Michael Cacoyannis passed away

Michael Cacoyannis, the first Greek film-maker to achieve international renown passed away yesterday, the 25th July 2011at the age of 89. Born on June 11, 1921 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” based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis 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. Zorba the Greek (1964) was nominated for seven Oscars and won two. Michael Cacoyannis has worked with some of the best and most distinguished actors of his time, in Greece, Europe and Hollywood. He has illustrious not only as a gifted filmmaker, but also as a stage and opera director, with highly applauded productions in Greece, the U.S. France and other European countries. He has published several screenplays, and 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. Though he was out of sympathy with the military junta that ruled Greece in the late Sixties and early Seventies and spent seven years in exile, politics seldom intruded into his films, except in Attila '74.In 2004, Michael 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 2009.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. 41 st IFFK 2010 included his films( The Cherry Orchard,The Day the fish Came out,Electra,Iphigenia,Our Last Spring,Stella,Sweet Country ,The Trojan Women,Windfall in Athens,and Zobra the Greek)and in the Retrospective section.

Open Doors at 64th Locarno Film Festival –Festival del Film Locarno

Locarno Film Festival is organizing the Open Doors section with the support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. This section seeks to highlight films and filmmakers from countries in the South and East where independent cinema is still in developing stage and enable them to find co-production partners for new projects. This initiative focuses on a different region every year and operates in two modes.
Open Doors co-production lab brings professionals from the chosen region together with potential partners, mostly from Europe. Following a call for submissions, each year the Festival selects a dozen new projects from the chosen region.In addition, Open Doors Screenings is a selection of key films from the national cinema of the chosen region .The focus of the 64th edition is on India. Following are the films included in the Open Door screening. Aag by Raj Kapoor – India , Halodia Choraye Baodhan (The Yellow Birds) by Khai Jahnu Barua ,Kanasembo Kudureyaneri (Riding the Stallion of a Dream) by Girish Kasaravalli,Manthan (The Churning) by Shyam Benegal ,Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Clapped Star) by Ritwik Ghatak,Neecha Nagar (Lowly City) by Chetan Anand .Nizhalkkuthu (Shadow Kill) by Adoor Gopalakrishnan,Prapancha pash (A Throw of Dice) by Franz Osten,Pyaasa (The Thirsty One) by Guru Dutt ,Udaan by Vikramaditya Motwane ,Valu (The Wild Bull) by Umesh Kulkarni ,Vanaja by Rajnesh Domalpalli .This section also includes a Satyajit Ray Retrospective with Charulata (The Lonely Wife),Joy Baba Felunath (The Elephant God), Kapurush O Mahapurush (The Coward and the Holy Man) Mahanagar (The Big City) and Nayak (The Hero)
Open Doors: The Co-Production Lab
The Open Doors Co-Production Lab will take place 6 - 9 August 2011. Its aim is to assist the directors and producers of the projects selected –12 from India this year – in finding coproduction partners to enable their films to be completed.At the end of the four day Lab, a jury will award a prize of 50,000 CHF (circa 39,000 Euros),financed by the Open Doors initiative, with, for the first time this year, the participation of the City of Bellinzona. Renewing its collaboration with Open Doors, the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée, France) will offer a further prize of 7,000 Euros to support development. Also this year the International Relations ARTE Prize, worth 6.000 Euros has been renewed.Selected projects:
Aharbal Falls by Ajay Raina ,Ajeeb Aashiq by Natasha Mendonca ,Arunoday by Partho Sen-Gupta,Burqa Boxers by Alka Raghuram ,Char, the Island Within by Sourav Sarangi
Jat Panchayat by Satish Manwar ,Lasya / The Gentle Dance by Anup Singh
Samaadhi by Sidharth Srinivasan ,Sebastian Wants to Remember by Vasant Nath ,The Trapper’s Snare by Shanker Raman ,Thread / Le fil by Lilium Leonard , Vidhvastha / Devastated by Ashish Avikunthak .
Open Doors invite the six filmmakers who participated in the Cinéfondation Cannes Festival Residency to present their own film project to producers and international buyers attending Locarno.
Arunkarn by Sivaroj Kongsakul – Thailand
Bastard by David Nawrath – Germania,Entomology by Julia Kozyreva – Russia,Lady’s Mantle by Bohdana Smyrnova – Ukraine,S. K. by Laszlo Nemes – France,Tam Rasisalai by Pramote Sangsorn – Thailand
Round Table «Lessons from Bollywood»
Saturday, August 6 at the Spazio Cinema (Forum), at 10.30 am, a round table on film production in India will offer an exchange between mainstream Bollywood and independent cinema.«Lessons from Bollywood» will analyze two realities that coexist but represent two very different aspects of Indian cinema.
Guests of the round table include:
Kabir Bedi, actor (India)
Adoor Gopalakrishnan, independent filmmaker (India)
Bhuvan Lall, Chairman and founder of Lall Entertainment (India)
Anu Rangachar, Programmer Mumbai Film Festival (India)
Gargi Sen, Magic Lantern Foundation (India)
A member of Film Federation (India)

