unable to express his desire for something more, Samson’s
private escape comes in a tin – he’s a petrol sniffer. When a violent eruption takes
place at home Samson breaks the cycle and his journey begins. Sixteen year-old
Delilah is the sole carer of her artist grandmother, who fancies the hopeless Samson
for her son-in-law. When Nana passes away Delilah is held responsible and the
traditional punishment is harsh. Battered and bruised, an unlikely young man comes
to Delilah’s rescue. Samson. In a stolen car with no food, money or idea where they
are headed they turn their backs on the community and head towards the desert
horizon. The next day, out of petrol, they walk into the closest town. The two
teenagers soon discover that life outside the community can be cruel. Though
hungry and rejected Samson and Delilah fall in love. It is all they have. It is real.
Delilah searches for a way to improve their situation and begins to paint. She tries
desperately to sell her work, but no one is buying. In frustration she pushes her
work at potential buyers aware of their discomfort, aware of them not wanting her.
Samson tags along, the tin a constant companion. Exhausted and belittled Delilah
also falls prey to Samson’s demon. By accident the two young lovers are forcibly
separated and Delilah starts a journey of her own – a journey to a better place. As
Samson slowly self-destructs alone and under the bridge, Delilah’s love guides him
home.
Warwick Thornton
Warwick has written and directed several short dramas, the last being Nana, which
won the Crystal Bear award for Best Short Film in the Generation Kplus at the 2008
Berlin International Film Festival.Nana screened on opening night of the 2007
Sydney Film Festival and Warwick was awarded the Emerging Filmmaker Award at
the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Inside Film (IF) Award for Best Short
Film (by public vote) and Best Australian Film at Flickerfest Short Film Festival in
Sydney.
His previous short drama, half-hour Green Bush, won Best Short in the Panorama
section at the Berlin International Film Festival 2005. Green Bush also won a Dendy
Award in its section and the Rouben Mamoulian Award (best overall) at the Sydney
Film Festival and an Inside Film (IF) Award. It premiered at Sundance Film Festival.
Warwick’s previous shorts, Mimi in 2002 and Payback in 1996, have screened
extensively at festivals in Australia and overseas, including Telluride, and on SBS
Television. Warwick has also directed a number of documentaries.
Warwick’s career started as a cameraman in 1990 and he graduated from the
Australian Film, Television and Radio School in 1997 with a BA in Cinematography.
He has an extensive body of work as a cinematographer including the feature film
Radiance.
---------------------------------
Ten Canoes
2006, 87 minutes
Director: Rolf de Heer
Camera: Ian Jones
Editor: Tania Nehme
Art Director: Beverley Freeman
Sound: Jamie Currie, Tom Heuzenroeder
Cast: Crusoe Kurodal, Jamie Gulpilil, Richard Birrinbirrin, Peter Minygululu,
Frances Djulbing, with David Gulpilil as narrator
Synopsis
It is the distant past, tribal times. Dayindi covets one of the wives of his
older brother. To teach him ‘the proper way’, he is told a story from
even further back in time, the mythical past - a story of wrong love,
kidnapping, sorcery, bungling mayhem and revenge gone wrong.
Ten Canoes was made together by de Heer and the people of David
Gulpilil’s (Walkabout) tribe. The collaboration began in 2000 when
Gulpilil was working with de Heer on The Tracker. Gulpilil took de Heer
back to his remote community and also showed him a photograph of ten
canoes, one of a collection of two thousand photographs taken by a
white anthropologist in the 1930s, that the Yolngu people have
reappropriated for their own use. de Heer worked closely with the
indigenous Ramingining community to develop a Yolngu story told in a
Yolngu way ; and in ‘language’ (indigenous language).
This gentle and humorous landmark film portrays the ‘old times’ while
featuring spectacular scenery.
Rolf de Heer
Rolf de Heer (1951- ) is perhaps Australia’s most courageous and ego-less
director. His thirteen features to date cover a lot of ground in terms of formal
and technical experimentation and content; with some he has taken
enormous risks. Dingo (Venice, 1991) included one of Miles Davis’ last
performances on film. Bad Boy Bubby which has become a cult film was
followed by Dance Me to My Song, co-written with Heather Rose who
suffered from debilitating cerebral palsy and who played the lead. The
challenging Alexandra’s Project (2003) was in competition in Berlin. The
Tracker, a kind of revisionist western which made singular use of song and
painting saw David Gulpilil in the titular lead role and lead to the making of
Ten Canoes, which de Heer claims as the most difficult film he has made to
date, but not before the silent Dr Plonk.
