South Korean film Paju to open 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam

Paju, the second feature film by South Korean director Park Chan-Ok will be the official opening film for the 39th International Film Festival Rotterdam on Wednesday January 27, 2010. Park Chan-Ok was the winner of a Tiger Award in 2003 for her critically appraised debut Jealousy Is My Middle Name. In 2006 her sophomore feature project Paju was launched at Rotterdam’s co-production market CineMart. Paju is the tale of a teenage schoolgirl (Seo) and her complex relation to her older sister's husband (Lee). Set in the city where it takes its name from - a longtime military area and now a developing city located close to the North/South Korean border – its elegantly complex narrative deals with guilt, love and redemption. The result is both uniquely Korean and universally resonant

Bala Best Director , Antaheen best film in 56th National film Award

Bala bagged the Best Director award for his film Naan Kadavul -Tamil -in the 56th National film Award for Indian films declared today. Bengali film Antaheen directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdary won the best film award. Actor Priyanka Chopra has bagged her first National Award for her performance in Madhur Bhandarkar’s “Fashion”.
The award for the best popular film went to Dibakar Banerjee’s “Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!”, Upendra Limayi is the best Actor for his performance in Marathi film 'Jogwa'. Firaaq directed by Nandita Das bagged awards for editing and art direction.Bengali film Antaheen has been also chosen for the Award in Best Cinematography, Best Lyrics and Best Female Playback Singer category . The special jury award has gone to the Malayalam film Bioscope produced by the National Film Development Corporation. Neeta Lulla has been selected the best costume designer for the Hindi film Jodhaa Akbar. The jury on best writing on cinema considered 20 entries of books and declared Bollywood Melodies in English by Ganesh Anantharaman. Hariharan and Shreya Ghoshal won the best playback singer awards for Antaheen and Jogva. Kangana Ranaut and Arjun Rampal have been selected as the best supporting actors for Fashion and Rock On!!. Kannada film Gubbachigalu gets the best children’s film award. Shams Patel bagged the best child artist award for his role in the Hindi film Thanks Maa. AFSPA 1958 was adjudged the best non-feature film for courageous depiction of the non-violent resistance of the people of Manipur. Films Division-produced The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: A Reconstruction has been selected for an award in the best biographical, historical reconstruction/compilation film category

60th Berlinale Opens with Yoji Yamada's Chineese film Tuan Yuan (Apart Together)

The 60th Berlin International Film Festival will kick off with the world premiere of the Chinese Competition film Tuan Yuan (Apart Together) in the Berlinale Palast on February 11, 2010.Bernd Neumann, Minister of State for Culture , Klaus Wowereit ,Mayor of Berlin and Werner Herzog, Jury President ,Dieter Kosslick , Berlinale Director will open the festival. Anke Engelke will host the gala in this anniversary year.
Tuan Yuan (Apart Together) is the latest film by Wang Quan’an, one of the most important Chinese auteur filmmakers of the younger generation. In 2007 he also participated in the Berlinale Competition with Tuya de hun shi (Tuya’s Marriage) and won the Golden Bear. Tuan Yuan tells the story of a great love, while depicting the tragedy of a divided country. Decades have passed since the one-time soldier Liu Yansheng, who fled from Shanghai to Taiwan in 1949 to escape Mao Tse-tung’s troops, has seen the love of his life. Their reunion rekindles old emotions. The film stars Lu Yan, Ling Feng, Xu Cai Gen and Mo Xiaoqi. Otouto (About Her Brother) japaneese film by Yoji Yamada (Kabei) will be the closing film.

Jyoti Basu dead

Charismatic , Veteran Marxist Patriarch and former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu died at the AMRI Hospital,Kolkata of multiple-organ failure at 11.47 a.m. on Sunday. "I have to give you a sad news that Jyoti Basu is no longer with us," Biman Bose, the Chairman of the Left Front coordination committee, announced to reporters a little around 1230 hrs. He was 95. Jyoti Basu was a member of CPI (M) from West Bengal. He served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000, making him India's longest-serving Chief Minister as of 2009. He was a member of the CPI (M) Politburo from the time of the party's founding in 1964 until 2008. Basu's first track in politics was his efforts to organize the Indian students studying in United Kingdom, mostly for the cause of Indian Independence. Basu was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1946, contesting the Railway constituency. In January 2006 the Supreme Court of India issued notices to Basu and others in connection with land allotments in Salt Lake. On January 1, 2010, Basu was admitted to AMRI hospital, Salt Lake after feeling unwell. As of 16 January 2010, his health condition was'extremely' critical and he was suffering from multiple organ failure. Latest by 17th, January, 2010, he was put on all possible life support system.