64th Locarno Film Festival -Festival del film Locarno- opens on 3rd August (3-13/08/2011)

The Festival del film Locarno once again makes its presence felt as the essential rendez-vous for auteurs, observers and key players in world cinema. Founded in 1946, the Festival del film Locarno is one of the oldest film festivals in the world, alongside Venice and Cannes. Created as a festival aiming to discover new talent and new trends, Locarno has established itself on the international scene, as an invaluable launch-pad for the new generation in world cinema .The Festival, faithful to its origins and resolutely looking forward, continues its adventurous course, always attentive to changes in cinematography and the emergence of new talent. It continues to strive to limit the number of films selected, in order to guarantee maximum visibility of those selected while offering a range of appealing and tempting views of world cinema, film production in all its forms and landmarks in film history.Those expected to attend this 64th edition include Claudia Cardinale, Harrison Ford, Leslie Caron, Ingrid Caven, Kabir Bedi, Guy Bedos, Abel Ferrara, Mike Medavoy, Bruno Ganz, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Olivia Wilde, Claude Goretta, Hitoshi Matsumoto, Kati Outinen, Nicolas Winding Refn, Daniel Craig, Pierre Richard, Maribel Verdú, Anri Sala and Daniel Brühl. It is for the rare talent for performance that the 64th Locarno Film Festival will pay tribute to Isabelle Huppert with its highest honour in the acting field: the Excellence Award Moët & Chandon. The the film “Super 8”,Directed by J.J. Abrams- with Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso, Noah Emmerich (USA , 2011, 111 min )- would be the opening film in the fest. It is a valentine to amateur moviemaking, vintage coming-of-age films and the pop-culture texture of the late 1970s and early 1980s — so, essentially, the sci-fi thriller is also a tour through the mind and heart of writer-director J.J. Abrams.

4th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala(IDSFFK)- Selection of Films completed.

The Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), a film festival exclusively for promoting short ,documentary and animation films is entering it’s 4th edition in the capital city Kerala ,Thiruvananthapuram from the 1st – 5th July 2011. The festival, a unique venture in India is being organized by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy for the Dept of Cultural Affairs, Govt of Kerala . The festival aims to map and reflect the exploding nature of the medium in its many facets of creativity and resistance. The selection of Films for the fest has been completed list of films included
Long Documentary : Competition Section
1. A Pestering Journey Dir: K. R. Manoj/Malayalam/66min/2010
2. Between Border and Fence Dir: Ajay Raina/ Pahari|Kashmiri|Urdu/77min/2011
3. Draupadi’s Descendents Dir: Oindrilla Hazare/Bengali|Hindi/53min/2011
4. Made in India Dir: Vaishali Sinha|Rabecca Haimowitz/Hindi|English/97min/2010
5. Miyar House Dir: P. N. Ramachandra/Kannada/76min/2011
6. Mrigtrishna Dir: Ujjwal U/Gujarathi/52min/2010
7. Mullaitivu Saga Dir: S. Someetharan/ English|Tamil/46min/2010
8. Ottayal /One Woman: Alone Dir: Shiny Jacob Benjamin/Malayalam/70min/2010
9. Rozabal Shrine of Srinagar Dir: Yashendra/English/52min/2010
10. The Open Frame Dir: Chethan Shah/English/56min/2011
11. The Pyre/Meleri Dir: V. K Anil Kumar/Malayalam/68min/2010
12. You Don’t Belong Dir: Spandan Banerjee/ Bengali|English/75min/2011
Short Documentary : Competition Section
1. A Drop of Sunshine Dir: Aparna Sanyal/English/39min/2011
2. After the Deluge Dir: Nizam Rawther/Malayalam/30min/2011
3. At the Stairs Dir: Rajesh S. Jala/ Hindi|Bhojpuri/30min/2011
4. Chidakashathile Vachana Sooryan/ O.V. Art of Debates Dir: Viju Varma/Malayalam/34min/2010
5. Kiran Joy of Giving Dir: Umesh Agharwal/English/12min/2010
6. Koh-i-noor Dir: Saikat Mallick/Bengali|English/37min/2011
7. Narayaniyethedi/ In Search of Narayani Dir: Sajin P.J./Malayalam/31min/2010
8. Niyamgiri You are Still Alive Dir: Suma Josson/Oriya/17min/2010
9. Platform No.5 Dir: C. Vanaja/Telugu/26min/2010
10. Post Box No:418, Siyasat Kanpur Dir: Shazia Ilmi/Urdu/34min/2011
11. Roots of Love Dir: Harjant Gili/Punjabi/26min/2010
12. Tales from Napa Dir: Lalit Vachani/English/26min/2010
13. Talking Heads(Muslim Women) Dir: Fathima Nizaruddin /English/27min/ 2010
14. There is Something in the Air Dir: Iram Ghufran/English/29min/2011
15. Vertical City Dir: Avijit Mukal Kishore/Hindi|English/34min/2010
16. Where the Gods Give Up Caste Dir: Vinod Krishnan/Malayalam/26min/2010
Short Fiction : Competition Section
1. 19/87 Dir: Wanphrang K. Diengdoh, Dondor.E, Lyngdoh/ Khasi|Hindi/36min/2010
2. A Page of Newspaper/ Akhbar Ka Ek Panna Dir: VaradrajSwami/Hindi/23min/2010
3. Amen Dir: Ranadeep Bhattacharya|Judhajit Bagchi/English/22min/2010
4. Chal Chaliye Dir: Tanmay Agarwal/Hindi/25min/2010
5. Close-Up Dir: Baiju Gopinathan/Malayalam/22min/2010
6. Courtroom Nautanki Dir: Chittaranjan Tripathy/Hindi/13min/2010
7. Egg and Abhi; Dir: Naranipuzha Shanavas/Malayalam/19min/2010
8. Falling Awake Dir: Ryan Demello/English/11min/2011
9. Jagjeet Dir: Kavanjit Singh/Punjabi/15min/2011
10. Kal Dir: Manjunathan Subramanian/Tamil/10min/2010
11. Kaveri Dir: Shilpa Munikempanna/Kannada/18min/2011
12. Let them be Unseen Dir: Muhammed Basheer/Malayalam/18min/2011
13. Longing/ Odh Dir: DR. Swaroop Savanur/Marathi/21min/2010
14. Open Doors/ Khule Darwaaze Dir: Ashish Pandey/Hindi/15min/2010
15. Pole Star/ Dhuruva Natchathiram Dir: Aravind Subramanian/Tamil/11min/2010
16. Pranayathil Oruval Vazhthappedum Vidham Dir: Manilal/Malayalam/17min/2010
17. Red Blood/ Seng Kuruthi Dir: T. Thivakaran/Tamil/30min/2010