------------------------------------
Walkabout
Australia/UK, 1971, 100 minutes
Director: Nicholas Roeg
Screenplay: Edward Bond based on novel by James Vance
Camera: Nicolas Roeg
Editor: Anthony Gibbs, Alan Patillo
Production Design: Brian Earwell
Sound: Barry Brown
Music: John Barry
Cast: Jenny Agutter, David Gulpilil, Lucien John, John Meillon
Synopsis
A teenage girl and her younger brother find themselves stranded in the
Australian outback, with little water or food and no survival skills. A
young Aboriginal boy (David Gulpilil in his first role) on walkabout takes
care of them, ultimately leading them back to white civilisation. But just
before they reach the all-but-deserted mining town, the young boy
attempts to woo the girl with a courtship dance. All through the night he
dances, but she fails to understand, with tragic results.
Nicholas Roeg
Nicolas Roeg (1928 - ), a British director, started as a cinematographer
working with David Lean (second unit on Lawrence of Arabia), Roger
Corman and Francois Truffaut among others. His directorial debut was
as co-director with Donald Cammell on Performance followed by his solo
debut, Walkabout, which he also photographed. He has a highly original
vision, witnessed by future films such as The Man who fell to Earth
(1976) and Bad Timing (1980).
O Maria
Konkani, 2010, 106 minutes
Director: Rajendra N. Talak
Screenplay: Rajendra N. Talak & Pratima Kulkarni
Camera: Sunny Joseph
Editor: Vidyadhar Pathare
Sound: Sandeep Rawool
Producer: Bhalchandra S. Bakhle
Cast: Sherna Patel, Meenakshi Martins, Colry
Goldberg, Sulbha Arya, Kevin D'mello, Arayan
Khedekar, Rose Ferns, John D'silva, Tikku Talasania
Synopsis
Maria lives on a piece of land that she inherited and
the land adjacent to hers is her late brother Johns’
who sold his property to a hotel company before he
died. However the contract stated that they will pay
him half the money only when his sister Maria also
sells her property to them. John left behind two sons
and a wife who are also eyeing her property. But
Maria refuses to sell her property as a protest again
the rising encroachment of tourist resorts, vanishing
goan lifestyle and culture and livelihood. In her
fight, she also has the support of one of her
nephews, Kevin and a tourist Mike. The resistance
becomes a family feud and after much dramatic twists
and turns, the family is able to restore peace and
wisdom.
Rajendra N. Talak
Having been involved with theatre from his college
days, Rajendra Narayan Talak has worked on several
award winning plays. In various capacities he has
served cultural institutions like Kalangan, Gomant
Vidhya Niketan, Kala Vibhag, Konkani Bhavan amongst
others. He has produced a Konkani music cassette
Daryacha Deger and Lhara and helps organize music
concerts like Konkani Sangeet Samhelan and Kala Rang.
He produced the Konkani telefilm Shitu, produced and
directed Aleesha, which won National Awards for Best
Film and Best Direction and Antarnad which also won
five National Awards. Presently he is the President
of the Goan Organisation of Filmmakers (GOF).
--------------------------
Naukadubi (Boatwreck)
Bengali, 2010, 146 minutes
Director: Rituparno Ghosh
Screenplay: Rituparno Ghosh
Camera: Soumik Halder
Editor: Arghyakamal Mitra
Sound: Dipankar Chaki, Anirban Sengupta
Art Director: Indraneel Ghosh
Producer: Mukta Arts
Cast: Riya Sen , Raima Sen, Prosenjit Chatterjee,
Dhritiman Chatterjee, Apratim Dhar, Sumanta
Mukherjee, Sagar Mukherjee Ammu Chatterjee, Maria
Chatterjee
Synopsis
This is a period film set in the 1920s, based on a
short story by Rabindranath Tagore…A tender romance
blossoming in Kolkata between law student Ramesh and
his friend’s sister Hemnalini, is nipped suddenly
when his father sends an urgent and mysterious
summons from his village home. There, the dutiful son
is peremptorily ordered to marry Susheela, daughter
of a hapless widow. Initially Ramesh refuses but soon
succumbs to the widow’s pleas. This leads to a train
of events that throws all involved in different
directions. While returning to Kolkata, there is a
storm in which the boat capsizes however Ramesh
survives and finds a bride who he assumes is his
bride but soon discovers the mistaken identity as
well as the name of the person she, Kamala, was
actually married to. He puts her in a boarding school
but the news that he is married reaches Hemnalini who
is heartbroken. She soon leaves for Kashi to heal
herself along with her father while Ramesh leaves for
Gorukhpur to avoid the scandal. In Kashi, Hemnalini
meets Nalinaksha, who, unknown to anyone, was the
person Kamala was married to. Kamala discovers that
Ramesh is not her real husband through an old
advertisement and tries to down herself in the river.
