Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( KIFF )

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( KIFF ) is one of the oldest film festivals of all time (the first year took place in 1946). KIFF is the most important international film festival of Category A in Central and Eastern Europe .The concept of the Karlovy Vary Festival is based on the advantageous geopolitical location of the Czech Republic on the border between Eastern and Western Europe .The Karlovy Festival is intended for lay as well as professional public and it offers to its visitors a carefully composed program, high-quality background, and a wide amount of services .This year in Karlovy Vary , in its 43 rd edition , the Grant Jury with Ivan Passer – President, USA , Brenda Blethyn, United Kingdom , Ari Folman, Israel ,Ted Hope, USA ,Jan P. Muchow, Czech Republic ,Johanna ter Steege, Netherlands and Vilmos Zsigmond, USA awarded the Grand Prix – CrystaL Globe to Terribly Happy a film from Denmark Directed by Henrik Ruben Genz.The best actor and actrss awards went to Jiøí Mádl and Martha Issová - the same film - for the film Night Owls a Czech Republic Film . Best Director being Alexey Uchitel for his film Captive. The jury also awrded a special mention to The Karamazovs, a Czech Republic, Poland, film by director Petr Zelenka ,which also won the Critics award also.

Critics' Prizes in Karlovy Vary and Moscow

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Czech Republic, July 4-12, 2008). Prize: "The Karamazov Brothers" (Karamazovi) by Petr Zelenka (Czech Republic, 2008). Jury: Peter Keough, USA, president, Harri Römpötti, Finland, Antonia Kovacheva, Bulgaria, Swapan Ghosh, India, Jan Foll, Czech Republic ("Tyden"). (Russia, June 19-28, 2008).

Moscow International Film Festival Prize: "Once upon a Time in the Provinces" (Odnazhdi v provincii) by Katya Shagalova (Russia, 2008, 35mm, 112 mins). Jury: Klaus Eder, Germany, president, Mike Naafs, The Netherlands, Mahrez Karoui, Tunisia, Francisco Ferreira, Portugal, Natalia Primakova, Russia.

Source: Fipresci

Sunday, July 13, 2008

30th Moscow International Film Festival

The Moscow International Film Festival is being held under the support of the Russian Ministry of culture and mass communications, and the Federal Agency on culture and cinematography. The 30th MIFF was held from 19th june to 29th June this year. The prestigious Critic’s prize- FIPRECSI - was given to the Russian film "Once upon a Time in the Provinces" by Katya Shagalova .The FIPRECSI Jury headed by Klaus Eder, Germany, president, Mike Naafs, The Netherlands, Mahrez Karoui, Tunisia, Francisco Ferreira, Portugal, Natalia Primakova, Russia .Other MIFF prizes:The main prize “Golden St.George” for the best film Be hamin sadegi / As Simple As That (Iran), dir. Reza Mir Karimi. The prize for the best film of the "Perspectives" competition and the certificate for 10000 meters of Kodak tape -Cumbia callera / Cumbia Connection (Mexico), dir. Rene U Villareal.The for the best director- Javor Gardev (Zift, Bulgaria).The prize for the best actress and watch Carrera y Carrera- Margherita Buy (Giorni e nuvole / Days and Clouds (Italy / Switzerland).The prize for the best actor and watch Carrera y Carrera- Richard Jenkins ( The Visitor, USA)The special jury prize – dir. Marion Laine, Un coeur simple / The Simple Heart (France).The special prize "I believe. K. Stanislavsky" for the outstanding achievement in the career of acting -Isabelle Huppert (France