18. Scream-based on a true story Dir: Anuj Ramachandran/Malayalam/17min/2011
19. Sin Dir: Ramprasad Adpaikar/Konkani/23min/2010
20. Thattumporathappan/ Lord of Attic Dir: Sudevan/Malayalam/50min/2010
21. The Eclipse of Taregna Dir: Rakesh Chaudhary/Hindi/20min/2010
22. The Elephant/ Airawat Dir: Renu Savant/Marathi|Hindi/11min/2011
23. The Ocean/ Samudra Ke Baare Mein Dir: Malhar Salil/Hindi/28min/2010
24. The Sun is not Setting Dir: Suvas E./Manipuri/27min/2010
25. Thief Dir: Maaz Kazhi/English/25min/2011
26. Tubelight Ka Chaand Dir: Shlok Sharma/Hindi/10min/2010
27. Unstable/ Asthir Dir: Ritwik Mukherjee/English/12min/2011
28. Verandah Dir: Anoodha Kunnath/Malayalam/19min/2010
Music Video : Competition Section
1. Na Jeeva Maharaaj Dir: Kaushal Oza/Punjabi/5min/2010
2. Kallu Ram Ki Jai Dir: Ekta Arora/Hindi/5min/2010
3. Soulmates/ Mere Jeevan Saathi Dir: Rajdeep Paul/Hindi/5min/2010
4. Mizhikal Dir: Prahlad Gopakumar/Malayalam/4min/2011
5. Sita Haran and Other Stories Dir: Anusha Nandakumar/Hindi/5min/2011
6. Motor Bike Dir: Viktori Dzurnekq/ Czech/4min/2011
7. Neighbourhood Vamp/ Paapi Padosan Dir: Vikrant Pawar/Hindi/6min/2010
8. Death and Compass Dir: Prateek Vats/4min/2010
9. Come and See Dir: Tathagata Singh/English/6min/2010
Campus Films : Competition Section
1. Forbidden Stories Dir: Anil Kumar E.R./Malayalam/15min/2011
2. Id-the darker side Dir: Anuj S.R./Malayalam/19min/2010
3. Red Dir: Haripriya U./Malayalam/5min/2010
4. Wagon No:LV1711 Dir: Haseem Chembra/Malayalam/20min/2011
Animation Films : Competition Section
1. A Mail for Col. John Weits Dir: Dinjith Ayyathan|Suvi Vijay/English/11min/2011
2. It’s the Same Story/Baat Wahi Hai Dir: Nina Sabnani/Hindi|English/14min/2011
3. Journey to Nagaland Dir: Aditi Chitre/English/26min/2010
4. Memories Dir: Gayatri Joshi/Hindi/6min/2010
5. Utsav Dir: Aman Jha/Silent/3min/2010
NON- COMPETITION SECTION
Long Documentary : Non- Competition Section
1. Oduvilathe Thal /The Last Page Dir: Unnikrishnan Avala/Malayalam/56min/2011
2. Cholom Dir: A.Priyobrata/Manipuri/52min/2011
3. Jharu Katha Dir: Navroze Contractor/Rajasthani|Hindi/64min/2010
Short Documentary : Non- Competition Section
1. Beyond Prayer Dir: Neelima Mathur/English/26min/2010
2. Celan's Vincent Dir: Mangad Ratnakaran/Malayalam/2min/2010
3. Frogmouth/ Makachikada Dir: C. Rahim/Malayalam/18min/2011
4. Inside Out Dir: Shilpi Gulati|Divya Cowasji/English|Hindi/27min/2010
5. Maranathinoppam Oru Jeevitham /A Life for the Demised Dir: Prabha Ajanur/Malayalam/20min/2011
6. My Identity/Meri Pehchan Dir: Abhijit Kondhalkar|Adithya Pathak|Arvind Kumar|Julie Marie George|Mitasha Chatterjee/Hindi/16min/2010
7. Out of the Shadows Dir: Sajeed Naduthody/English/15min/2011
8. The Last Drama Dir: Manuja Tyagi/Tamil/11min/2011
9. The Last Hope /Sesh Asha Dir: Dip Bhuyan/English/22min/2010
10. The Miracle Water Village Dir: Rintu Thomas|Sushmit Ghosh/Marathi|Hindi/13min/2010
11. The Unheard Song Dir: Dhayanithi/Tamil/10min/2011
Short Fiction : Non- Competition Section
1. Aval/She Dir: Prasanth Kanathur/Tamil/22min/2010
2. Don't Cross the Line Dir: Venu Nair/Malayalam/16min/2010
3. High& Dry Dir: Raghav Bhotika/Hindi/36min/2011
4. Lonely Hearts Dir: Sreejith Paul/Malayalam/16min/2010
5. Midnight Bioscope/ Ratter Bioscope Dir: Tuhinabha Majumdar/Bengali/67min/2011
6. Rain and Rustles Dir: Bharat Parmar/Hindi/15min/2010
7. Reel No:16 Dir: Ansar Shah/Malayalam/15min/2010
8. Sabdarekha/ A Voice Proof Dir: Nirmal S./Malayalam/14min/2011
9. The Wall Dir: Vinoo Choliparambil/Hindi/5min/2011
Animation Films : Non- Competition Section
1. Meghayana Dir: K.Abhilash/English/9min/2011
2. Shelter Dir: Raghu Gopalan/Malayalam/4min/2010