She is saved and brought to Kashi where she lands up
at the house of Nalinaksha. The whole sorry mess
raises many questions of head and heart and the
validity or otherwise of social conventions. We are
left wondering whether true love will finally
triumph.
Rituparno Ghosh
Rituparno Ghosh is a Bengali film director. He has
won 8 National Film Award in India and several awards
at international film festivals abroad. He began
directing in advertising. In 1992, he made a low-key
film debut with a children's feature titled Hirer
Angti (The Diamond Ring). His second movie Unishe
April (19 April), won the 1995 National Film Award
Since then, Ghosh has directed Dahan, Utsab, Chokher
Bali, Asukh, Bariwali, Antarmahal and Raincoat (in
Hindi).He won the best director award for the bengali
film "Abohoman" starring Jishu Sengupta, Ananya
Chatterjee, Dipankar Dey and Mamata Shankar in India
in 2010. Another film directed by him Sunglass is
also slated for this year (2010).
-----------------------------
Dhoosar (Blur)
Director: Amol Palekar
Screenplay: Sandhya Gokhale
Camera: Savita Singh
Editor: Neeraj Voralia
Sound: Amal Popuri
Art Direction: Sandhya Gokhale
Synopsis
The film is based on an original story by Sandhya
Gokhale. Suhasini and Suniti have been staying away
from each other for many years. They’ve been bound
together by innumerable memories reflected through
hundreds of photographs taken by the mother-daughter
duo. After two years, when Suniti returns home, she
finds Suhasini has lost traces of her past or
present. She reads notes in Suhasini’s diary and is
devastated to learn that her mother is suffering from
Alzheimer’s disease. She is shocked to know that a
stranger called Arjun has parked himself in their
house. Arjun was her mother’s present during the
last two years and this fact pains Suniti deeply.
Suhasini’s notes eloquently describe her state of
mind. Suniti strives to cope with Suhasini’s
articulation on one hand and rapid deterioration on
the other. While Suhasini is growingly disconnected
with her past, she is unaware of her present as well.
She recognizes neither Suniti nor Arjun. What is the
future of all three….? Many layers of human mind and
emotions are peeled off through a collage of past and
present. The sensitive portrayal of characters
challenges our understanding of human behavior. While
exploring different shades of human bonds, the story
unfolds the starkness of dementia.
Amol Palekar
Amol Palekar, a postgraduate in Fine Arts from the
Sir JJ School of Arts, Mumbai, commenced his artistic
career as a painter He has been a leading persona of
avant garde theatre in India and has been active in
Marathi and Hindi theatre as an actor, director and
producer since 1967. As an actor, he ruled the silver
screen in 1970 for over a decade, acted in Marathi,
Bengali, Malyalam and Kannada cinema as well and has
received three Film Fare and six State awards as Best
Actor. He has directed television serials like
Kachchi Dhoop, Mrignayani, Naquab, Paool Khuna and
Krishna Kali. Films directed by him include Akriet
(1981), Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaayen (1990), Bangarwadi
(1995), Anaahat (2003), Paheli (2005), Samaantar
(2009), And Once Again (2009) among others.
Feature Films
1.
3 Idiots (Hindi)
2.
Abohomaan (Bengali)
3.
Achin Paakhi (Bengali)
4.
Aidu Ondola Aidu (Kannada)
5.
Ami Aadu (Bengali)
6.
Angadi Theru (Tamil)
7.
Athma Kadha (Malayalam)
8.
Elektra (Malayalam)
9.
I Am Kalam (Hindi)
10.
Jhing Chik Jhing (Marathi)
11.
Just Another Love Story (English)
12.
Kaal Chilambu (Malayalam)
13.
Kanasemba Kudureyaneri (Kannada)
14.
Makaramanju (Malayalam)
15.
Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi)
16.
Moner Manush (Bengali)
17.
Mummy & Me (Malayalam)
18.
Paa (Hindi)
19.
Pail Te Sumbaran (Marathi)
20.
Prasthanam (Telugu)
21.
Raavanan (Tamil)
22.
Shabari (Kannada)
23.
Swayamsiddha (Oriya)
24.
Tere Bin Laden (Hindi)
25.
Vihir (Marathi)
26.
Wake up Sid (Hindi)
Non-Feature Films
1.
Achtung Baby
2.
Aval
3.
Courtroom Nautanki
4.
Dhruva Natchathiram
5.
Germ
6.
Going the Distance
7.
Incurable India
8.
Journey To Nagaland
9.
Kal
10.
Leaving Home
11.
Motorbike
12.
Mr. India
13.
My Daddy Strongest
14.
Numit Tadri
15.
Rupban
16.
Seshasha
17.
Shyam Raat Seher
18.
Surang
19.
The Victims

Festival Catalogue 2010 - International Film Festival of India

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