5th Prague Short Film Festival

The fifth annual Prague Short Film Festival, organized by the producers of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, will take place on January, 20- 24, 2010 in Prague’s Světozor cinema .Prague Short Film Festival is a competitive Festival of short films. Its aim is to contribute to the development and promotion of artistic short films and their production. As in the previous years, this year’s three competition and nine non-competition sections will present the best short films created over the last year by talented young filmmakers from all over the globe. 2010 festival focus will be on Spain and Japan, and thematic sections will be dedicated to football in short film. The highlight of 2010 edition Festival will be short films about love by five Russian directors. There will also be the first films of today’s famous directors, award winning films from the world’s most prestigious festivals and competitions, experimental films and even an overview of the work of the youngest generation of Czech filmmakers.

International Film Festival Rotterdam from January 27 to February 7, 2010.

The International Film Festival Rotterdam offers a quality selection of worldwide independent, innovative and experimental cinema and visual arts. Devoted to offering a platform to and actively supporting independent film making from around the globe, The International Film Festival Rotterdam is the essential hub for discovering film talent and for catching the early buzz on many world and international premieres.During twelve festival days, hundreds of filmmakers and other artists present their work to a large and devoted audience in 24 screening venues located within central Rotterdam. Up to 3,000 press and film industry representatives visit the festival to report on its buzz or to take part in CineMart, the largest co-production market for film projects.

Adoor , Mammotty and Umayalpuram conferred Honorary D.Litt

Today ,the University of Kerala convened a special convocation to confer the Honorary Degree of Doctor of letters to Adoor Gopalakrishnan , acclaimed auteur , Mammootty, accomplished actor and Umayalpuram Sivaraman , mridangam maestro .R.S.Gavai ,the Governor of Kerala and Chancellor of the University of Kerala conferred the degree of D.Litt to the illustrious awardees in the presence of M.A.Baby , Pro Chancellor ,Dr A Jayakrishnan, Vice Chancellor in the Senate Hall of the university. A huge gathering witnessed the convocation.

8th Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) begins with Iranian film ‘About Elly’ directed by Asghar Farhadi

The PIFF scheduled to begin from January 7 will be inaugurated by Bollywood legend Dev Anand . Veteran actors Rajesh Khanna and Dr Shreeram Lagoo will be conferred with 'Jeevan Gaurav' award on the occasion . PIFF would screen more than 150 films from 42 countries .Eight films would be in the French new wave cinema section and six German films in the contemporary German cinema category. In the retrospective section four films by legendary Portuguese film-maker Manoel De Oliveira would be screened along with six films of late Bimal Roy. While elaborating the arrangements of the fest Dr. Jabbar Patel ,Director and Suresh Kalmadi ,Chairman of PIFF said around 10 documentaries and seven feature films from India and abroad would be showcased in the music, lyrics, dance ‘n’ sound section. Besides, this year six films from NFAI will be shown under the theme ‘Youth’ in the Gems from NFAI category. He said that the world competition section has received 215 entries from 51 countries of which 15 films have been selected. Likewise, Marathi competition section received 15 entries, of which seven films have been selected to be screened in the final leg of the competition. They said that awards for the best film would be announced during the closing ceremony of the festival after the international jury sees all the films that are being screened. Awards will be given by the Government of Maharashtra for best international film with a price money of Rs 10 lakh and the best director - Rs 5 lakh. In the Marathi competition award will be given for the best international Marathi film with an award money of Rs 5 lakh. For the best Marathi screen play, best acting and best director awards will be given by the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal having a price money each of Rs 25,000 they added. The highlight of this year’s festival is an exhibition of posters of old musical films from NFAI, which will be held at the art gallery of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) at Ghole Road from January 8 to 14 between 10 am to 7 pm.