"Intruders" the opening film in the 59th San Sebastian International Film Festival

This year, the San Sebastian International Film Festival , will be celebrating its 59th consecutive edition .This Fest’s first edition started on September 21st 1953. 18 films not yet released and selected from among the best in the world will compete for the Golden Shell. The opening gala of the 59th edition of San Sebastian International Film Festival will present Intruders, the new film from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto, 28 Weeks Later) and one of the most eagerly awaited Spanish movies of the coming season.

The European Independent Film Festival (ÉCU) – Paris, March 30th to - April 1st 2012

The European Independent Film Festival (ÉCU) continues its commitment of being at the centre of discovery, promotion and projection of the very best independent filmmaking talent from around the world. According to Scott Hillier, President of The European Independent Film Festival “The European Independent festival has proved to be a true breakthrough for Indie Filmmakers in Europe. ÉCU 2012 offers European independent filmmakers the chance to screen their films to an audience hungry for high-quality independent films, exposes them to other independent filmmakers’ work and gives them a forum to exchange ideas with other filmmakers. I believe that all of this will help them a great deal in their future filmmaking ventures.”The Non-European section include:
Dramatic Feature: Open to all Non-European feature films made with less than 50% participation by a major studio or television broadcaster. The film can be in any language, but subtitles in either English or French are highly recommended to ensure the best judging.Dramatic Short: Open to all Non-European short films made with less than 50% participation by a major studio or television broadcaster. The film can be in any language, but subtitles in either English or French are highly recommended to ensure the best judging. NOTE: Running time cannot exceed 30 minutes. Documentary: Open to all Non-European documentaries of any length made with less than 50% participation by a major studio or television broadcaster. The film can be in any language, but subtitles in either English or French are highly recommended to ensure the best judging. Student Film: Open to all (European and Non-European) student films. The film can be in any language, but subtitles in either English or French are required to ensure the best judging. NOTE: Entrants in this category will only be eligible for the Best Student Film Award. Much More than a Script Competition short and feature-length: (European and Non-European) As part of the ÉCU 2012 film festival, the script competition’s focus is on independent screenplays, that is, scripts that aren’t aimed at mainstream Hollywood film markets. Writers are invited to submit their short and feature-length scripts to the competition where they compete for the best script of the festival. Scenes from the winning feature-length script are given a dramatic live reading at the film festival, which will take place in Paris in April 2012. The winners from both categories will also receive a script coverage package courtesy of Script Shark. Film Submission Deadlines :Early Bird Deadline: November 20, 2011,Regular Deadline: December 18, 2011,Late Deadline: January 8, 2012,WAB Extended Deadline: January 15, 2012.more details follow the link: http://www.ecufilmfestival.com/en/submit-a-film/direct-submit-to-ecu/

9th Vladivostok-Pacific Meridian- International Film Festival of Asia Pacific countries - Thirteen interesting programs finalized.

9th edition of Vladivostok-Pacific Meridian- International Film Festival of Asian Pacific countries ,which is scheduled from 10-16 September this year, has thirteen different and interesting programmes. All these programmes are designed to justify the theme of the festival "Cinema for all, Cinema for everyone” .This include the “Competition Section” for Grand Prize,. the "Russian Cinema” focusing the works of both iconic Russian masters and young filmmakers, the "Panorama" with a selected basket of award-winning films from International Film Festivals of repute, “Shorter’’ with very interesting short films., “Retrospectives “ chosen from rock-opera genre films and movies of the oldest Russian film studio "Lenfilm", a new program - "Moving Forward" – contains films about new trends in cinematography, the "Kinoproba", a master class project for debut film makers spotlighting the art of editing, “Upto 16 and older” - a package for the whole family, "Another screen" - a program devoted to alternative film culture , focuses on the architecture as one of the main mechanisms of formation of human environment, Films made in Primorsky capital, will traditionally be included in “Made in Vladivostok” program, which has already been the applauded by citizens of Vladivostok.The fest will also have Master Classes, and Meetings attended by eminent film personalities. This year’s "Focus" would be films from China, Georgia, and Korea.

Mani Kaul dead

Iconic film maker Mani Kaul, 66, died today after prolonged illness,leaving behind a rich cinematic legacy. He was considered one of the pioneers of new creative Indian cinema .Kaul, born in Jodhpur in Rajasthan to a Kashmiri family, was ranked among the film makers who contributed to new Indian cinema with their perfect films. Mani Kaul began his career with Uski Roti (A Day’s Bread, 1969) won him the Filmfare Critics Award for best movie and his other films Duvidha (In Two Minds, 1973) Satah Se Uthata Aadmi (Arising From The Surface, 1980) , Dhrupad (1982), Siddheshwari (1989), Nazar (The Gaze, 1989), Naukar Ki Kameez (The Servant’s Shirt, 1999), Een Aaps Regenjas (A Monkey’s Raincoat, 2005) and many short films and documentaries.He was an excellent Drupad singer .A graduate from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Kaul got National Film Award for Best documentary film "Siddheshwari" in 1989. Kaul's tradition of experimental film-making has become the part of Indian cinema history. "Mani was in pain not only because of the cancer, but also because of the general public apathy towards certain values. That this material world does not sufficiently respect intellect, integrity, creativity and honesty with anything tangible, had made his life, as with most intellectuals, a continually joyous struggle in many ways," his associate Neville Tuli, founder-chairman of Osian's Connoisseurs of Art Tuli revealed in a letter titled "To Mani with Love". Many filmmakers believed that Kaul's style of filmmaking was not at all guided by the demand or taste of the audience. He did what he believed in, and hoped that the young generation would do so too. He was also a great teacher of Indian cinema and an accomplished Drupad singer. Analyst Dileep Padgaonkar said "he had a luminous mind. He shed light on making innovative films."