Friday, July 11, 2008

10th Osian’s Cinefan film festival

The 10th edition of Osian’s Cinefan, one of the world’s known film festivals, which is committed to promote Asian and Arab Cinema for the last 10 years, is opening today at Sirifort Auditorium ,New Delhi . The festival will showcase nearly 200 Asian and Arab films, including, for the first time, 42 short films. On the opening day, the festival paid tribute to Indonesian actress Christine Hakim by showcasing her film 'Behind the Mosquito Net'. The fest, to be held at the Alliance Francaise and at the Siri Fort auditorium , New Delhi will for the first time showcase 42 short fiction films handpicked by curator Monika Bhasin. Festival opened with the Hong Kong film "Sparrow", directed by the maverick filmmaker Johnny To and Mumbai Cutting - an Indian anthology by 11 directors - will mark the end of the ten day event. The festival presents a tribute to writer Naguib Mahfouz, stalwart of of the Taiwanese New Wave Edward Yang, and Indonesian actress Christine Hakim. The Short Fiction Films from Asian and Arab countries will find a special space in the festival this year along with a glimpse at films from Israel and Palestine. At Osian’s Infrastructure Building for Minds and Markets (IBM2), a parallel event to the screenings, Paul Schrader delivers a lecture on New Media in his Master Class on Screenwriting along with Mani Kaul, and an array of other interesting debates and discussions. This year, Osian's-Cinefan has announced a hike in prize money, increasing it to over Rs.10 million (approximately $250,000) for its competition sections and lifetime achievement awards. Some of the revamped and newly-introduced awards this year include the Best Film in the Competitive Sections, which have two awards of Rs. 20 Lakhs for both the Asian Arab Competition as well as the Indian Competition. The Best First Feature Award has Rs. 2 lakhs as its prize money as well as a guaranteed support of Rs. 8 lakhs from fFOOD, Osian’s Film Fund. The In-Tolerence section is competitive for the first time. The newly-introduced Osian’s Award for Lifetime Achievement for Contribution in Cinema is worth Rs. 8 lakhs, as is the Aruna Vasudev Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing in Cinema. The FIPRESCI and NETPAC will also present their awards. Eminent film personalities serve different juries of this fest. Ketan Mehta, Christine Hakim, Chantal Akerman , Wu Nien-jen, Kais al Zubaidi will judge the films in Asian & Arab category. Rada Sesic, Jeffrey Jeturian, Sai Paranjpye, Abolfazl Jalili and Mohammad Bakri constitute the jury for Indian films . Nagesh Kukunoor , Vimukthi Jayasundara and Tony Rayns are the jury members for judging First Features Competition. Martine Therouanne , Ed Lejano , Arun Khopkar will be the Nat Pac jury. Saeed Ebrahimifar , Bappaditya Bandopadhyay and Gonul Donmez-Colin form the Intolerance jury , Adrienne Mc Kibbins , Meena Karnik , Mohamed Gallaoui constitute the Fipresci jury . Along with the annual award for writing, the Festival will bestow an additional award, the Osian's Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Cinema, being given this year to renowned filmmaker Mrinal Sen. The writer’s award, renamed the Aruna Vasudev Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing on Cinema, will be conferred on Jose ‘Pete’ F. Lacaba from the Philippines.
Neville Tuli is the man behind this prestigious film festival . Established in 2000 as a pioneering arts institution in India, Osian’s is “at the heart of Neville Tuli’s vision of creating a new infrastructure and model for the Indian arts and culture, whereby a merit-conscious and financially self-sufficient infrastructure is put in place, independent of traditional patronage systems but grounded in its own ability to be a part of India’s developmental framework”.. With Osian’s acquisition of Cinefan, the Asian Film Festival and Cinemaya, the Asian Film Journal, along with the merger of Aruna Vasudev’s team of experts into Osian’s under the umbrella of the Film House, the cinematic infrastructural base has widened significantly.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Panorama Film Festival at Thiruvananthapuram

The Department of Information and Public Relations ,Govt of Kerala in association with the Directorate of Film Festivals, New Delhi is organizing an Indian Panorama Film Festival at Tagore theatre, Thiruvananthapuram from today.The festival package includes 14 films in Indian languages which were part of the Indian Panorama section at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa. They include Nalu Pennungal directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Ami, Iyasin Ar Amar Madhubala directed by Bengali director Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Aevdhe Se Abhaal (Marathi) by Bipin Nadkarni, and Ammuvagiya Naan (Tamil) by Padma Magan.Other films include Dharm (Hindi) by Bhavna Talwar , Ek Nadir Galpo (Bengali) by Samir Chanda , Gafla (Hindi) by Sameer Hanchate, and Yenning Amadi Likla of Manipuri director Makhonmani Mongsaba, Daatu directed by Kannada actor-director K. Shivarudraiah and Periyar (Tamil) by Gnana Rajasekharan which won the National and State awards.