Vladivostok International Film Festival – “PACIFIC MERIDIAN” (September 10-16, 2011)

Vladivostok International Film Festival is an International Film Festival of Asian Pacific Countries viz. countries surrounded by Pacific Ocean and countries of South-East Asia including India. Film Festival is held annually in one of the most beautiful places on the Pacific Ocean coast - Vladivostok. The Festival was instituted in 2003 and 2011 will celebrate its 9th edition, September 10 – 16 ,2011.Vladivostok is a very beautiful and exciting city, place on the hills. Three sides of it are washed by sea waters. Vladivostok is 9288 km far from Moscow and 400 km close to Tokyo and Seoul. It' s geographical location gives us entrancing chance to get acquainted with unique cultures of Asian and Pacific Countries and enjoy them. Every of these countries is a pearl in the necklace of Pacific cultural treasures. The Festival sees itself as a showcase for what is happening in cinema. Whether through films, workshops, panels and thematic collaboration with our cultural players - The Festival offers numerous forms of cooperation and interaction. There is a competition of feature length and short films of debut film makers as well as filmmakers of repute. A non-competitive program consists of review of Asian and Pacific countries cinema of 2009-2010, brand new Russian cinema and Retrospective that focuses on the lifework of a great cinema personality. This festival of encounters and discussions, a broad network of creative partners, workshops and master classes as well as full of entertainment. .More than 30 Countries of Pacific Area and Asia delegate their filmmakers to this festival. This is a festival for actors, producers, filmmakers, distributors, directors, movie critics, journalists and grateful film amateurs. It is also a fantastic place giving a birth for new cinema talents and projects, a meeting point of the available and possible. Feature and short films on 35mm, Beta cam Digital, Beta cam SP, HD Cam, DCP with English subtitles, and finished by production after January 1st, 2010 are eligible for Competition The film prints included in the Festival program should be received by the Festival Management in their original format and before September 5th, 2011.The International Jury will grant the following awards:The Best Feature Award; (RUB 625 000) ,The Best Short Film Award; (RUB 375 000),The Best Director Award; (RUB 375 000),The Best Actor Award; (RUB 250 000),The Best Actress Award; (RUB 250 000),The Special Jury Award. (RUB 250 000),The additional awards include Award from the Governor of Primorsky territory - “9 288 km”; (RUB 375 000),The Audience Award; (RUB 125 000),‘Yul Brynner’ ,Award ,Special awards from the Festival partners. The award winners will be present in person at the Closing ceremony of the festival

Padmarajan Award For Short Story And Cinema 2010

The 19th Padmarajan Awards for Best Short Story and Cinema 2010 were distributed on May 23, the birth anniversary day of P Padmarajan at the Kalabhavan Theatre.Ashokan Charuvil's ‘Amazon' published in Malayalam in the 2010 Mathrubhumi weekly was selected the best short story of the year. The award includes a cash prize of Rs. 10,000. It is the highest award given to a short story in India. The award for best Cinema of 2010 went to ‘Chitra Sootram', written and directed by Vipin Vijay. Vipin Vijay received a cash award of Rs.20,000 for the best Director and Rs.10,000 for best script writer. The film was produced by ‘Unknown Films’. These awards were constituted by the Padmarajan Memorial Trust in the name of writer and director P Padmarajan. A jury comprising Dr. K S Ravikumar (Chairman), P K Rajashekharan and Adv. B Babuprasad MLA selected Amazon as the best short story while the panel Chaired by A. Meera Sahib, selected the best cinema, members of the jury for cinema include Baiju Chandran and K C Chandrahasan.
alsosee:
http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/24/stories/2011052459200500.htm